DOHA • A workshop organised by the Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar recently explored the possibility of establishing an Arabic Language Technologies Centre in Qatar and developing a high-quality Arabic Web search engine.

Representatives from leading local and regional organisations took part in the two-day workshop, which sought to identify concrete strategies for Qatar to emerge as a leading commercial and research centre for advances related to Arabic language technologies.

"The workshop investigated the possibility of creating an Arabic Language Technologies Centre in Qatar and, more specifically, developing a high-quality Arabic Web search engine," said Jaime Carbonell, Allen Newell Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Language Technologies Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Newell served as moderator for the workshop.

"Carnegie Mellon is exploring teaming with other regional research and development groups to create regional expertise in these areas. Carnegie Mellon faculty and students would provide scientific and technological support for Web search and Arabic/English machine translation," he added.

Longer term objectives in the collaboration include developing language technologies expertise in Qatar and joint research on improved methods for search and translation, especially focused on the unique characteristics of the Arabic language and Arabic users.

The workshop, which is one of several research initiatives Carnegie Mellon Qatar is planning featured four sessions divided over the two days. The sessions were set up to help seek a consensus on an overall project path to develop a Qatar-based focus on Arabic search engine and related technologies.

Participating organisations included the Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar University, ictQATAR, iHorizons, Microsoft Egypt, Qatar Foundation, Qatar National Research Fund, Qatar Science & Technology Park and Qatar Capital Partners.