When? 21 January 2022
Where? Virtually
Organisation

•    The European Language Resource Coordination (ELRC) consortium
•    Office of the State Advocate, Malta; The University of Malta; European Commission Representation in Malta

Language Technology is shaping our multilingual future. It has already been transforming the way we interact with our devices and with each other, the way we shop, work and travel. More and more it reshapes our interaction with service providers, either public or private. Programs that automatically correct spelling errors and aid sophisticated writing, digital assistants that transform our voices to text messages on mobile phones, bots that answer our calls to the bank or to our social security organisation, systems that automatically translate from a foreign language, and much more, are already empowering our everyday lives, our businesses and our administrations. But can we fully use our own language in our digital interactions? Is our language adequately supported and ready to keep pace with the technological advancements of the AI era? 

The third Maltese European Language Resource Coordination (ELRC) workshop will address these questions and it will seek to engage participants in a fruitful discussion on the status and prospects of Language Technology for Maltese. Developers, integrators and users of Language Technology, both from the private and public sector will share experiences, requirements and ways for transforming digital interaction in our multilingual Europe with Language Technologies. Finally, we will discuss how language data, i.e. texts and speech, can fuel development in Artificial Intelligence.

The ELRC workshop is a free event, but registration is required. Please register here. 

For further information, please contact the local workshop managers:

Please read ELRC Data Protection Notice 

Workshop programme in Maltese here 

Workshop programme

09:00 – 09:10  Welcome and introduction 
Dr Donatienne Spiteri, Legislation Unit - Office of the State Advocate
ELRC Public Services National Anchor Point
09:10 – 09:30 

Welcome by the European Commission
Philippe Gelin, Head of Sector Multilingualism, DG CONNECT - European Commission

Presentation
09:30 – 10:00 

The potential of Language Technology and AI – where we are, where we should be heading 
Dr Albert Gatt, University of Utrecht and Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology, University of Malta

Presentation
10:00 – 10:30 

Language Technologies in Malta for Maltese
Dr Claudia Borg, Department of Artificial Intelligence - University of Malta

Presentation
10:30 – 10:45  Coffee Break 
10:45 – 11:15 

eTranslation platform @ work: an overview and live demo

•    Christopher Scott, Computational Linguist - Directorate General for Translation (DGT) - European Commission

Presentation

•    Mark Vella, Language Officer – European Commission Representation in Malta
11:15 – 11:45

Language Technologies by/for the public sector: a focus on the new National Language Technology Platform [INEA/CEF/ICT/A2020/2278398] 

•    Tom Eric Hanson, Development Project Manager - Tilde

•    Keith Cortis, Enterprise Architect, Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA)

Presentation
11:45 – 12:30 

Human-Centric Language Technologies for the public administration, SMEs and citizens: existing practices and challenges - Panel discussion 

Moderators: 

Mike Rosner, Department of Artificial Intelligence - University of Malta
ELRC Technology National Anchor Point

Dr Judie Attard, Enterprise Data Manager - Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA)

Panel Members:

•    Carlo Stivala, Executive Head - FITA (Foundation for IT Accessibility)
•    Andrew Aquilina, Head of Policy - Malta Chamber of SMEs
•    Thomas Pace, Executive Director - National Council for the Maltese Language
•    Donald Mangion, CIO - Ministry for Justice and Governance
•    Joseph Izzo Clarke, Head of the Maltese Language Unit – European Court of Justice
12:30 - 12:45 Conclusions
Ms Joyce Dimech, Permanent Secretary - Ministry for The National Heritage, The Arts and Local Government

Register