1. Language based Interaction
ICT 2008, Lyon, 26 Nov 08
Roberto Cencioni Kimmo Rossi
Challenge 2 – Objective 2.2
Language based Interaction
DG Information Society and Media
Unit INFSO.E1 Language Technologies & Machine Translation

2. Outline Opening remarks FP7 ICT Call 4 – Essence
FP7 ICT Call 4 – Ingredients
Q&A
CIP ICT-PSP Call 3 – Opportunities
Q&A, close

3. Here we are a new unit established in July 2008 language is everywhere
Language Technologies & Machine Translation (INFSO.E1)
high expectations vs. low rate of EC S&T activity in the last few years
language is everywhere
written & spoken; documents, messages, databases, webpages, multimedia objects etc; information as well as meta-information
but our resources are limited, so initial focus on
multilingual technologies, services, applications
two instruments in 2009:
Research: FP7 ICT, call 4
Objective 2.2 – Language based Interaction
Innovation: CIP ICT-PSP, call 3
Theme 5 – Multilingual Web
total budget of 40 Meuro

4. Baseline Why? Purpose: support & enhance across languages
new online paradigms centred around communication, collaboration, co-creation … but significant language barriers remain
EU comprises 27 countries & 23 official languages
single European Information Space – one of the i2010 objectives
EC communication on Multilingualism (Sept ‘08) calls for a broader policy framework & joint action
Purpose: support & enhance
interpersonal & business communication
information access & publishing
across languages

5. A few facts EU official languages: 23 x 22 = 506 pairs
EC MT (Systran core engine) has 18 pairs in operation & 10 more pairs at prototype stage
60+ national, regional & minority languages within the EU
English accounts for 30% of today’s Web content
50% in 2000, 35% in 2004
Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese … growing very fast
nearly 1,5 billion internet users worldwide (2008)
c 320 million native EN speakers in the world
basic requirements for the “digital translation market”:
volume
access
personalisation
real quick, real cheap

6. Can’t this be done elsewhere?
indeed EU RTD projects often exhibit multilingual features
yet approaches are too often naïve, short term, sectoral
hence a dedicated focal point
stimulating upstream research
enhancing research capacity
thus enabling more ambitious & impactful domain specific actions

7. Research vs. Innovation division of labour
from
long term foundational research (FP7)
through
applied research & technology development (FP7) to
integration & demonstration (FP7 + PSP)
infrastructure & resources (FP7 + PSP)
different scale of ambition (€)
different level of maturity (technologyservice)
different timescales & partnerships

8. I. Workprogramme R&D topics & outcomes
FP7-ICT Call
I. Workprogramme R&D topics & outcomes

9. What technology can offer today
machine translation & translation memory
making sense of online content
improving productivity of human translation
automatic translation of “acceptable” quality in specific domains / language pairs
information search & retrieval
find relevant information across languages
information extraction, filtering, categorisation
incl. summarization, routing & alert services, …
for a variety of purposes eg business intelligence
speech technology
command & control, dictation systems
call center services, conversational systems

10. Trends new requirements, new approaches what happens to online content
from Web 1.X to Web 2.0 – we are all content producers
from static & uni-directional to dynamic, volatile, collaborative
from service to self-service, translations are needed “on the fly”
are language technologies up to the task?
what happens to online content
disappearing document?
Europa website: 6 million “documents”
elusive distinction between content & service
how to manage effectively multilingual content
multilingualism on the rise
in the EU (from 4 to 23 languages) and globally
English gains ground but mother tongues remain
online content becomes even more multilingual

11. What technology might offer tomorrow
machine translation
MT that learns from its mistakes
embedded in products/services, can cover any use context esp.online: chats, blogs, dynamic content ...
broader coverage, fill in missing languages
information search & retrieval
truly multilingual access to information: query in any language, content automatically translated
website content development & management
new content is translated automatically
changes automatically applied in all language versions
speech technology
real-time speech-to-speech translation (eg phone call, in a conference)

12. Challenges for MT bring MT to the users MT that learns & adapts
understand what users need
novel use scenarios
communication rather than translation
better evaluation metrics
MT that learns & adapts
how to exploit feedback from users
how to use readily available “world knowledge”
towards a paradigm shift?
inspiration from:
machine learning, cognitive systems, psycho-linguistics, sociology, semantic web, data mining, new computing paradigms ...

