Programme

Programmatic Activities

There are basically 6 directions of programmatic activity outlined for the UNU/IIST. These are intended to implement the Charter:

1. Advanced Development Projects + Training

2. Seminar & Course Training

3. Research + Training

4. Events: Panels, Task Forces, Workshops & Symposia

5. Dissemination, and

6. Organic Network Activities

For details of UNU/IIST's current programmatic activities see section II.

UNU/IIST shall maintain a prudent balance between budgetary constraints and programmatic activities, while maintaining a highest level of academic content throughout.

Advanced Development Projects

Advanced Development Projects are characterised as follows:

Jointness

 

• R&D projects are always joint with very specifically identified partners in developing nations.

• It is planned that industrial world partners can join the projects -- contributing expertise, equipment, software and funding.

Aims & Objectives

-- are:

• to train post-graduate industry software engineers and programmers, university lecturers and academy research institute scientists in advanced software development techniques and tools,

• to actually develop conceptual software architectures as well as prototypical software,

• and, in several cases, also to help establish indigenous, application domain specific, new Software Houses.

Combined R&D

The prefix `advanced' derives from the fact that UNU/IIST will emphasise projects that contain a non-trivial element of research as well as a non-trivial element of development.

That is: not all development techniques are usually a-priori well-known, and hence need be researched. And: the non-triviality of the development part shall secure that the project also illustrates most relevant management techniques.

Uniqueness

UNU/IIST is unique, we believe, with respect to other university and research institutes in the following ways:

• In actually advanced developing, with technology transfer clients, reasonably sized (ie. large scale) software systems -- in a case-study like fashion.

• In development breadth and depth: (i) breadth: development of comprehensive, conceptual models of as much of the problem domain as feasible, and (ii) depth: specialised, narrow, and detailed developments of small, but difficult software packages.

• In emphasising: (a) design calculi, (b) attention to "all" aspects of programming, software engineering and software technology management -- while (c) applying latest results from research.

• In `Master Class' training: Advance development projects, when conducted at UNU/IIST in Macau, will feature normal working days where UNU/IIST academic staff and visiting experts interact daily for 1-2 hours each with fellowship trainees: small, impromptu lectures, joint report studies, design discussion sessions, etc.

Application Spheres

 

Advanced development projects aim at:

• development of software indigenous to developing nations,

• in quest of proper requirements engineering, and

• spanning technological, administrative, business, educational, medical, cultural and other domains.

Financing

 

Project funding is initially achieved through:

• "seed" money provided out of the UNU/IIST budget,

• (if applicable:) combined with "honest" money provided from loans or grants given to the developing world partner.

• Initially, or subsequently, once the project is underway, financial support will also be sought from UN and other agencies.

Some comments may be in order: (a) The current, deep recession in the computer industry presently seems to make it somewhat difficult to obtain industry support; (b) developing world partners are presently reluctant to spend international aid agency grants and loans on intellectual consultancy, preferring purchase of advanced computers out of training budget funds; and (c) the UN System agencies seem presently to consider Information Technology, even when used in environmental and sustainable development projects, a "secondary" issue.

Phasing

 

Some projects are phased so as to enable their early termination should project execution prove infeasible:

Preparatory Phase:

project is being defined; negotiations with partners; usually also a two week intensive target site (partner site) training course.

Feasibility/Exploratory Phase:

typically 3-5 trainees will spend 6-12 months at UNU/IIST in Macau for intensive ("master class") training -- where advanced techniques will be applied (by them together with UNU/IIST staff and visiting experts), in full, to a difficult, but small subset of the problem domain, as well as to the R&D of conceptual and physical models of "an entire" domain.

Demonstrator Phase:

3-5 new trainees spend 6-12 months at UNU/IIST in Macau advanced developing a demonstrator software sub-system -- while typically a 3 month Macau Course is given to these and typically 20-25 other (now course) trainees from "all over" the developing world -- but course trainees working in the same subject problem (ie. application) domain.

At the same time previous trainees typically return to the newly established Software House, continuing to interact with UNU/IIST who might typically do consulting work for that new Software House.

Prototype Development Phase:

A final "batch" of 3-5 trainees spend training time in Macau, while project activities increasingly shifts to the Software House.

Staffing:

UNU/IIST will provide project staffing from amongst its own academic staff and through organising a reasonable "stream" of visiting experts.

Training

Training will be delivered through participation in advanced development and research projects (see above and below), and through seminars and courses. yes

Typically seminars are 2 week off shore "mini-courses", while full courses are 3 month Macau-based undertakings.

