About CNGL

The Centre for Next Generation Localisation (CNGL) is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) in the category "Centre for Science Engineering and Technology (CSET)". CNGL is led by Professor Josef van Genabith and conducts research in machine translation, speech processing, and digital content management.

Value to Ireland

Access to information and seamless communication are keys to success in the emerging multilingual and multicultural societies, and underpin global commerce and development. Localisation, the industrial process of linguistic and cultural adaptation to market requirements, is a core strategic technology in the transformation towards information- and knowledge-based economies. Ireland is particularly well placed to have a strong impact on this core strategic technology. Ireland has the highest concentration of localisation industry worldwide, and has continuously been at the forefront of innovation and development of localisation processes and practices. The CNGL has the potential to revolutionise localisation through its unique Industry-Academia partnership. We aim to achieve breakthroughs in standards, interoperability and automation based on language and digital content management technology. The basic research carried out at the CNLG underpins these breakthroughs and provides the foundations for technology transfer and commercial exploitation of the results. The Centre will help Ireland to maintain its leading position in this important sector of ICT, move localisation activities in Ireland up the value chain, and, in close collaboration with the Industrial Partners, ensure that innovations from the research labs translate into business opportunities, revenue streams and cutting edge, high-tech employment opportunities in the Irish ICT sector. In addition, through one of its Industrial Partners, DNP, the Centre has the unique opportunity to directly engage in the development and innovation of localisation technology in the Asian market.

Focus

The centre will address three problems that are critical for the Localisation Industry:

Volume

A growing amount of content has to be translated and localised in order to fit the destination culture and environment. The demand is growing so rapidly that it cannot be satisfied by human translators alone.

Access

Mobile phones, PDAs and other powerful small devices require novel technologies integrating speech and text in order to support "on the move" delivery of, and access to multilingual information.

Personalisation

Huge amounts of multilingual content now available on the web have to be adpated to individual needs. Content will be localised and personalised "instantly" on demands of users.