Why is support for preCICE necessary?
Only with the necessary resources for continued maintenance and development can open source software be viable in the long run. Using open source software in a professional context can therefore be considered risky, because the long-term sustainability is uncertain. In order to ensure a sustainable future for preCICE, we are taking steps to make sure preCICE remains the leading, state-of-the-art coupling solution. By supporting preCICE as an academic or industry user, you contribute to the long-term development of preCICE and receive dedicated support from the preCICE development team.
Funding and support options
There are three different ways to fund and support the development of preCICE and get support from the preCICE developers in return.
1. Research project partner
Include preCICE as a project partner in your research project proposal or team up with the preCICE developers to write a proposal. This is the best option when you want to benefit from the research and scientific expertise of the preCICE team, and increase the chances that your project is funded. The developers of preCICE are experts in numerical methods, high-performance computing, and software engineering for multi-X coupled problems. Reviewers appreciate the highly recognized expertise of preCICE, demonstrated by our fast growing number of citations, and vibrant community.
2. Support license
A support license is the easiest way to support preCICE. By acquiring a support license from TTI GmbH, you directly contribute to the development of preCICE through a fixed amount per year. In exchange, you receive a number of benefits, in particular timely and direct support from the preCICE developers around any issues that may arise when using preCICE. We provide two service levels, with discounted rates for academia.
Benefits
| Basic support license (12 months, billed annually) |
Extended support license (12 months, billed annually) |
|
|---|---|---|
| discounts for preCICE Workshop | up to 3 tickets | up to 3 tickets |
| priority support | via Discourse, up to 3 priority users |
via Discourse, up to 3 priority users |
| visibility/dissemination | listed as supporter, project featured on website |
listed as supporter, project featured on website |
| private support | in a private Discourse room or via video call (Zoom etc.) |
|
| on-site support | up to 2 days of training or support per year | |
| confidentiality agreement | NDA upon request | |
| service level agreement | SLA upon request | |
| price | upon request (discount for academia) |
upon request (discount for academia) |
Direct cost in a research project
As an academic user you can declare the support license, like any software license, as a direct cost/consumable in your research proposal (see e.g. section 2.1 in basic module DFG guidelines). It is also recommended to include the support license as a risk mitigation strategy to highlight that you, as a project lead, have the support for a successful implementation. In addition, as part of the support license, you can leverage the preCICE website and community for your communication/dissemination activities.
3. (Sub-) contracting
Contracting is another option to benefit from the expertise of the preCICE developers. This option is the right choice if you require a new (minor) feature in preCICE itself or any of the official adapters. Development of an adapter for your code, on the other hand, is typically not well-suited for sub-contracting as this task requires expertise in your code, not in preCICE.
Please note that we can only offer a very limited amount of contracting and we strongly advise you to include preCICE as a project partner, or acquire a support license instead.
Contact
Directly contact Benjamin Uekermann to discuss a collaboration or request a support license.