The Service Engineering Research Area (ICCLab, SPLab) adopts a comprehensive and holistic approach to science. The entire approach is based on three driving principles, namely Scientific Foundation, Strategic Impact, and Knowledge Transfer. The entire scientific work of both labs is aligned and directed along these inter-linked dimensions.
Scientific Foundation
The importance of a sound foundation of expertise, in a variety of themes, by good partnerships, in a consistent and coherent project portfolio. The Scientific Foundation represents our strategic research agenda, which is driven by our core research expertise. It is defined along several strategic research themes, aligned with strategic collaborations, and implemented via a portfolio of research projects. The Scientific Foundation thus resembles the most vital element in our approach to science. It is ruled by an elaborate portfolio process that continuously evaluates internal and external feedback (see below) in order to validate and verify our strategic direction.
Strategic Impact
Providing impact, reaching uptake, receiving vital community feedback and validating ideas and innovation resulting from foundational activities. Besides satisfying our intellectual desire and technical enthusiasm for Cloud Computing (and Computer Science in general), it is our foremost objective to generate impact with our ideas and innovations along several dimensions. As an academic, and thus educational institution we naturally seek to share and thus publish our research via various publication channels with a focus on the academic domain since this is the space where great ideas originate and get challenged mercilessly. If an idea maintains its ground it bears the potential to move from research towards innovation and this is where standards contributions are instrumental, since standards are the lingua franca in our industry. But concepts alone, irrespective from their intellectual quality, will only unfold their impact if community uptake is facilitated. Open Source Software has proven to be an excellent tool and contributing our innovations and ideas as actual software code to Open Source Projects is a top priority. It also constitutes an important element in our quality assurance approach.
Ultimately, these impact dimensions expose and engage us with the community and provides us with indispensable feedback that guides our portfolio process and thus scientific direction.
Knowledge Transfer
Transfer knowledge and provide consultation to the Swiss high-tech SME market and thus contribute to the mission of ZHAW. The high-tech SME sector is the economic backbone of the Swiss economy and IT technology, with Cloud Computing at the forefront, is since long a strategic enabler and differentiation. Our research is ultimately meant to contribute to the sustainability and advancement of the Swiss high-tech SME sector, by means of focused transfer projects, in-house consultations, and similar means.