The Edinburgh-Stanford link is a five-year research, training and commercialisation programme between the University of Edinburgh and Stanford University, California. The Link can be likened to a commercial vehicle that helps companies learn about a range of new technologies and how they might influence their industry, thus giving them a competitive advantage over rivals.

The project has several specific aims, but essentially we want to establish Scotland as a global leader in the commercial development of speech and language technology, and boost the country's reputation as a centre for research and design.

Put simply, language technology is the term we use to describe technologies that process real human language, whether it be spoken, written or a gestured. All of the research institutes that contribute to the ES Link are multidisciplinary, as topics like trust and psychology are inherent in language. For our brief introduction to language technology, please click here.

As often happens with new technology, the media has a tendency to exaggerate exciting research topics. However, over the last ten years, a number of incremental improvements in language technology have meant that many areas of language technology have found real life applications, and businesses need to be made aware of these.

Scottish Enterprise is keen to make Scottish businesses more aware of the benefits of language technology. Specifically, Scottish Enterprise hopes the link will create highly skilled, commercially aware graduates, and help grow Scotland's reputation as a country which encourages innovation and facilitates its commercialisation.

The Link offers a range of benefits to partner companies, from early access to world-beating researching, to help developing an innovation and R&D strategy. Please see here for a full explanation of benefits.

This depends on how you want to work with us. Please contact the Link’s commercial manager for further details. Our networking events are always free, as are our Masterclasses, although these are invitation-only and space is strictly limited.

The initial commercialisation phase of the Link was designed to favour Scottish companies. However, we are now promoting the Link more internationally and welcome enquires from companies wherever they are based. Again, please contact the Commercial Manager for more information.

Link funding is reserved for researchers at Edinburgh and Stanford universities. Academics are invited to go to our sister website (www.hcrc.ed.ac.uk/stanford), where specific information on projects is available. For general academic enquires, please contact the Link’s academic co-ordinator.

We are currently working with around 40 companies, although we have not yet obtained permission to say who some are. Several can be viewed on our partners page.

If you are a company and are interested in benefiting from the Link initiative, or in consulting or sponsored research, then please contact the commercial manager.