Tomorrow's consumer electronics, and electronic products in general, will have to meet increasing demands on user friendliness, flexibility, internal control functionality, low physical size and weight as well as low power consumption. To achieve these goals there is a need for combining compact electronic modules with complex software realization of most functionality. In particular, mobile and wireless communication products as well as medico-technical equipment contain increasingly amount of software. In addition, seamless network access will be taken for granted in the future.

The newly started Center for Embedded Software Systems, CISS, aims at strengthening industrial competence, research and education within the area of embedded software systems. Particular attention will be given to products and devices whose individual components must typically be able to communicate and cooperate with other systems over networks. The center is established at Aalborg University based on existing, internationally recognized research groups within the Institutes of Electronic Systems and Computer Science. All involved research groups have significant experience with industrially collaboration on utilization and development of technology. CISS will create a new commom environment, where engineers from industry and researchers from the university work on different multi-disciplinary and industrial relevant R&D projects with the purpose of increasing the maturity level of the current practice within software development for embedded systems.