Background
Twenty-four official languages and more than 60 regional and minority languages constitute the fabric of the EU’s linguistic landscape. However, language barriers still hamper communication and the free flow of information across the EU. Multilingualism is a key cultural cornerstone of Europe and signifies what it means to be and to feel European. Many studies and resolutions, as noted in the recent EP resolution “Language equality in the digital age”, have found a striking imbalance in terms of support through language technologies and issue a call to action.
The two projects ELE and ELE 2 answer this call and lay the foundations for a strategic agenda and roadmap for making digital language equality a reality in Europe by 2030.
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Abstract of the Project ELE
The primary goal of ELE is to prepare the European Language Equality Programme, in the form of a strategic research, innovation and implementation agenda and a roadmap for achieving full digital language equality in Europe by 2030. This programme will be prepared jointly with the whole European Language Technology, Computational Linguistics and language-centric AI community, as well as with representatives of relevant initiatives and associations, language communities and RML groups.
The consortium includes all relevant scientific and industrial stakeholders from all Member States and Associated Countries and engages them in the process. The whole community is included in the project through external consultation sessions. The project plan is fully optimised towards this key goal of preparing the strategic agenda and roadmap and of involving the whole European LT community.
Ensuring appropriate technology support for all European languages will create jobs, growth and opportunities in the digital single market. Equally crucial, overcoming language barriers in the digital environment is essential for an inclusive society and for providing unity in diversity for many years to come. The ELE project provides a roadmap and framework to achieve this.
Abstract of the Project ELE 2
ELE 2 builds on the foundations created by the original ELE project in developing a strategic agenda and roadmap for making digital language equality a reality in Europe by 2030. The primary goal of ELE 2 is to revise, extend and further promote the strategic research, innovation and implementation agenda and roadmap.
ELE 2 will, among others, further develop and consolidate the overall vision of the ELE Programme and also refine the KPIs that specify what the ELE Programme intends to achieve, together with the relevant stakeholders. Moreover, the planning with regard to the exploitation of the ELE Programme’s results, clustering and grouping the resulting technologies, assisting with their deployment and/or commercialisation, etc. will be refined. To achieve such objectives, interviews, surveys, brainstorming and consultation meetings will be conducted and are foreseen to contribute to the refinement of different parts and themes of the agenda and roadmap.
In addition, through an Open Call for SRIA contribution projects, first action will be financially supported towards implementing examples of language resource development and language technology creation in relevant industry sectors and other areas of life.