We now take the opportunity to summarize the year which, despite being different than planned, has been full of activities!
Conferences, meetings and digital seminars
During the year, we all had to change our plans and this obviously affected the networking and our activities around seminars. The physical meetings were rearranged to digital and during the year we conducted a number of digital meetings, in fact more than originally planned.
At the beginning of February, before the restrictions came, we arranged this year’s Gathering of software Sweden in Gothenburg. At Gathereing of software Sweden, which is an annual workshop where we invite decision-makers in Swedish software development and research, we focused on providing input to UKÄ and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth’s government assignment on Digital Excellence. The day resulted in a report with input to the government assignment. During the next year, we will continue this important work, among other things, by focusing next year’s Gathering of software Sweden on providing input on the proposals that the government assignment has produced.
Together with our member Scania, on September 1st, we held the conference Cyber security in a complex world. Several inspiring speakers from different organizations generously shared their experiences on how to deal with the complex aspects of cyber security. On the theme of cyber security, Swedsoft has also been involved in the work on the Innovation Node in cyber security, which was inaugurated, by the Minister of Trade and Industry, on December 4th. In September, we also invited to a meeting with SÄPO to inform and discuss the threat against Swedish software development companies.
During the autumn, Swedsoft also participated in arranging Lindholmen Software Development day, which I was in digital form for years. The theme for the day was “After 2033 – How will it change my life?” Usually in the autumn we arrange STEW. However, this November, we decided to reorganize the conference into a digital network conference, with the new dates January 21-22nd 2021. That means that you still can register and attend!
As the possibilities for physical meetings has been limited, but there was a great deal of interest in digital seminars this year, we arranged and conducted a number of extra digital seminars with different themes.
- In April, Swedsoft arranged a digital panel discussion on “The digitized and distributed workplace?” The panel discussed how the Corona crisis threw us into a large-scale experiment overnight when many people stopped going to the offices and started working at home.
- Legal and practical protection of software. How can you work as a software development company to protect your assets? Together with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and our member Deposit, we invited to a seminar on this theme.
- Succeeding with large scale software development measurement programs. On May 25th, Swedsoft arranged a seminar on how to make the best use of measurement programs in software development.
- This year’s last digital seminar Privacy-by-Design Statistics was held on December 15th
- Do you already want to see some of what we have planned for 2021? Then visit our calendar and do not miss to sign up for our newsletter.
Statistics on the role of software for Swedish companies
One of the most important projects during the year was the report “The programmable economy” that Swedsoft launched in August. The report, which is funded by Vinnova, contains unique statistics produced together with Statistics Sweden to shed light on the importance of software for Swedish companies and their need for software expertise. In the report, an extra focus has been placed on creating a basis for higher education institutions’ development of courses for professionals.
Competence development
During this year, there has been an extra focus on competence development. Swedsoft, together with members, has therefore put together a list of free courses and seminars that are available to professionals. On the same theme, the course platform learning4professionals.se was launched. Here you as a professional can find course information. The platform has been created through a unique collaboration between four higher education institutions (University West, Linnaeus University, Mälardalen University and Örebro University) and Swedsoft and Teknikföretagen.
In June, Swedsoft together with our members, Teknikföretagen and ANTS invited to the webinar How do we turn the crisis to our advantage? The focus of the webinar was precisely the supply of skills, change around brands and giving concrete tips on how companies and employees can move forward from the current situation and look ahead.
Do you want to take the opportunity to learn something new during the holidays? Then do not miss that on Swedsofts YouTube-channel you can find recordings and inspiration from previous webinars.
New members
During the year, we were happy to welcome five new members to the association:
We want, once again, send a warm welcome to you!
Member engagement
In Swedsoft there is the opportunity to start member-driven networks connected to issues that you find extra interesting. During the spring, our first member-driven network Swedsoft Industrial Open Source Network, conducted during two popular webinars on licensing and security aspects of Open source. The network is open to everyone (members and non-members) to discuss open source software.
Finally, we want to thank you all for all the commitment during this special year and at the same time take the opportunity to wish you all a really Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2021!
