Playing an integral role in all walks of society, software serves as a foundation for people’s lives and economic activities. In fact, our daily life relies a great deal upon the assurance and safety of many types of software.

 Because of its crucial role, software-related troubles can possibly cause widespread social disruptions. In recent years, we have experienced many difficulties caused by software failures in Japan that became major social issues.

 To introduce the latest engineering methodology for efficient development of highly dependable software, IPA established the Software Engineering Center (SEC) in 2004. SEC functions as a venue for industry-academia-government collaboration and actively addresses issues directly confronting the software industry while also promoting the latest and most efficient technology, creating international standards and nurturing human resources who will play key roles in software development.

 SEC is focusing on three application domains, namely, enterprise software, which includes corporate information systems; embedded software, which includes automobile control systems and cell phones; and integrated software and systems, which entail mutual cooperation between enterprise software and embedded software to improve dependability of complex systems.

 Through these efforts, IPA actively pursues solutions to issues faced by Japan’s software industry and strives to build a foundation for efficiently creating software with an even higher degree of dependability.