Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) (Amsterdam:PHI)
announced today that the government of the Kingdom of Denmark has
received the Most Innovative Solution (MIS) Award from Speech
Technology Magazine for its implementation of speech technologies. The
government has successfully deployed the Philips speech recognition
software SpeechMagic as part of a national initiative to improve the
accessibility of information to its population, including people with
disabilities. The Danish government's initiative comprises three major
projects including the live subtitling of TV shows, consumer speech
recognition software and speech recognition-based publishing of
parliamentary speeches.
"Denmark has a population of 5.4 million people. Thanks to the
public-private partnership between the government and companies like
Philips, speech recognition software is now available to all Danes.
With this unique initiative Denmark is using state-of-the-art
technology to give its people access to information and computers
without barriers," said Helge Sander, the Danish Minister for Science,
Technology and Innovation. The Minister also pointed out that "many
other countries with small populations, such as Sweden and Norway,
have already expressed interest in following the Danish example."
"The Speech Solutions Awards recognize this year's best in speech
technology innovation and implementation," says David Myron,
editor-in-chief of Speech Technology Magazine. "Award recipients
should be proud to be part of an elite group that is paving the way
for others to follow."
By subtitling TV shows the hearing impaired, which total 10
percent of the population, can follow important political events and
current affairs programs live on television. In addition, speech
recognition software for home PC users will reduce barriers related to
the usage of PCs, benefiting elderly people and persons with physical
disabilities. The Danish parliament is also planning to use speech
recognition in its Official Report publishing system to publish 85% of
all reports on the Internet within two or three hours after a speech
has been held.
The Danish speech recognition initiative has been realized in a
close public-private partnership involving Philips Speech Recognition
Systems, Prolog Development Center A/S and Max Manus A/S. The
initiative has received DKK 6.000.000 (approx. EUR 780,000) in public
funding.
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE:PHG)
(Amsterdam:PHI) is one of the world's biggest electronics companies
and Europe's largest, with sales of $37.7 billion (EUR 30.4 billion)
in 2005. With activities in the three interlocking domains of
healthcare, lifestyle and technology and 158,000 employees in more
than 60 countries, it has market leadership positions in medical
diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, color television sets,
electric shavers, lighting and silicon system solutions. News from
Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
