The Institute for Business Informatics and Digital Society e.V. emerged from the former Forschungsvereinigung Software e.V. (FVS), founded in Potsdam in 2009. The Forschungsvereinigung Software e.V. promoted applied software research and thus provided a platform for exchange, cooperation, and knowledge transfer between software research and the software industry. It was conceived as an industry-oriented interest group to close the funding gap of applied software research. The goal of the FVS was to conduct applied research into the development, use and distribution of software in order to increase the competitiveness of the software industry.

The general meeting of FVS e.V. members decided in spring 2017 to rename the association to Institute for Business Informatics and Digital Society e.V..