Scottish Development International Supports New Language Technology Collaborative Research Project Between University of Edinburgh and Stanford University.

Business/Technology Editors & Education Writers

EDINBURGH, UK & PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2002

Scottish Minister to Unveil Recently Announced

5.3 Million Pounds Sterling, 5-year Collaborative Program

Scotland's Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Wendy Alexander visited Stanford University's Center For The Study of Language and Information (CSLI) today, where she discussed a recently announced 5.3 million Pounds Sterling collaborative research project between CSLI and the University of Edinburgh's Human Communication Research Centre (HCRC).

The collaborative project, recently announced in conjunction with the Scottish Executive, marks the first in a series of new transatlantic collaborative efforts between Scotland and the U.S., designed to reinforce Scotland's reputation as a global center for research and design.

"This is a win, win for both Scotland and the United States," said Minister Alexander. "Both Edinburgh and Stanford, bring their long-standing records of innovation together through the Human Communication Research Centre and the Center For The Study of Language and Information, and are well positioned to stimulate a world-class technology-led cluster of companies developing and marketing applications, tools and training in language technology through commercially focused research."

The collaborative language technology program, which is developing ways of having real dialogues with machines, was designed with a long-term focus on commercializing speech recognition as an enabling technology, and providing the framework to maximize the ideas generated at both universities by creating spin out companies. This link is already reaping the kind of benefits envisaged as two MSC students, one from California and one from the UK have applied to the Edinburgh Technology Fund with an innovative idea for a new spin out company. An example of language technology is providing access to vast arrays of Internet information via phone.

"We look forward to continuing and formalizing our long-standing relationship with HCRC, and we're dedicated to the shared goal of enhancing the value that technology can add to daily life through our cooperative efforts," said Byron Reeves, Director, CSLI, and Professor of Communications, Stanford University. "With the burgeoning global market opportunity language technology offers, the CSLI and HCRC will collaborate research efforts to allow humans and computers to communicate through spoken and written language."

Over the past two years, the University of Edinburgh has spun out four companies worth 15 million Pounds Sterling, providing over 100 knowledge-intensive jobs in Scotland, with the potential for future growth and additional venture capital funding. Part of the goal is to continue developing concepts and technologies so that the collaborative efforts will yield exploitable intellectual property (IP), to spin out even more companies.

"This is the first time that we have been involved in supporting this type of collaboration to such a level, as we foresee substantial economic benefits as a result of this collaborative relationship," said Robert Crawford, Chief Executive of Scottish enterprise, the country's national economic development agency. "We're confident this program will bring international recognition to Scotland's innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as produce highly-skilled workers and create spin-off companies through commercializing research."

This announcement marks the first project to receive funding from the Scottish Executive's 12 million Pounds Sterling package to develop transatlantic collaboration.

"Stanford's strong relationships with Silicon Valley businesses and venture capitalists were a crucial factor in the Scottish Executive's decision to invest in this project in Scotland," said Minister Alexander. "Scotland's future will be built on science and skills. We have great inventiveness in Scottish universities, but with this link with Stanford we can improve our ability to get those ideas out of our laboratories and into our businesses. This will create opportunities for U.S. academic partners and VCs to help commercialize pioneering research in this vital field of 'talking to machines.'"

Minister Alexander's visit to California and the announcement of this collaborative agreement are a result of Scotland's new Global Connections Strategy, announced by the Minister last fall, which shifts Scotland's international business focus from concentrating solely on exports and securing inward investment to focusing on the principles of "knowledge in" and "knowledge out" of Scotland. Elements in further establishing Scotland as an innovative and creative hub of technology and research, with a world-class reputation include:

-- Helping U.S. companies exploit Scottish knowledge through collaboration and commercialization of academic research and development.

-- Helping U.S. companies utilize Scottish knowledge in Scotland.

-- Fostering partnerships between innovative companies in Scotland

and the U.S.

-- Ensuring that Scotland has an open economy, which promotes the exchange of skills and networking of individuals from Scotland and the rest of the world.

-- Combining the country's inward investment organization, "Locate in Scotland" with its export promotion organization, "Scottish Trade International." The new entity, "Scottish Development International," with an office in San Jose, is spearheading efforts to exploit Scotland's knowledge overseas and attract knowledge to Scotland, offering potential partners and investors a broad range of Scottish products -- from research and development to joint ventures and technology licensing opportunities.

-- Utilizing Scottish Development International as a fully integrated worldwide organization that brings Scotland to the world and the world to Scotland.

Christin Flynn, an analyst with Yankee Group states, "As U.S. venture-capitalists re-evaluate their holdings and investments in telecommunications technologies, and in many cases, reduce the size of their funds altogether, innovators in the telecommunications sector are forced to become creative. Collaborative efforts between business, academia, and across international borders, such as the announced joint effort between the University of Edinburgh and Stanford University are an example of such creativity, and will be critical for future innovation in the telecommunications sector."

Scottish Development International

Scottish Development International is a joint venture between the Scottish Executive and Scottish Enterprise. Its vision is to fully integrate Scotland's international economic development activities. Under the umbrella of "Smart Successful Scotland," the new strategy to make Scotland a key economic player in the 21st century, comes "The Global Connections" strategy, reflecting the radical changes needed for Scotland to prosper in the new age of the knowledge economy. For more information on Scottish Development International, please visit the web site at www.scottishdevelopmentinternational.com.

HCRC at University of Edinburgh

The Human Communication Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh was established within the Division of Informatics to bring together theories and methods of Informatics, linguistics and psychology to better understand how people process information when they communicate. HCRC research specializes in spoken and written language and also visual, graphical and computer-based communication. Four high profile spin out companies have been generated by HCRC in the last 18 months -- Rhetorical Systems, Infogistics, Fourth Person and Mark Up Technology.

CLSI at Stanford University

The Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University is an interdisciplinary research lab that brings together the faculty across campus who are at the intersection of the social and computing sciences. CSLI includes faculty and researchers in linguistics, psychology, communication, education, computer science and engineering. CSLI is supported through affiliations with major corporate sponsors who build interactive technology, including Microsoft, Philips, NTT, Edify, Reuters, SAP, Epson, Alma Media and IBM. CSLI research has been used in a variety of technology products including speech recognition systems for CRM, interactive toys, dialogue systems, automated reading of email, navigation systems for automobiles, disabled access to technology machine learning, collaborative systems for business and education and computer agent technology.