e-Estonia Council recognised the work implemented under the National Programme for Estonian Language Technology

Stenbock House, 24 November 2014 – The members of the e-Estonia Council learned about the development of the Estonian language technology and recognised the work that has been done under the National Programme for Estonian Language Technology at today’s meeting. For example, speech synthesis and speech recognition applications have been created, including applications for automatic transcription or dubbing of radio and TV broadcasts.

According to the Chairman of the e-Estonia Council, Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas, it is very important to actively address the issues of the Estonian language technology.

“Estonian is a small language and it is our own duty to keep it alive and develop in the IT world,” Prime Minister Rõivas said. The development and introduction of the Estonian language technology is also important in terms of the Estonian Information Society Development Plan 2014–2020 as it serves as one of the backbones of the vision.
 
The Council discussed the steps on how to extend the implementation of existing language technology solutions, especially by the public sector. Council members agreed that it is important to first and foremost ensure the availability and usability of Estonian content and services by means of language technology.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications also introduced the current quality status and future development plans of public e-services at the meeting of e-Estonia Council today. It was noted that the number of public e-services is high, but their quality varies. The Council decided that efforts should be made to improve the coordination of services. Furthermore, a plan to determine the owners of the services in each state institution and establish uniform standards for the quality of e-services was supported.

Additionally, the launch of the e-residency programme was discussed. The Council supported the need to make the e-residency application easier and more accessible as soon as possible, especially in foreign missions.

The e-Estonia Council manages the development of the Estonian information society and e-Government, particularly the implementation of the information society development plan. The Council’s role is to advise the Government in taking positions, consult the work of state authorities, and make arrangements. The Council consists of five experts and representatives of the ICT sector and three Ministers. The Chairman of the Council is the Prime Minister. Other public authorities and experts are included in the work, as appropriate.

More information about the Council can be found here: https://riigikantselei.ee/et/valitsuse-toetamine/e-eesti-noukogu