13. FP7-ICT Call 4 at a glance
Core research exploring new avenues for machine translation (IP)
ground breaking, multidisciplinary, high risk – high promise research
architectures & technologies that learn and adapt flexibly & effectively to different languages, domains & tasks
catering for new forms of language & communication (eg online communities; dynamic, volatile …)
Problem oriented research for specific tasks & usage contexts (STR)
online translation for the masses
translation in distributed collaborative environments
managing multilingual communication & content
automatic acquisition & annotation of language resources
Community building & networking (NOE)
reinvigorate European machine translation (MT) community
build bridges between MT & MLT and other relevant disciplines
help develop & coordinate shared technical infrastructure, promote reusability & interoperability, foster evaluation

14. Outcome a) IP
Core research. Explore new research avenues (one IP, up to 8 M)
break new ground, foster a novel multi-disciplinary approach to machine translation
architectures & technologies that can learn and adapt flexibly & effectively to different languages, domains & tasks
catering for new forms of language & communication (eg online communities)
high risk but high promise (accuracy, speed, scalability)
language & translation models coupled with
data driven, machine learning methods
automatic acquisition & representation of linguistic facts
semantics, models of world knowledge relevant for translation
approaches inspired from social networks …

15. Outcome b) STR
Problem oriented research. A clearly defined usage context (~5 STR’s, c 12 M)
online translation for the masses
wide coverage (beyond GoogleTranslate); adequate quality, suitable at least for gisting/browsing; language embedded in documents, web pages, multimedia objects …
translation in distributed environments
support non-linear collaborative interplay between authors, translators, editors/publishers & active users; innovative integration of automatic, interactive & human translation beyond current practice; technologies as well as processes & social interaction
managing multilingual content & communication
a superset of the above addressing the development & management of online content & services esp. their versioning & maintenance in multiple languages
acquisition & annotation of language resources
(nearly-)automatic, high volume, high performance
mining the web as well available repositories (eg corpora) and public information sources

16. Outcome b) managing multilingual Web content
methods, techniques, metrics … for developing & managing multilingual web content & services
much more than translation; significant cultural elements
think of
one big website in many languages, or
several interrelated websites, one country/language each
now think of how to maintain the integrity & consistency of such resources, effectively & over a long period of time
and how to detect & repair gaps or inconsistencies
so, beyond the “translation” step:
design, authoring, versioning & maintenance of (multiple, parallel, interconnected …) websites, portals or repositories
in a distributed collaborative environment, possibly across organisational boundaries

17. Outcome c) NOE
Community building & networking (1 or 2 NoEs, up to 6 M)
reinvigorate Europe’s machine translation (MT) community
bring together key players from scientific, technical & commercial circles (esp. SMEs)
stimulate cross-border cooperation (teams, institutions, national initiatives)
assess skills, foster training & exchanges; support smaller teams & not well-served languages
identify gaps, establish roadmap encompassing technologies, resources & applications
build bridges between MT & MLT community and other relevant disciplines
stimulate dialogue between diverse communities; identify opportunities & bottlenecks
initiate integrative research, prepare the ground for further collaboration
explore medium to long term approaches, identify possible shifts in paradigm
develop & coordinate shared technical infrastructure, reusability & interoperability, evaluation
infrastructural support: portal services, inventories & repositories of general interest tools & raw/annotated datasets, their documentation
active promotion of reusability & open-source; harmonisation of representation & annotation schemes
foster widely recognized benchmarks ...

