The world’s premier software engineering conference, ICSE, is coming to Dublin in 2027, it has been announced. Approximately 1,500 delegates are expected to attend, resulting in a projected boost to the economy of more than €2 million.

Professor Brian Fitzgerald, the director of Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, said this is a significant validation of Ireland’s status as home to a world-leading software engineering research community.

Prof. Fitzgerald, who led the team which secured the prestigious ICSE (International Conference on Software Engineering), said: “Lero has a track record of hosting major conferences over many years. In 2000, Limerick hosted ICSE and from it Lero was formed. ICSE has grown considerably since then and it is a really strong indicator of Ireland’s strength in the area of software engineering that it has been selected as host of the conference for a second time.”

Ireland’s ICT sector represents close to 7% of the workforce and about 30% of the annual export market.

“The presence of most household name ICT companies, including Apple, Dell, Meta, Google, IBM, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Oracle, PayPal, SAP, and Yahoo in Ireland makes it a very attractive location for international delegates. Hosting ICSE 2027 in Dublin provides an ideal opportunity to showcase and involve Ireland’s ICT digital hub,” he added.

Prof. Fitzgerald said ICSE is the world’s foremost forum for presenting and exchanging the latest research results and practical experiences in software engineering theories, methods, techniques, tools, and practices.

“The global software engineering community is curious about Ireland and our success. ICSE 2027 is an opportunity to showcase achievements, people and our country,” he added.

Announcing Dublin’s successful bid, Professor Laurie Williams, Distinguished University Professor in the Computer Science Department at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and ICSE Steering Committee Chair, said: “ICSE returning to Ireland is a testament to the country’s outstanding reputation in the area of software engineering. Lero has played a major role in building that reputation and I congratulate Professor Fitzgerald on leading this successful bid. ICSE offers a wonderful opportunity for the international software engineering community to meet, share ideas and develop partnerships and we look forward to returning to Ireland, and benefitting from its vibrant software industry and research community.”

This year’s ICSE conference will take place in Melbourne, Australia in May before Lisbon, Portugal next year, Ottawa, Canada in 2025 and Rio de Janeiro in 2026.