TAUS TRANSLATION TECHNOLOGY ROUNDTABLE
PARIS, MAY 30, 2012

The TAUS Translation Technology Roundtable will follow the approach of the Open Space Technology (see the Wikipedia description). Participants will seek to answer a central question. We ask all representatives from the translation technology industry attending the Roundtable to come with an open mind and a genuine interest to help improve the visibility of the sector, interoperability between different tools and systems and industry collaboration. The central question roundtable participants will seek to answer:

How do we increase the size and significance of the translation technology sector? 

VISIBILITY
The translation technology segment lacks visibility and may be missing out on opportunities for recognition and growth in all industrial and institutional sectors. We invite participants to brainstorm ways to increase the value proposition of the translation technology sector.

INTEROPERABILITY
Despite many efforts to establish standards for the exchange of translation files and projects, the sector is still constrained by lack of interoperability. Participants are invited to discuss common issues around interoperability and formulate scenarios for improvement.

COLLABORATION
The translation technology industry-sector is fragmented. Every provider – small or large – is challenged to resolve the same issues. There may be benefits in collaboration and sharing. Participants are invited to come up with ideas for collaboration and debate them at the Roundtable meeting.

FORMAT
The conference room at the Crowne Plaza République hotel will be set up with a circle of chairs in the middle (and no tables). After a short introduction of the participants and the open space format of the meeting, participants are invited to submit their ideas for break-out discussions under the three main themes of visibility, interoperability and collaboration. Participants will then get to choose which break-out meeting they want to join. There will be two break-out sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon, each followed by a report back to the plenary meeting.

DELIVERABLE
The reports from each of the break-out sessions will be discussed by the plenary meeting at the end of the day. Participants will agree on follow-up actions. A synthesis of all the reports will be published as a Declaration of the Translation Technology Roundtable meeting to give a united voice to all other stakeholder groups.