Initial research questions

As explained above, the goal of this research is to help BC become a knowledge-rich industry with well controlled processes and guaranteed output quality. This overall goal has been translated into a number of research questions.

The first research question targeted in this PhD thesis is the question how new instruments can help BC to increase its value adding performance. Formulated like that, the question is still too broad for one humble PhD student to answer. Chapter 2 will be used to clearly identify the problem and to scope the rather broad research question down.

The second research question is to investigate the process that brings new instruments to the market, i.e. which type of standardisation is required (if any) and how should the software vendor community react? The question comes from the observation that the time-to-market of research and development results in this area should be as short as possible.

The third initial research question is: `What is the role of the traditional Specification in the future?' This question has to be answered in the context of the solution concept that targets the two other questions.