Lori Silverstein (SPi Global) became the 2019 “Localization process innovator of the year for the USA” at the 7th PIC event which took place on the 7th of November at Localization World in Silicon Valley.

Her innovation SmartDub, explained how AI dubbing can enhance the voice dubbing process. Their system enables users to produce different artificial voice outputs for multiple languages by changing voice variables such as pitch, tone, volume and speed. Using SmartDub, production times are now hours rather than days, and productions costs are significantly reduced, meaning much improved time to market and overall process and cost efficiencies.

One of our process dragons, Alessandra Binazzi (Asics) added that “Lori’s journey is a testament to the important role the PIC plays in the localization field. It provides a path and platform for our hidden innovators to showcase their ingenuity, that otherwise may have remained unnoticed. It gives our industry an opportunity to celebrate smart approaches and technologies, and gives the audience ideas and tools to leverage from and perhaps apply in their businesses.”

The runner up this time was Heather Shoemaker from Language I/O. She explained how their innovation provides smart on-the-fly machine translations for online customer support engagements. Their system has smart AI capabilities including predictive text and error handling for user typos, which sometimes can happen in these conversations.

This year’s PIC had 6 innovators battle on stage in front of a panel of dragons and the LocWorld audience. According to some attendees, the PIC was the highlight of the LocWorld event, and as PIC moderator Jeff Kiser put it; “Innovations keep getting better and AI is influencing more, our industry has embraced the innovation culture.” Co-Moderator Alex Bernet pointed out that “Being part of this platform gives innovators valuable exposure and enables them to rub shoulders with peer innovators and true leaders in innovation such as Vitaly (GS Capital)”.
We try to bring a new and interesting element to the PIC each time. This time tech venture capitalist, Vitaly Golomb (GS Capital) joined the event and added a new dimension. With some inspiring comments and insightful questions Vitaly reminded the innovators exactly what is needed to lay the path for a successful innovation to take off. He also offered that the innovations on this stage are relevant to a broad spectrum of industries beyond the language industry. The PIC aims to inspire more of our innovators to set their sights higher and chart a path to tangible growth and expansion.

We want to thank the PIC dragons who took part; Alessandra Binazzi (Asics), Neftalí Jovel (Indeed), Konstantin Savenkov (Intento), the PIC advisors; Yuka Nakasone (Globalbridge), Jeff Kiser (LanguageWire), Alex Bernet (LocWorld), Kris Wiegand (LocWorld) and PIC chairs, Ulrich Henes (LocWorld) and Dave Ruane (LanguageWire). We would also like to thank LocWorld and LanguageWire for supporting this platform, and Multilingual Magazine for providing additional prizeware.

After another successful PIC event, we would like to congratulate all innovators who took part and say a big thank you to all those who sent in proposals. We will continue to raise the bar for this event, the next confirmed event is in Berlin in June 2020, and we also plan to have an event in the Spring 2020 timeframe (details to be confirmed).

Do you have a Process or technology innovation for the PIC “stage” ? Keep an eye on the call for papers or just contact us directly.

The innovators and innovations at the 7th PIC event were:

  • Robert Rogge – Zingword – “A New Way to Setup Source and Target Languages”
  • Heather Shoemaker – Language I/O – “How to Get the Most Accurate MT Translations across all Industries”
  • Lucio Gutierrez – Intuit – “MagicUI”
  • Lori Silverstein – SPi GLobal – “AI Dubbing”
  • Dalibor Frívaldský – Memsource – “Automating Linguist Selection Using Topic Modeling”
  • John Tinsley – Iconic Translation Machines – “Automation in Regulated Environments — The Final Frontier”