Press release, free for publication 4 March 2018
Lingsoft is part of an EU project that is set to revolutionize the management of large video collections. The project aims to create a next-generation media experience by combining the efficiency of artificial intelligence with human accuracy.
MeMAD, a three-year EU research project that began in 2018, is searching for methods that will enable the utilisation of artificial intelligence in the media industry, especially in the description, translation and subtitling of video content. During the project, Lingsoft’s focus will be on the further development of Finnish and Swedish-language speech recognition, diarization and keyword indexing. The technologies that are to be developed in the project will be used to enable content description on an industrial scale, which in turn will generate enormous cost savings and create completely new opportunities for Lingsoft’s customers.
The project focuses on media companies that want to utilise automatic content descriptions to help revolutionize the management of large video collections and enable the reuse and adaptation of previous materials for completely new purposes. Content descriptions also help increase the longevity of information: video content descriptions and keywords help enhance searchability and availability, which is useful not only for professionals but for the greater public and specialist groups as well.
“This new type of AI-powered discoverability, availability and personal service experience will define the future of the European media industry. Content classification is one of the most promising areas for artificial intelligence research today,” notes Anssi Komulainen, Chief Innovation Officer at Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.
The technologies and processes that are under development in the MeMAD project will also benefit other sectors that utilise audiovisual content. “MeMAD is a unique project that has already generated a great deal of excitement. It will be up to Lingsoft to bring this groundbreaking academic research and the resulting technologies to market,” emphasises Solution Specialist Kirsi Aantaa, who is responsible for the commercialisation of the results of the project.
In addition to Lingsoft, the project’s other partners include Yle, Aalto University, the University of Helsinki, the University of Surrey, INA, EURECOM and Limecraft. The steering group represents a diverse range of users, including the largest media companies in Norway, the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired, and the Finnish Federation of Hard of Hearing. The MeMAD (Methods for Managing Audiovisual Data) project is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.
For more information on the project, please contact:
Kirsi Aantaa, Solution Specialist, Lingsoft, kirsi.aantaa@lingsoft.fi
Tiina Lindh-Knuutila, Solution Specialist, Lingsoft, tiina.lindh-knuutila@lingsoft.fi
Mikko Kurimo, MeMAD Project Coordinator, Professor, Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University, mikko.kurimo@aalto.fi
Follow the project on Twitter @memad-project and explore the project’s website at www.memad.eu.