Elhuyar and the UIK have today signed a cooperation agreement in the field of language technologies at the Miramar Palace in San Sebastian, specifically for the design and development of pilot tests with a simultaneous automatic translation system that turns the voice into text. The convention was signed by Jon Abril Olaetxea, general coordinator of Elhuyar, and Itziar Alkorta, academic director of UIK.

Thanks to this agreement, this year’s UPV/EHU Summer Courses, using language technologies, will test simultaneous machine translation systems in real environments. Thus, lectures on selected courses will automatically be translated into written text and automatically translated, all simultaneously.

For translations, Elhuyar will use AI based technologies such as voice recognition systems and machine translation systems.

This Convention signed by Elhuyar and the UIK, in addition to promoting cooperation between the two entities, will be of mutual benefit.

On the one hand, the project is important for the UIK, as it will allow the Basque country to have a greater presence in the programme, because even in cases for which an interpretation service is not provided, the rapporteurs will be able to speak in Euskera, and assistants who do not know Euskera will simultaneously receive the written translation of this content in their language.

Moreover, for Elhuyar it is a unique opportunity, which will allow you to test the technology you create in a real environment. These pilot tests will be used to assess the adaptation of the system to different rapporteurs and situations. This is an important step towards making society aware of the technologies that allow simultaneous machine translation.