The ADAPT Research Ireland Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology has reached the final stages of the Irish Times Innovation Awards 2024 with its SignON project, selected in the New Frontiers category.
SignON tackles the communication barriers that exist between deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing people. Using a combination of advanced AI, including speech recognition, sign language synthesis, and multilingual translation, the service offers quick and easy access to translation services at the touch of a button.
SignON is unique in its co-creation approach. The platform has been developed with European Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities to ensure that their needs and perspectives are part of the process at every stage. The project supports spoken languages such as English, Gaeilge, Dutch, and Spanish, alongside sign languages like British Sign Language (BSL) and Irish Sign Language (ISL), providing an inclusive model for technology development.
Professor Lorraine Leeson, Associate Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at Trinity College Dublin and a Principal Investigator on SignON, commented: “We are thrilled to be recognised by the Irish Times Innovation Awards highlighting the hard work and collaborative approach behind SignON. This project is about more than innovative technology, it reflects a shift towards making society more inclusive and accessible.”
The Irish Times Innovation Awards celebrate pioneering products and services across various sectors. A panel of independent judges will decide the winners, to be revealed at the ceremony in Dublin on Wednesday, 13 November 2024. The top honour, ‘Innovation of the Year’, comes with a UCD Smurfit Executive Development scholarship and an annual Premium Digital subscription to The Irish Times.
For more details about ADAPT’s work on SignON, visit signon-project.eu.
