Software Engineering within a Dynamic Digital Business Ecosystem

The goal of fast adaptations and modifications according to continuous change requests is common to all software engineering methodologies. In most cases, sooner or later this results in a mismatch between the software specification and the actual implementation with related disadvantages such as the impossibility of performing validations of related models. We present here an aspect of the digital business ecosystem concept that gives incentives for more responsible software engineering approaches in general by offering a platform for automatic composition of services and re-adaptation of the specifications based on actual changes. The main innovation is a natural language based modelling notation that enables ecosystems of companies to use software described in a high-level language that can also be understood by non-technical users

The (im)possibility of interdisciplinarity: lessons from constructing a theoretical framework for digital ecosystems

This paper reflects critically on challenges and opportunities associated with developing a theoretical framework for an interdisciplinary Framework Programme 7 research project funded by the European Commission in the area of digital ecosystems. The paper first provides a description of the interdisciplinary structure of the research agenda of the project and the areas of digital ecosystem research prioritised by each discipline. Second, it discusses the challenging questions of epistemology that arose in the context of theorising interdisciplinary research and provides a summary of how these were dealt with in order to outline a theoretical framework for digital ecosystems research by the end of the project. Finally, it discusses the lessons that can be extrapolated from the project experience, arguing that it is impossible to develop a unified interdisciplinary theoretical framework due to irreconcilable epistemological differences, yet it is possible and very worthwhile for those adhering to various disciplinary perspectives to collaborate towards the achievement of a practical joint endeavour. These lessons, which are considered valuable to the broader research community, are summarised in a model of the (im)possibility of interdisciplinarity