Software Industry Awards 2009

This evening I represented Engineers Ireland at the Software Industry Awards in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin.   About 400 people attended,  with Des Cahill as an excellent host for the evening.   Minister Conor Lenihan was the guest of honour,  and spoke passionately about the opportunity for the software industry and the smart economy.

Presidential Address

I gave my first address as President yesterday evening, at Clyde Road and via Webex. I'll be giving a small number of invited repeat performances throughout the remainder of the year.

My main theme was the technical challenges in certifying software design and development as safe - safe from harming humans or damaging property.

Regulation of Engineering in Ireland is a key issue for Engineers Ireland. Currently, the profession is weakly regulated as compared to certain other jurisdictions. Elsewhere, all engineering works which may impact the health and safety of the public, or may give rise to material harm to property, must by law be duly certified by a professional Engineer.

Presidential Address

I'm planning my presidential address, which I will give a number of times during my year as President, with the first one being in Clyde Road in September.

I'm planning to discuss why it is so challenging to engineer software safely, and hope the talk can be of interest to non-software engineers, and specialists, alike.

I met with Prof. Mike Hinchey this afternoon for a coffee, to get a briefing from him on some of the latest trends in safety critical software.

Mike has extensive experience at NASA, and is currently working in the University of Limerick Lero software engineering research entre. He is commercially developing technology to exploit US patents he holds in the area, as Silicon Republic recently reported.

Mike walked me through some the case work with the planned automated repair of the Hubble telescope, and how that has helped define the technology with which he is now working.