The CdT Transformation Programme was implemented to establish a business model based on state-of-the-art language technologies and new added-value services for clients. To do so, the CdT and the EUIPO joined forces, building on their long-standing and strong history of working together, and agreed on a two-year programme (2019–2020) to develop new linguistic services, optimise and digitise processes to gain efficiency, and enhance the customer experience.
The Translation Centre (CdT) was set up in 1994 to provide translation services for EU agencies and bodies to enable them to communicate with people across the EU in their own languages. After more than 25 years, the linguistic world has changed enormously with technological advancements and the demand for more diverse linguistic services.
The CdT must adapt to technological change, maintain its client base and ensure its financial sustainability, while seeking to optimise resources to deliver the best linguistic services possible and adapt its service offer to respond to clients’ needs. During 2017 and 2018, the CdT’s budget forecasts indicated that it might potentially run into financial difficulties as it is financed by the services invoiced to its clients (the CdT is a self-financed EU agency).
The programme included a series of projects that were launched at the end of 2018. The projects successfully integrated the most innovative language technologies, such as neural machine translation and automatic speech recognition.
European through and through and driven by a passion for communicating with Europeans in their own languages, the programme aimed to bring the linguistic services well into the twenty-first century.
Key objectives:
- analyse the communication needs / multilingual projects of the CdT’s clients to find the best and most cost-effective solutions for them;
- set up a sustainable business model based on value-added services whereby the CdT can maintain its financial independence;
- use state-of-the art technology to ensure high-quality linguistic services with the shortest possible turnaround times;
- support the EU’s firm commitment to the principle of multilingualism;
- be an exemplary model of cross-institutional support, sharing the expertise (project implementation and innovation) of one agency with another.