Contextual and Social Computing are converging. Three major trends are impacting software business and engineering:

1. The rise of the verticals
   In the slipstream of various successful, large horizontal (i.e. generic) social networks such as Facebook, a plethora of niche vertical social websites and software has emerged to provide tailored services and value for niches and vertical domains (e.g. PatientsLikeMe, Stackoverflow or LinkedIn).
2. The number and diversity of devices is growing
   Nowadays, end-user software is running on ever more types of connected devices from smartphones to smartwatches, augmented/virtual reality headsets etc.
3. Platform business models and technology profoundly impact(ed) the economics of software development
   The Appeconomy enables third-party developers to target a world-wide audience at much lower costs than few years ago. The "app" construct popularized the idea of having a flexible set of small loosely coupled software modules for specific use-cases tailored to the user's evolving needs.

Against this background, Siemens Corporate Technology and sebis set up a joint research project to identidy use cases for vertical social software in niche professional domains and address questions on how to integrate vertical software with shared social features based on a platform/app ecosystem.