Comment: These web pages, hosted on the ELE website, are a replacement of the META-NET White Paper web pages on the original META-NET website, which had to be deactivated in 2024 for technical reasons.
Overview
Aims and Scope
META-NET, a Network of Excellence consisting of 60 research centres from 34 countries, is dedicated to building the technological foundations of a multilingual European information society.
META-NET is forging META, the Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance. The benefits offered by Language Technology differ from language to language. So do the actions that need to be taken within META-NET, depending on the factors such as the complexity of the respective language, the size of its community, and the existence of active research centres in this area.
Together with more than 200 contributing experts from all over Europe, the META-NET Network of Excellence conducted a large and comprehensive study on 30 European languages and the level of support they receive through Language Technologies. This study was published in the 30 volumes of the META-NET Language White Paper series “Europe’s Languages in the Digital Age” which also discusses the most urgent risks and chances of the languages in question. The series covers all official EU languages and several other languages spoken in geographical Europe. While there have been a number of valuable and comprehensive scientific studies on certain aspects of languages and technology, there exists no generally understandable compendium that takes a stand by presenting the main findings and challenges for each language. The META-NET White Paper Series fills this gap. The very alarming conclusion of the study is that more than 20 European languages are in danger of digital extinction.