On November 16, 2017, the Fourth Council Meeting of the Language Big Data Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the Alliance or LBDA) was held at Xi'an International Studies University. Yao Jinchuan, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shaanxi People's Government and Co-chairman of LBDA, Huang Youyi, Director of China National Committee for Translation & Interpreting Education, Zhong Weihe, Co-chairman of LBDA and Co-president of KINGOLD Group, Huang Song, Co-chairman of LBDA and President of China Translation Corporation, Wang Junzhe, rotating Chairman of LBDA and President of Xi'an International Studies University, Yu Yang, Secretary-General of LBDA and CEO of GTCOM, and representatives of the council members, attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Dang Zhengsheng, Vice President of Xi'an International Studies University.
The conference scene
The meeting reviewed and accepted 49 new members, including 38 domestic colleges and 11 overseas ones, driving the total number of members to 180. It also showcased LBDA's key cooperation results, including the cross-language vertical big data lab for the ¡°Belt and Road¡± Initiative of Shaanxi province, and the Report on the ¡°B&R¡± Language Service Market: Panoramic Analysis, Industry Insights and Policy Suggestions. These achievements demonstrated LBDA's active practice of the coordinated development of government, industry, colleges and research institutes.
Multi-dimensional resource sharing; remarkable achievements of LBDA
Yao Jinchuan, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shaanxi People's Government
Wang Junzhe, rotating Chairman of LBDA and President of Xi'an International Studies University
In his speech, Yao Jinchuan welcomed the council meeting being held in Xi'an, and hoped to take this opportunity to promote the big data development in Shaanxi province. Wang Junzhe said that as the first alliance focused on language big data in China, LBDA has made remarkable achievements in serving the nation's foreign affairs and diplomacy, cultivating innovative language talents, promoting language teaching and scientific research, and helping the Chinese culture to "Go Global".
Huang Youyi, Co-chairman of LBDA and Director of China National Committee for Translation & Interpreting Education
Huang Youyi reviewed LBDA's development over the past two years. It is covering an expanding area and has formed an extensive network reaching all directions. LBDA's activities feature new forms, new tasks and many challenges, but every bit of effort is changing the whole language education industry. Huang pointed out that LBDA is at the critical moment of rapid development, so the members should cooperate more frequently and more closely and create more obvious benefits. We should realize the multi-dimensional sharing of teachers and curriculum resources, and make full use of the Internet and distance education technology to promote the overall upgrade of education.
Zhong Weihe, Co-chairman of LBDA and Co-president of KINGOLD Group
Zhong Weihe summed up LBDA's development with two keywords: "sharing" and "integration." He said the establishment of LBDA is the best annotation of the sharing concept. Based on the wide application of information technology and the intelligent supply-demand matching based on big data, the sharing economy injects a strong force for reorganizing the resources and leading new business forms, and education will be the next "wind eye" of sharing economy. Integration is the basis for sharing. It requires the joint efforts of all council members to strengthen the interaction and interconnection of colleges and universities, build the language education ecology, and carry out in-depth integration of resources.
Deepening global layout; creating online education platform
Yu Yang, Secretary General of LBDA and CEO of GTCOM
Yu Yang reported on LBDA's work in 2017 on behalf of the Secretariat. At present, LBDA has more than 180 members worldwide, including colleges, enterprises and research institutes, and has jointly established more than 40 educational practice and innovation bases. The year of 2017 witnessed LBDA's remarkable performance. It has achieved good results in implementing the ¡°Belt and Road¡± Initiative, carrying out activities through joint efforts, incubating scientific research results, and expanding the LBDA scale.
Yu Yang also reported on two major measures to be adopted by LBDA in 2018. First, the LBDA 2018 annual meeting will be held in London/Silicon Valley to further deepen its global layout. Second, it will build the online education platform LITx Academy, set up the virtual college and realize all-round resource sharing.
Huang Song, Co-chairman of LBDA and President of China Translation Corporation
Huang Song said in his closing remarks that the establishment of LBDA made the members become both partners and a community of shared interests. As the Alliance becomes more diversified and internationalized, actively promoting the interconnection, consultation and win-win cooperation among its members, seeking more suitable ways of cooperation, and enhancing the decision-making ability have all motivated LBDA's development. Huang affirmed the idea of building the online education platform, and called for careful planning, joint contribution and success of this project.
As the first alliance focused on language big data in China, LBDA will further improve its internal operation mechanism, empower the educational industry through language technologies, deepen international communication, explore to form an industrial cluster with comprehensive deepening of the cooperation among the government, industry, colleges and research institutes, and push resource sharing to evolve from "quantity" to "quality". This half-year council meeting offered a good opportunity to sum up the experience and point out the direction for LBDA's development. In the future, LBDA will continue to strengthen the deep integration and innovative development of information technology and language, and draw a new blueprint for the future of the global language and education industry.