The LINDWEB Conference Report

On the 24th of May, 2012, Brussels was teeming with the eloquent and professionally multilingual experts that make up Europe's Language Industry.

Language professionals from all corners of Europe were in attendance of the 1st Forum of the Language Industry Web Platform, hosted by DG Translation. With the motto Share, Cooperate, Grow, the conference brought together stakeholders from academia, small- and medium-sized organizations, public administration officials, and freelancers to discuss the first phase of LINDWEB's existence - since the platform was launched last year - in the hopes of improving the visibility and professionalization of Translation across multiple arenas: in government, statistics, higher education, and the public sphere.

With presentations ranging from OPTIMALE (a university network to promote the employability of Translation graduates) to AILIA in Canada (a language industry organization promoting translation, language training, and technologies) and TILDE in Latvia (a small business developing machine translations), the conference showed the many ways that Language Industry professionals can network, share, and gain visibility using the LINDWEB platform, all with the goal of reaching out to European citizens.

Moving forward, DG Translation will try to work with stakeholders to develop the site to fit a variety of professional and academic needs. Lots of discussion was held at the forum concerning LINDWEB as a one-stop shop for all language industry documents, resources, and studies. Other topics of concern included improving the site's interface, questions of financing and improvement in future, and promoting the website to gain visibility and support. There was a diverse mix of representatives present, ensuring a wide collection of ideas gathered to ensure many future forums for LINDWEB.

To the coordinators and participants of this event – a hearty thanks from Brussels!

For more information on LINDWEB, please click here