MPI and ABM Sign Protocol on Machine Translation System for ‘Finance + Technology’ Development
In order to demonstrate Macao’s advantages as the Sino-Portuguese financial service platform and boost industry-academia development in higher education, on 10 June 2020, the Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) and The Macau Association of Banks (ABM) signed the Cooperation Protocol on the ‘Chinese-Portuguese/Portuguese-Chinese Official Document Translation System’ and the Protocol on ‘The Macau Association of Banks Scholarship’. Both parties will strengthen mutual cooperation, jointly cultivate youth talents in interdisciplinary technological innovation, promote financial cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries, and facilitate the development of Macao’s ‘finance + technology’ and ‘Sino-Portuguese platform’.
The signing ceremony of the cooperation protocols was held in the afternoon on 10 June at MPI. Im Sio Kei, President of Macao Polytechnic Institute and Ip Sio Kai, Chairman of The Macau Association of Banks signed the protocols on behalf of both parties. Im expressed, ‘The Institute is dedicated to promoting the development of industry-academia collaboration. In December last year, the first engineering research centre of the Ministry of Education in Hong Kong and Macao – “Engineering Research Centre of Applied Technology on Machine Translation and Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Education” – was established to develop artificial intelligence and machine translation application products and services with independent intellectual property rights and core technologies.’ He introduced the “Chinese-Portuguese/Portuguese-Chinese Official Document Translation System”, which is ‘an auxiliary translation system for Chinese-Portuguese official documents based on the industry-leading neural network machine translation technology. It is designed to assist translators in the translation of Chinese/Portuguese documents, thereby improving work efficiency. The system has been applied to many government departments and organisations and has greatly improved the speed and accuracy of the translators. It has been well received due to the increase in administrative effectiveness.’ Im thanked ABM for setting up the scholarship with the aim of encouraging excellent students to engage in Chinese-Portuguese-English machine translation research, cultivating youth talents in interdisciplinary technological innovation, and promoting the development and transfer of a greater number of scientific research achievements.
Ip Sio Kai expressed, ‘ABM and the Macao banking industry are highly cooperative in the series of policies about modern financial industry development by the SAR Government, and strive to build a financial service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Last year, ABM and its counterparts in Guiné-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe jointly signed the “Proposal on Promoting the Cooperation between Commercial Banks in Macao and Portuguese-Speaking Countries”, which strengthened the financial cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. In addition, in conjunction with the Policy Address by the new SAR Government this year and Opinions on Financial Support for the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Sino-Portuguese financial service platform is going to be developed with high speed under the new expectations of Macao financial development. This also means more frequent financial exchanges with Portuguese-speaking countries in the future.’ Ip indicated, ‘Through the signing of the cooperation protocol with the Macao Polytechnic Institute, the promotion of using Macao’s “finance + technology” service will be conducive to the dissemination of Macao and the Mainland’s latest financial development information. The relevant information can be effectively disseminated to financial organisations in Portuguese-speaking countries, thus strengthening the connections of financial cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries. ABM will make good use of this system to match up more opportunities for financial cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries for the Macao banking industry, and further promote the functions and role of the Sino-Portuguese financial service platform.’
At the ceremony, the MPI researchers introduced the ‘Chinese-Portuguese/Portuguese-Chinese Official Document Translation System’ and the latest scientific research achievements to the guests. Au Ieong Iu Kong, Vice-Chairman; Ieong Kim Man, Representative of Vice-Chairman Bank; Sio Ng Kan, Director-General; Loi Weng Kei, Secretary-General, representatives from ABM; and Lei Vai Fong, Secretary-General; Tse Tan Sim, Director of the School of Applied Sciences; Huang Guihai, Director of the School of Business; Lam Ieng Kit, Head of the Administration and Finance Department; Lam Chan Tong, Programme Coordinator of Computing; Tang Su Kit, Programme Coordinator of the PhD in Computer Applied Technology, representatives from MPI, attended and witnessed the signing of the protocols.
