The so-called vertical domains are those that will be most impacted by the empowering software advances targeted in ICT-50-2020. The EU has made leadership in several of these domains a strategic priority. Some examples:

Automotive. Perhaps more than any other, the strategic autonomous road vehicle sector depends on the confluence of advances in software technologies (e.g. powerful, transparent AI/ML), coupled with new methods for coping with intractable V&V spaces, reliable digital infrastructure with guaranteed performance across heterogeneous facilities, inexpensive yet performant security, regulatory certainty. Each of these areas makes a critical contribution to the success of the whole. SWForum.eu can bring them together to interact and cross-fertilise.

Healthcare. Another strategic and societal goal of Europe, healthcare is being revolutionised by the confluence of the Internet of Things (IoTs) with its massively connected sensors; safe, secure, privacy-preserving software defined networking that provides transparent mobility from hospital to home; and new business models of Value Based Health Care that realise evidence-based, personalised healthcare for European citizens. SWForum.eu has access to the network of expertise for promoting these advances.

Finance. The Financial Services sector accounts for as much as 20% of the entire global economy. Fintech is a natural domain of SMEs, with their flexibility and lack of legacy technology burdens. For example, European SMEs have been in the leading wave of innovation in cryptocurrencies and blockchain (another strategic target of the EU). The traditional European banking history has a lng and solid background, unmatched by other regions of the world, and fruitful partnerships with fintech entities can emerge. But the partnering opportunities do not end with banking: actors in many traditional sectors, from retail to healthcare, can partner with "disruptive", agile software SMEs like FIntechs to create new economic realities. SWForum.eu will promote those partnering opportunities as part of its mission.

Emergency Public Protection Services. Society depends on the provision of robust, reliable services to protect the public in terms of natural and man-caused emergencies. New software technologies such as predictive maintenance with AI/ML will have an enormous impact on the effectiveness of these services. SWForum.eu knows what and where these technologies are, and will create the conditions for the relevant actors to interact.

Partners in SWForum.eu are building strong links across vertical industries and associations that will contribute towards greater cross-fertilisation between industry and research, driving demand-driven innovations and promoting European leadership in an ever-growing set of strategic domains.

SWForum.eu is coordinated by TECNALIA, a research centre based in the Basque Country. Other partners in the consoritum include Trust-IT Srl (Italy), Conceptivity (Switzerland), the University of Oxford (the UK), and the Polytechnical University of Milan (Italy).

For more information please contact info@swforum.eu.