Germany needs to preserve its status as an attractive research location with excellent research software

Welcome to the sixth and last post in our series exploring the future of research software in Germany. In each installment, we present opinion statements on why a national research software institution could and should be created to strengthen Germany’s research ecosystem.

As a research and innovation hub, Germany must maintain its competitive edge by investing in high-quality research software and attracting the best talent in the field.

This requires a broader consideration of the role of software in society. This includes maintaining public confidence in research by advocating for open and reproducible software. At the same time, the sovereignty of autonomous, resilient research institutions must be guaranteed in an increasingly digital research ecosystem with excellent research software.

Research software excellence can be characterised by technical aspects, like functionality and usability, as well as more general aspects such as the software’s FAIRness, its openness and sustainability. Security and safety considerations also extend beyond technical aspects and include the reliability and sustainability of the software that underpins critical research. Against this background, the importance of reproducible research, digital sovereignty and the security of essential research software must be emphasised. All of these are crucial for maintaining the functionality of research in the digital age. This can only be achieved through social and organisational efforts, which are often cooperative in nature. However, German participation in the development of essential research software, such as the widely used PyTorch framework, cannot be taken for granted. This circumstance raises the question of how much is actually “made in Germany”, posing risks of exclusion and dependency.

Also, Germany’s appeal as a research destination hinges on the availability of viable career paths. Without structured support for research software practitioners, Germany risks losing talented researchers and software experts to countries with more established research software ecosystems. For example, there is an increasing acceptance of so-called “Research Technical Professional” roles in the British academic system. Additionally, the digital transformation of research, coupled with the increase in interdisciplinary and large-scale collaborative projects, has given rise to new professional identities that are blurring traditional boundaries, such as the binary classification of academic staff as either “scientific” or “technical/administrative”. The ongoing integration of knowledge creation and research dependent on excellent software demonstrates the complex, hybrid nature of modern research practices. It is high time that German universities and research institutions recognise and value the diverse contributions to research software excellence.

Furthermore, the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) methods, particularly generative models, as tools in all areas of research does not negate the need for human expertise. In our view, the argument that “AI will take over all software development in research” is invalid. While generative models can assist with coding when the fundamentals of software engineering are understood, it should be noted that using AI tools for software development may also present challenges regarding licensing new software or using code provided by a model. To promote excellence in research software, it is essential to have individuals with a deep understanding of the underlying problem and a specific interest in knowledge. Therefore, human expertise, particularly in the form of personnel skilled in research software engineering, is essential to ensure the quality, suitability and integration of AI-generated solutions. Germany should provide these individuals with the necessary framework conditions and academic positions.

A national research software institution could strengthen the sovereignty and autonomy of research institutions in Germany and boost Germany’s appeal as a research location by promoting better career prospects for practitioners of research software with expertise in software development and AI usage, while also promoting excellence in research software engineering.

Read all six posts of our series in one document: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17672125