18. What we don’t do Not supported under Call 4:
approaches that do not promise to deliver performance along with portability, scalability & maintenability
yes: emphasis on automation, flexibility & cost effectiveness
developments addressing immediate commercial concerns
no: adding a language pair to an existing product
proposals that do not address « language transfer »
yes: focus on mapping a source language into one or several target languages
issues covered by other Challenges and Objectives
no: HMI, interaction with robots, ambient intelligence …
topics well covered by recent & ongoing projects
no: sign languages, dialogue systems …

19. Email: infso-e1@ec.europa.eu
Practical info
FP7-ICT Objective 2.2 – Language based interation
budget: 26 Meuro under Call 4
managed by: Unit E1
EC contact: Mr Kimmo Rossi
inquiries: available
pre-proposals: from Dec 1st until 3 weeks before the call closing date (Apr 1st)
Language Technology Days: January 2009, Luxbg
ICT Proposers’ Day: 22 January 2009, Budapest

20. Web sources INFSO.E1 website (under construction):
cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/..
FP7-ICT: ../fp7-call4_en.html
ICT-PSP: ../cip-psp_en.html
Events & Presentations
Call guidance notes
Background material & useful Links …
EC contact: Mrs Susan Fraser

21. II. Practicalities & Success Factors
FP7-ICT Call
II. Practicalities & Success Factors

22. LT Days
14-15 January, 2009
Luxembourg, JMO conference complex
EC presentations, sessions w/ext speakers, proposal clinics, self-presentations & posters
Agenda & registrations:
cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/
language-technologies/fp7-call4_en.html

23. Pre-proposals & Clinics
3 pages max, mail to:
describe the problem your proposal addresses, in particular
specify the intended user profile and related tasks
describe actual or prospective applications
detail data sets: source(s), typology, volume
how will the proposed project contribute to the outcomes and impacts set out in the work programme?
what are the key innovations?
what will be the main concrete results?
what public outputs are foreseen?
what impact do you expect?
describe the consortium
give partners' names or profiles and the intended skills mix
indicate the intended instrument (if known)
indicate the scale of your ambition
what is the estimated effort (man-months)
how long will the proposed project last?
what amount of EU funding are you looking for?

24. Overall approach research for a purpose, problem driven
centred around people & tasks, data & flows
a compelling use case is as important as the underlying research
meaningful demonstrator(s)
field validation & assessment
active promotion & dissemination of results beyond purely scientific circles
public outputs, public final showcase

25. Instruments IP up to 4 years, 5-8 Meuro (EU funding) NoE

26. Partnerships keep the consortium manageable: IPs 7-11 partners
STRs 5-7 partners
NoEs “core” partners
select competent, committed & reliable partners; geography not an issue!
industry, SME, academia … participation as dictated by project needs
user/industrial/commercial organisations to provide a demanding problem & validation context

27. Language coverage
most of the work is expected to be language independent
flexibility & ease of adaptation to other languages are indeed key factors
many of the ancillary tasks & tools are language independent anyway
project outcomes must however be validated in 3+ languages
preferably belonging to different linguistic families
target languages are chosen & justified by the proposers bearing in mind the following priorities (from high to low):
EU official languages
nationally recognised languages
regional languages
minority languages
Non-EU world languages linked to global markets & exports can be considered as well
on a proposal by proposal basis

28. Target industrial sectors
look for
huge & growing data volumes
competitive pressure
high growth & innovation
international markets
obvious candidates
ICT & media
manufacturing
process industries eg pharmaceuticals
energy & utilities
engineering & construction
financial services …

29. Reasons for failure RTD content planning management
narrow scope, little or no EU dimension
lack of focus, aims too general
lack of innovation, current state of art missing
planning
links missing between objectives & work plan
milestones missing or too general
risk factors not addressed, no contingency plans
no monitorable indicators, no metrics
management
consortium not balanced, gaps in the skills mix
lack of integration between partners
vague management structure
weak or narrow dissemination plans
ill-defined exploitation prospects

30. Success factors .1 Quality Impact Effectiveness but also
Relevance wrt. WP
Credibility
Evaluators will have access to Web sources: previous projects, teams & skills, background & reference documents …

31. Success factors .2 It’s a project, not a dissertation: problem? user?
data?
outputs (incl. public ones)?
metrics?
impact?
exploitation channels? …

32. Success factors .3
preserve your credibility: select one proposal & make it win
ensure that the proposal brings out both innovation & exploitation potential
full depth of participation rather than long list of organisations with limited involvement
key individuals, expertise & achievements rather than long list of previous projects
make the proposal compelling for a busy reader (the first 5-10 pages are key!)

