The report is a part of a preliminary project studying the needs and possibilities to start a special national program in language technology. Although the Finnish language technology research and applications are competitive, the small size of the research groups and enterprises slows down international recognition. Language technology research has also been spread to different faculties and universities, which adds to poor visibility. A national program could improve co-operation between research groups and initiate new research projects. Organizing events and improving communication can bring potential partners together for joint projects.
Language technology means processing human language by information technology.
The most common applications today are text processing application modules that check grammar and spelling. Also language recognition and production, as well as automatic translation, have become more popular. Finland is one of the world's leading countries specially in processing written language. CSC - Center for Scientific Computing will be a national information and communication center for language technology in Finland for 1998 and1999.