Annual Report 1992

A On: 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 indigeneous, application domain specific, new Software Houses.

Combined R&D

The prefix `advanced' derives from the fact that UNU/IIST will emphasize 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 belive, 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 emphasizing: (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, improptu 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 Devt. Phase:

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

Staffing:

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

Annual Report 1992