33. Time schedule call due to close 1 April, 2009
evaluation & selection until end June
negotiation from mid-July on
contract awarding in December
projects due to start Q1 2010
… highly selective & demanding process

34. ICT-PSP Call
Overview (subject to forthcoming adoption of WP, call budget & schedule)

35. ICT-PSP Call 3, Q1 09 geared towards innovation & ICT uptake:
ICT Policy Support Programme (PSP) within the Competitiveness & Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) (adopted in October 2006)
geared towards innovation & ICT uptake:
development of the Single European information space
strengthening of the internal market for ICT products and services and ICT-based products and services
stimulation of innovation through the wider adoption of and investment in ICT
ensure seamless access to ICT-based services
improve the conditions for the development of digital content, taking into account multilingualism & cultural diversity
Takes over eContentplus activities from Jan 2009

36. “Europe’s language is Translation”
translation & interpretation market (exc. in-house):
c $15 billion; €1.1 billion for EU institutions alone (2006)
top EU-based translation company posted a revenue of $175 million in 2006
market fragmentation
big players < 1000 employees
est. 300,000 full time salaried translators worldwide (37% in Europe)
a good European base
SDL, Star, RWS, XRX, Euroscript, Logos, Moravia, VistaTEC, Semantix …
ESTeam, Lucy Software …
a largely untapped potential
4x according to some companies

37. Business world
new models: Most companies follow the age-old translate-edit-proofread model of translation. Collaborative, web-based technologies allow translation to become more agile, faster, and better with fewer steps (CSA Inc.)
new markets: Language Weaver is entering the three new strategic markets – Web Content, Business Intelligence and Customer Care – to provide high-volume, high-speed, and accurate automated translation solutions at a price that would have been unfathomable just a few years ago
new approaches: If you don't see your native language here, you can help Google create it by becoming a volunteer translator. Check out our Google in Your Language program
and then of course:
Unfortunately for Google as a person with 7 years of translation experience myself I can tell that you will hardly ever find a translator who will agree that machine translation can be useful for anything. (a Russian translator)

38. ICT-PSP Call 3, Theme 5: Multilingual Web
3 objectives:
machine translation for the multilingual Web (pilot projects)
multilingual Web content management (pilot projects)
standards & best practices for the multilingual Web (thematic network)
14 Meuro in total, around 6 projects
“The duration of the pilot is expected to be 24 to 36 months within which there should be a 12-month operational phase.”

39. ICT-PSP Call 3, Theme 5: Multilingual Web
research: no, at least not ICT research …
development/engineering:
optimisation, customisation, integration … of existing (state of the art) methods, tools & services with a view to defining new approaches, offerings & practices
demonstration:
innovative combination is key; new business models, processes & services, organisational setups, usability …
evaluation along user, technical & (socio-)economic dimensions
problem orientation:
useful & useable although possibly not perfect; think ROI

40. Scope & defs MT as defined in the ICT-PSP workprogramme encompasses
fully automatic machine translation, whatever the technology
interactive computer-aided translation (eg TM)
a suitable combination of 1. and/or 2. with web based
human translation, proof-reading & post-editing incl. where relevant methods inspired from social networks
workflow & content management systems, …
innovative & effective combination of people, processes & technology; the end result is not science, rather
more and/or better output
save time
cut cost
emphasis on language transfer, from source language to target language(s)
language input-output (e.g. speech-to-text) is not the focus
cross-platform, multi-format content access/delivery is key

41. Language coverage
some of the work is expected to be language independent
flexibility & ease of adaptation to other languages are key factors
content authoring & management, collaboration & workflow … are language independent anyway
project outcomes must be validated in 3+ languages
preferably belonging to different linguistic families
target languages are chosen & justified by the proposers bearing in mind the following priorities (from high to low):
EU official languages
nationally recognised languages
regional languages
minority languages
Non-EU world languages linked to global markets & exports can be considered as well
on a proposal by proposal basis

