17 October marked the date of the first fully in-person Translation Centre Management Board meeting since the pandemic. Over the past few years, several new members have joined the board but not yet had the opportunity to see how we work up close. Board members were therefore invited to a series of workshops, organised at the Centre the day before the plenary gathering, to meet some of our staff and witness first-hand our expertise in delivering linguistic solutions in support of multilingualism.
These workshops focused on a wide range of specialist areas, including translation, workflow management, AI and language technologies, and strategic planning and business development. Members engaged with dedicated expertise desks staffed by knowledgeable colleagues who demonstrated how linguistic work is currently carried out, how CAT tools and AI help with overall workflow and efficiency, and the intricacies of subtitling and project management. IATE is also rapidly changing, with many new features for subject-field experts and EU agencies.
This initiative not only enriched board members' understanding of our internal operations, but also fostered connections with the staff behind these initiatives This hands-on experience provided valuable insights into our streamlined combination of AI-based language technologies, and linguistic and project management skills ahead of the 64th Management Board meeting the following day. The meeting itself provided an opportunity for the Centre's Director and staff to share their input on the responsible use of AI in translation and hold interactive sessions on the Centre's approach to linguistic services in the digital age.
The Management Board has a supervisory and governance role with general responsibility for budgetary and planning matters and the monitoring of the Agency’s performance. It is chaired by Christos Ellinides, Director-General for the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) at the European Commission. These meetings help steer and adjust our activities and operations to best meet clients' needs.
As we move forward, the Centre is committed to harnessing new technologies and strategies to optimise our support for the multilingual needs of the European agencies and decentralised bodies. By working together, we ensure that the Centre stays aligned with stakeholders' language service requirements and continues to deliver high-quality linguistic services in an ever-changing environment.