SIIA had a groundbreaking 2011. We built influence in Washington, released incisive reports, welcomed new members, and hosted dozens of events around the world. Check out photos from our events and read about our 10 most exciting developments of 2011:

1. Patent reform (finally!) passes – The first comprehensive patent reform in half a century was signed into law Sept. 16. SIIA and its members worked diligently toward this goal for over six years, over the course of three Congresses and two administrations. The bill’s passage represents a significant victory for the software and content industries. It will improve patent quality and reduce–though certainly not eliminate–wasteful litigation over bad patents.

2. Software CEOS predict the future – SIIA took the pulse of chief executive officers to unveil growth and innovation drivers across the software industry. The result was a groundbreaking publication, Vision from the Top, which offers the collective wisdom of 45 SIIA member CEOs. Many of the predictions converged around the future of mobile, cloud and social media.

3. Two markets defined – SIIA’s membership divisions released two market reports in 2011 that shed light on the size and scope of its industries. The Education Division unveiled the 2010 U.S. Educational Technology Industry Market: PreK-12 Report at the Ed Tech Business Forum in November. First in a series, it values the overall market for PreK-12 non-hardware educational technology at $7.5 billion dollars—with content-related products accounting for 42 percent of that revenue. The Software Division released its annual Software Benchmarking Industry Report, which found that small and mid-sized software companies saw significant revenue growth rates of 26-50 percent in 2010.

4. Major cloud policy agenda established – SIIA has long been a supporter of cloud computing as a driver for innovation and economic growth.  In 2011, we took major steps to encourage an effective policy environment to help make this a reality.  To that end, SIIA published a whitepaper for policymakers to explain how cloud computing works and identify its transformative benefits. The policy team also gave input for the EU Cloud Consultation, promoted federal legislation to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and worked closely with Obama Administration officials to advance their Cloud First Policies.

5. New members welcomed – SIIA welcomed dozens of new members in 2011, bringing its total membership to 512. One key area of growth was the Financial Information Services Division’s launch of a new constituency group for credit rating agencies. The group, formed initially by Moody’s Investors Services, Fitch Ratings, and Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, welcomed participation of other SEC-registered credit rating agencies around the world.

6. Digital education gets a boost – States from West Virginia to Florida led the K-12 education shift from print to digital instructional content, passing new laws long advocated by SIIA, which modernize outdated state textbook adoption programs. Texas SB6 provides full local flexibility to purchase digital content and technology, while Florida HB2120 will require schools to spend more than half of their textbook budget on digital materials by 2015-16.

7. Big rewards for piracy whistleblowers – SIIA paid $35,000 in rewards during the month of December alone to five people who reported cases of corporate end-user software or content piracy. The SIIA Corporate Anti-Piracy program uses verifiable tips to launch piracy investigations of cases of piracy that take place within an organization.

8. The higher ed market, demystified – 10 doctors, 5 college professors, 4 MBAs, 3 attorneys, 2 Harvard physicists: they all came together, along with dozens of others including CTOs, CEOs and VPs to create SIIA’s newest publication, The Experts’ Guide to the Postsecondary Market.  The resource offers expert guidance on everything from product development to selling in the postsecondary marketplace. Several authors discussed their key takeaways in a video series.

9. Visionary leaders present – Some of the leading voices in the software and digital content industries spoke at SIIA events in 2011. ProQuest CEO Marty Kahn turned heads with his frank discussion of challenges in the digital content landscape at the Information Industry Summit. Dr. Richard Sims, Chief Economist for the National Education Association, was back by popular demand at the 2011 Ed Tech Business Forum, where he followed up on the bleak economic predictions he made in 2009. Other standout speakers in 2011 were Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy for the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley at the World Financial Information Conference, Jim Whitehurst, President & CEO at RedHat at All About the Cloud, and Chris C. Kemp, CTO for IT at NASA, at Cloud/Gov.

10. Excellence recognized – SIIA recognized achievements in the software and digital content industries through a series of awards programs in 2011. Some highlights:

• The 26^th annual CODiE Awards presented 66 awards in digital content, education technology and business software.
• The Content Division recognized RapidBuyr as the SIIA Previews Program’s “Most Likely to Succeed” at the 2011 Information Industry Summit.
• The Education Division’s Innovation Incubator Award winners for 2011 were Fluidity Software, Footsteps2Brilliance, GiftedSpeech, and Capstone Digital.
• On a personal level, FISD presented the Market Data Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Joseph Kasputys, founder and former chairman, president and CEO of global information company IHS Global Insight.
• The Education Division honored Kathy Hurley, senior vice president of strategic partnerships for Pearson and the Pearson Foundation, with its prestigious Ed Tech Impact Award.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.