Seminars

Typical characteristics of UNU/IIST seminars are:

• Two weeks of intensive lectures by 2-3 UNU/IIST staff: 3-4 lectures per day.

• Extensive computer based exercises using advanced tools.

• 25-30 post-graduate participants.

• Extensive lecture note hand-outs, including copies of all OH foils.

• As a `Bonus': a combination of one or two state-of-the-art textbooks and technical and/or scientific monographs and two year subscriptions to one or two international technical and/or scientific journals are given to each trainee.

• Finally trainees are given Certificates upon successful seminar completion.

UNU/IIST seminars are either:

1. Awareness seminars -- usually 1 week activities in which typically managers are introduced to what it may take to adopt (accept, embrace) a new software technology.

2. Training seminars -- usually 2-3 week activities in which typically instruction is given on how to procure, install, operate and use a specific advanced software package.

   or

3. Education seminars -- usually 2 week activities in which lectures are given on specific theoretic and applied aspects of certain development techniques.

UNU/IIST emphasises education seminars.

Courses

UNU/IIST courses are usually (to be) 3 month intensive, residential, Macau-based education activities which enlarge upon the scope: depth and breadth, of UNU/IIST education seminars.

The three month Macau-based education courses expand considerably with respect to seminars: topics, breadth, and depth.

Research

Research is to be done in a number of ways. Typically:

1. Individual Research

   UNU/IIST's academic staff shall regularly publish scientific and technical papers in journals and at conferences.

2. PhD internship(s)

   UNU/IIST shall host young researchers from universities typically for periods of 6 months.

3. Joint Research Project(s)

   UNU/IIST shall undertake collaborative research efforts at highest level with university departments and academy research institutes.

Events

UNU/IIST plans to organise several forms of events: panels, task forces, workshops and symposia.

• Panels identify software technology issues of relevance to developing countries. Example issues could be: Standardisation, indigenous applications (such as software technological issues of UNEP's Agenda 21 and UNDP's Capacity 21: `Environment and Sustainable Development'), national script interfaces to computing, technology access, networking, &c.

• Task forces study such issues and are expected to recommend follow-up actions.

• Workshops (may be one such form of follow-up action which) studies panel posed and task force defined problems in technical & scientific detail.

• Symposia shall significantly feature well-prepared presentations by researchers and technologists from developing countries to international audiences, while otherwise be open to active, broad international participation.

Dissemination

UNU/IIST intends to publish and/or distribute:

1. Research & Technical Reports -- from UNU/IIST and from an affiliate Organic Network of more than 200 university departments and research institutes worldwide.

2. Copies of Journal Articles (according to publisher rules & regulations)

3. Project Case Study Monographs -- thus disseminating the results of ongoing advanced development projects.

4. A Series of Software Technology Reference Handbooks -- organised in the form of loose-leaf ring-binders, with frequent updates, and separately aimed at:

   1. Information technology industries, including software houses,

   2. Universities,

   3. Research institutes,

      and

   4. Policy planners & makers.

5. A Software Technology Monitor -- featuring:

   1. (data sheet) references to current software indigenous to the developing countries as well as to standard, recommendable, sometimes public domain (free) software.

   2. Extensive bibliographies of reports, journals and books of the UNU/IIST library.

   Members of the UNU/IIST Organic Network can order (free) copies from the above.

6. A Newsletter -- and

7. Public Domain Software -- initially focusing on software for software development: Cases, Formal Software Development Tools, Compilers, etc.

Organic Network

UNU/IIST will set up a network of co-operating member institutions from industry, universities and academies in developing countries.

Industrial world centres are expected to join and support the network as affiliates.

UNU/IIST makes the distinction that members are the target of UNU/IIST support, while affiliates help UNU/IIST provide such support.

Aims of the network are to strengthen identity, stability, quality and productivity -- in developing countries -- of development projects, university curriculum development and research (in UNU/IIST's activity areas).

Collaboration is by means of (a) trainee fellowship stipends, (b) rotation of scholars and technologists, (c) joint projects, (d) joint training activities, (e) joint publications and (f) extensive, timely circulation of reports and publications.

Some members and some affiliates may be designated Organic Network Nodes.

Nodes principally cover areas of Software Technology not covered by UNU/IIST in Macau. That is: UNU/IIST cannot cover the entire area adequately, and other, existing institutions may already cover some such area professionally. UNU/IIST may then strive to convince such an institution to become a UNU/IIST Organic Network Node. UNU/IIST may help such a node to obtain funding to cover its full or partial implementation of the UNU/IIST Charter in ways similar to the way UNU/IIST is implementing that charter: through advanced, joint development projects, seminars, courses, research, events and dissemination.

Programme