This field does not _need_ software engineers. This field needs marketing, product and project managers (for-profit or non-profit variety) that could figure ou

This field does not _need_ software engineers. This field needs marketing, product and project managers (for-profit or non-profit variety) that could figure out: 1. what product to build to have the biggest impact 2. how to build it. Once 1. and 2. is clear it will be equally clear that if you have a bunch of scientists you won't get a great product, as nobody will build the product, everyone will build a prototype. So then it will follow that the project needs to hire (=attract) software engineers to be in charge of software, and attracting software engineers means giving them competitive compensation.