Knowledge-Intensive Service Activities and the Software Cluster: Report of the Current State of the Software and Service Clusters from Innovation Perspective

This report presents an initial analysis of the knowledge-intensive service activities for the software business sector. The purpose of the KISA-SWC project is to i) survey and analyze the current situation of the offering and use of the knowledge-intensive service activities in the software business, ii) describe and analyze the innovation process in the software business sector from the point of view of these services, and iii) identify and analyze the development needs for the innovation processes and for the knowledge-intensive service activities supporting them. The KISA OECD project is an initiative of the OECD Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy. This report is the first deliverable of the KISA-SWC project, prepared within the KISA-INTO project at Helsinki University of Technology. This report contains four main contributions. First, we have summarized the main characteristics of the software business sector and highlighted the main issues that affect the knowledge-intensive service activities to be used to support the innovation processes in the sector. Second, we have synthesized the main streams of research in knowledge-intensive service activities research and propose a set of key concepts that can be used to describe the different types of services available. Third, we have developed a conceptual framework that will be used to describe and analyze the innovation process and the services available in various stages of product, market, and company life cycles. Fourth, we have conducted an initial empirical study of the current situation of the knowledge-intensive service activities in the sector through a series of interviews. The main, albeit tentative, findings of this part of the study are the following: • Services related to marketing, communication and sales; legal services; and human resource development were considered the most important in the sector. • The software development services, IT support, and IT consulting were considered least important. • There is a trend among the companies in this sector to outsource much of the activities in the innovations process and only focus on their core processes. • The service sector has recognized this potential and has invested in knowing the software business sector and technology better. • The potential standardization of platforms can improve the potential for R&D outsourcing • The difficulty of finding service providers and comparing them were cited as the main bottlenecks in selecting KISAs. Also, the SW companies in the sector do not have experience and culture for using such services. • …