42. Cont’d project’s language coverage driven by the need to:
address gaps & overcome barriers e.g. cross-border communication for less-developed languages, or
exploit opportunities e.g. address emerging markets & sizeable language communities
impact is key, so: viability, sustainability, exploitation channels, deployment prospects …
main findings must be pro-actively disseminated
some form of public showcase is mandatory
participants should include
private or public sector content owners & aggregators
providers of language services, technology suppliers
(online) communities of interest where relevant
6-7 partners/project, up to €2.5 million funding, up to 36 months

43. ICT-PSP Call 3 Feb 09 3 intertwined objectives:
5.1 machine translation for the multilingual Web (projects)
information access: MT and other multilingual solutions for information access & use, esp. cross-lingual search & retrieval
information publishing: MT to create, distribute and (re-)use more widely & effectively online content in a multilingual environment
5.3 multilingual Web content management (projects)
communication: multilingual Web content development & management; design, authoring, versioning & maintenance of multilingual Web sites, portals or repositories
5.2 standards & best practices for the multilingual Web (network)
conventions & best practices for multilingual Web content

44. ICT-PSP, 5.3 multilingual Web content management
methods, techniques, metrics … for developing & managing multilingual web content & services
much more than translation; significant cultural elements
think of
one big website in many languages, or
several interrelated websites, one country/language each
now think of how to maintain the integrity & consistency of such resources, effectively & over a long period of time
and how to detect & repair gaps or inconsistencies
so, beyond the “translation” step (obj 5.1):
design, authoring, versioning & maintenance of (multiple, parallel, interconnected …) websites, portals or repositories
in a distributed collaborative environment, possibly across organisational boundaries
so as to turn a multi-million endeavour into a viable proposition for a much broader range of companies & administrations

45. ICT-PSP, 5.1 machine translation for the multilingual Web
5.1 can be seen as a subset & central component of obj 5.3 (its “translation box”)
different usages:
web at large, enterprise, public information repositories …
different users:
teams as well as individuals, engineers as well as analysts, sales & marketing, language professionals, … you & me
different content rich, information bound sectors, private & public
quality depends on task & user
from raw translation & “gisting” up to error-free translation
two important conditions:
widely recognised, well argued problem; clearly identified target community
thorough validation in a given domain / for a given task
volume
metrics

46. ICT-PSP, 5.2 standards & best practices
Thematic network
covers the same broad issues as 5.3
“the web as THE vehicle for multilingual content & services”
provides a forum for multilateral exchange of experience & consensus building
structure & tasks to be defined by the proposers, indicative list:
bring together a meaningful subset of the main stakeholders, possibly through their own groups & associations
ICT & language industries, content aggregators/distributors, e-services, multinational agencies, industry & de-jure standards bodies …
analyse current situation, identify gaps & bottlenecks; assess market failures if any, specify technical & non-technical conditions to be met and the respective actors
establish roadmap (trends, requirements, dependencies …) for further developments in the coming years
stimulate consensus & active involvement/coordination; take part in leading conferences, liaise with primary associations etc.
explore means to promote best practice (conferences, portals, publications, training …) beyond current channels
propose suitable follow-on actions

47. ICT-PSP Instruments & Funding
pilot B projects:
min. 4 partners from 4 different countries
50% of eligible direct costs
flat 30% overhead rate of personnel costs
thematic networks:
min. 7 partners from 7 different countries
lump sum; for 3 years and 1+10 participants:
coordinator: 95 Keuro
other participants: 24 Keuro each
ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/ict_psp/participating/index_en.htm

48. Email: infso-e1@ec.europa.eu
Practical info
ICT-PSP Theme 5 – Multilingual Web
budget: 14 Meuro under Call 3
managed by: Unit E1
EC contact: Mr Kimmo Rossi
inquiries: from the call publication date (~Feb)
pre-proposals: from publication until 3 weeks before the call closing date

49. Email: INFSO-E1@ec.europa.eu
Events
Language Technology Days:
14-15 Jan 2009, Luxbg
ICT-PSP Info Day:
26 Jan 2009, Brussels (tbc)
URL: cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/..
FP7-ICT: ../fp7-call4_en.html
ICT-PSP: ../cip-psp_en.html

50. Thank you!