8th Forum of European Minority Regions: Focus on digitalisation

The 8th Forum of European Minority Regions is approaching: this year, the important exchange of knowledge will take place on 26 and 27 November in San Sebastián/Donostia in the Basque Country (Spain). It is being organised by FUEN in collaboration with the organisation of the Basque language industry cluster "Langune". Under the title "Digitalisation - Challenges and Opportunities for Minorities", the focus this time will be on digital transformation and its impact on the languages and cultures of minority communities.

Advancing digitalisation offers many opportunities for minorities, but also poses challenges. Digital content in minority languages is often not available or does not correspond to the level of information in the majority language. Minority communities also often have to resort to machine translations in order to access digital content in their respective languages.

This year's forum will therefore address the question of how minority communities can keep pace with and benefit from digitalisation. The main focus will be on the growing importance of artificial intelligence and language technologies such as machine translation, speech recognition and text generation. These technologies not only offer the opportunity to promote minority languages, but also to create new economic opportunities, as the language industry cluster in the Basque Country with over 5,000 employees is already demonstrating.

It will also discuss how countries and regions can promote the development of language technologies, for example through tax incentives for the digitalisation of minority languages. The forum will also address the role of minority languages in the growing entertainment industry, for example in video games, audio books and the dubbing of audiovisual content.

With the participation of experts from all over Europe, the forum will become a platform for exchange and collaboration to shape and advance the digital future of minority languages.

If you would like to take part in the forum, you can register on the website. The registration deadline is 20 October.

On the website you will also find further information on the programme and previous editions of the Forum of European Minority Regions.