September 1, 2020 Third Multilingual Speech Translation Contest

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, headed by Dr. TOKUDA Hideyuki, President) will hold the Multilingual Speech Translation Contest for the third time. Accordingly, they will call for ideas and proofs of concepts (PoCs) of new ways to use multilingual speech translation technology. This contest is a part of the Global Communication Plan 2025, which aims to eliminate the world’s language barriers and realize free and global exchange. Outstanding works will receive awards, including the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Award and the NICT Award.
This contest has been held every year since 2018, and this year’s contest will be the third multilingual speech translation contest.

1. Overview

MIC and NICT are promoting the Global Communication Plan 2025 *1to eliminate the world’s language barriers and realize global free exchange and working on developing and spreading multilingual speech translation technology.
As part of this, MIC and NICT will hold the Multilingual Speech Translation Contest *2 as in the previous year. Accordingly, MIC and NICT have decided to call for ideas and PoCs of new ways to use multilingual speech translation technology to accelerate the further spread of multilingual voice translation technology and the creation of a wide variety of translation services and eliminate the world’s language barriers.
MIC and NICT are waiting for new concepts and ideas that can change the world.

• *1
  Global Communication Plan 2025 (March 2020)
  A plan that summarizes policies for new missions, visions, goals, and actions under industry-academia-government collaboration to promote research and development (R&D) with the aim of the further sophistication of multilingual translation technology. This aim includes the realization of simultaneous interpretation by AI in 2025.
• *2
  In the last year’s second Multilingual Speech Translation Contest, 228 applications were submitted in total. Among them, eight works received Awards of Excellence in the idea section. In the PoC section, one Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award (the best award), one NICT Award (the second-best award), and one Award of Excellence were given.

2. Call for ideas and PoCs in Multilingual Speech Translation Contest

In this contest, MIC and NICT will make an appeal for two types of works, i.e., one each for the idea section and the PoC section.
MIC and NICT will make an appeal for new ideas in the idea section and prototypes of new apps, services, and products in the PoC section, and expect that the new ideas and prototypes will eliminate the world’s language barriers.
All applications will be accepted in the application form on the dedicated website on and after Tuesday, September 1, 2019.

Dedicated website: https://tagen.go.jp/

Application deadline: Friday, November 27, 2020

3. Contest Outline

After the selection of ideas and PoCs applied through the dedicated website, MIC and NICT will decide on the applicants passing the first screening around mid-December 2012. Those who pass the first screening are to give presentations at the Multilingual Speech Translation Contest, which will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2021, where outstanding works will be selected and awarded.

• Time and date: From 10:00 AM on Saturday, January 30, 2021
• Venue: MY PLAZA Hall (Meiji Yasuda Life Building 4F, 2-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)

• *
  Due to the influence of COVID-19, the contest method may change. After the details are decided, MIC and NICT will post the details on the dedicated website and contact the participants.

4. Opening of Multilingual Voice Translation API

The Multilingual Speech Translation API will be widely opened so that everyone can easily use the multilingual speech translation technology for prototyping. This API enables everyone to use the multilingual speech translation functions (speech recognition, translation, and speech synthesis functions) developed by NICT. You can use this service regardless of whether or not you participate in this contest. Apply through the application for the use of multilingual speech translation API on the dedicated website.