In a move intended to lead to the formal certification and licensing of software developers in the State, the Institute of Engineers of Ireland and the Irish Computer Society yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to intensify their professional co-operation.

The memorandum signals the intention of the IEI and the ICS to launch discussions on certifying information technology (IT) professionals as engineers, developing a continuing education and development programme for engineering graduates, defining good practice standards and ethics, and deciding upon the required education courses for software engineers.

According to the ICS, licensing software developers as chartered engineers is becoming a global trend as software systems have assumed a critical role in organisations. Software is now essential to the smooth functioning of national services, such as healthcare and power generation. Thus, it is important to ensure the designers of such systems have a clear set of skills, said the organisation.

Prof Jane Grimson, who is the vice president of IEI and Dean of Engineering at Trinity College, said: "IT has come of age and we must come of age, too." If certification comes into effect, software developers without the new qualification would not be barred from designing software. But many IT companies said that, in many cases, they would prefer to hire developers who were also chartered engineers.

The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said that the agreement could be particularly important to the development of Ireland as an e-commerce centre. The Irish software industry is now worth £5 billion and accounts for approximately 10 per cent of exports.