The UOC to lead the Model-driven Engineering Excellence Network in Spain

Errors in computer applications may have serious consequences for company productivity or even for individuals' safety if they occur in critical sectors, such as medicine or aerospace. Model-driven engineering (MDE) uses a high-level vision of the system being developed. This representation, known as the model, is more straightforward than source code and means that the system can be understood, manipulated and analysed. In this field, the UOC is to lead the Model-driven Engineering Excellence Network in Spain.

Research groups from the University of Almeria, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the universities of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Málaga and Múrcia, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Universitat Politècnica de València and Rey Juan Carlos University will be taking part in the project, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Researchers from other universities and software development companies, such as Open Canarias and IKERLAN, will also be working in the network.

Model-driven engineering helps improve productivity and the quality of the software, facilitates portability of software to new platforms and reduces the cost of maintenance. The techniques applied by this engineering are used in a number of different industries, such as mobile communications and the car industry, and, among other applications, help simulate how the end product functions, help adapt software language (code) to different platforms and configure a product catalogue.

The aim of the Excellence Network is to bring together research groups and companies in this field to examine the challenges that arise: the adaptability of computer systems to meet the rise in the number of users and the volume of data that need treating (scalability), the ease with which people can use them (usability), the construction and integration of support tools and the use in new fields of application. Good practices will also be shared to enable the university's results to be transferred to industry.

The researcher from the SOM Research Lab research group, Robert Clarisó, will be coordinating the consortium for two years with the following two main priorities: foster scientific excellence with the increase in international collaborations and projects and consolidate the adoption of model-directed software engineering techniques in industry through initiatives such as the creation of industrial doctorates and participation in business clusters and technological platforms.

The planned actions include weekly meetings, researcher stays at the various institutions in the Network, visits by international researchers, a summer school for students and young researchers that focuses on model-driven engineering and a portal designed to develop collaboration with companies. To foster internationalization and maximize the impact, some of these actions will be linked to international scientific events organized by members of the Network.