13/05/2026
It's the big demo day for our CivTech challenge to solve the issue of data sparsity that stands in the way of Scottish Gaelic being understood and effectively used by the new wave of digital language tools and if not addressed soon Gaelic risks being left behind by the digital age.
This challenge is sponsored by the Scottish Government Gaelic and Scots Division and the University of Edinburgh's Prof. Will Lamb.
Our wonderful team has come together over 4 months to prove the concept, of a system that will solve this problem by:
Engaging with the Gaelic speaking community through the string connections of our team members from Fèisean nan Gà idheal.
Recording, transcribing, translating and tagging natural two way Gaelic speech.
That can be used as a dataset to facilitate the integration and creation of Gaelic language features into all sorts of digital services from educational resources to live subtitling. This will support everyday usage for Gaelic speakers and support new learning resources to attract new learners, all in the context of severe digital challenges.
This day is taking place in the Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh, with a lot of movers and shakers. There are 12 challenges progress demos being heard and the best of these will progress to the next round if the CivTech programme. A lot hinges on today, for the team and also for the future of the Gaelic language.
Visit aiteal.org to be kept in the loop of this exciting landmark project.
CivTech Scotland
Community Enterprise
Fèisean nan Gà idheal
Bold Studio
Breeze Digital
Will Lamb
