From the start in 2012, the focus for STEW has been on creating exchange between academia, industry and the public sector. The emphasis is on two main areas; networking and knowledge exchange. At STEW we want to make research and project results visible and available to stimulate new cooperation in software technology.
There will be several interesting and inspiring presentations from the speakers around the theme – Data for Software Development. One of the speakers this year is Helena Holmström Olsson, whom we had the opportunity to have a small interview with.
Can you tell us about your background?
I am a Professor in Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science and Media Technology at Malmö University, Sweden and a senior researcher in Software Center. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Gothenburg in 2004 and did a Post doc at University of Limerick, Ireland during 2005 – 2007.
What about your research, what is your focus?
As part of Software Center, my research is conducted in close collaboration with industry and primarily with software-intensive companies in the embedded systems domain. My research focuses on the digital transformation of industry and the many challenges and opportunities this brings with regards to business ecosystems, business models and business agility. In particular, I study the exploitation and monetization of data generated from connected products, the transition towards service-oriented and digital business models and the many ways in which new digital technologies fundamentally change the ways in which incumbents engage, collaborate and compete with existing partners as well as new entrants. During the most recent years, and in collaboration with Prof. Ivica Crnkovic and Prof. Jan Bosch, I have been part of building a research group within AI engineering where we study software engineering practices for AI/ML/DL development. My research has been published in top-level information systems and software engineering journals and you can contact me at helena.holmstrom.olsson@mau.se
What will you talk about at STEW?
I will talk about the rapid increase of AI/ML/DL systems/solutions in the embedded systems industry and the many new opportunities these technologies offer. However, our research shows that although these technologies provide companies with endless and promising opportunities – they also bring several challenges. In particular, the transition from prototype to deploying industry-strength, production quality ML models in systems proves to be a very challenging task. For example, companies experience challenges related to data quality, design methods and processes, performance of models as well as deployment and compliance etc. In this presentation, I present ‘AI engineering’ as we define it and I provide an overview of the key challenges that practitioners experience when engineering/developing ML/DL models. Finally, I present an overview of open items that we think need to be addressed by the research community going forward.
Why do you think it is important to be a part of an event like STEW?
STEW provides a great opportunity for industry-academia knowledge exchange as a place to meet, network and share experiences. With participants representing different industry domains as well as different research areas, STEW brings the opportunity to learn from others and to connect and discuss relevant topics with people across domains. As a researcher doing empirical research in close collaboration with industry, I enjoy the opportunity to meet with companies I know and with companies I don’t know as well. Also, I think it is a great opportunity for industry representatives to connect with each other and share expertise with people from other companies. I appreciate the theme of this year and I look forward to contribute to the conference with some of the research we do on the topic of AI engineering.
Helena Holmström Olsson gives an introduction to her presentation at STEW 2020 – AI-engineering: what is needed for a successful development and operation of AI-systems?
Besides listening to the interesting speakers, the conference offers many opportunities for virtual discussions as well as workshops with all participants. You will also be able to sign up to participate in digital networking during lunch and coffee breaks.
You can find the whole program for STEW here
At STEW you will be able to both hear new research and build your network – we hope to see you in January!
