Best Practices for Software Sustainability in the Research Enterprise (Sustainable Software for Translational Bioinformatics) at AMIA 2020 Annual Symposium

This collaborative workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary group of experts to share challenges, methods, and experiences toward the sustained development of software tools in the research enterprise. The goal is to help open source software (and algorithm) developers understand the options they can employ to ensure the long-term sustainability of open source software.

A series of keynote lectures will be given on subjects that span multiple areas of software development in the research enterprise. Speakers include Dr. Juli Klemm, coordinator of NCI’s Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) program, and other ITCR principal investigators. These keynote sessions will provide an overview of key observations and case studies in this domain (drawing from three national level initiatives: ITCR, National Center for Data to Health, and Big Data to Knowledge), followed by important lessons learned along the trajectory of development. Presenters will also discuss the feasible reward mechanisms to motivate long-term sustainability; the needs of a central library that makes federally funded software tools visible and reusable; and the potential resources that can provide industry standard support on code quality control, ecosystem collaboration, security, and dependency hygiene.

Following the talks, a panel session will provide a moderated overview of key principles and a Q&A session for specific guidance from the expert panelists. Questions will address planning, staffing, governance, strategy, and execution toward development and sustainability.