The Berlin theMETAnk brainstorming meeting was dedicated to identifying and discussing priority themes for large-scale collaborative research in language technology during the next ten years. The format was a mix of short thought-provoking presentations of research themes and ample discussion. Three keynote lectures by Martin Kay (Stanford University), Wolfgang Wahlster (DFKI and Saarland University) and Chengqing Zong (Chinese Academy of Science) were dedicated to ideas on promising themes for larger research actions.

theMETAnk was organized by DFKI, the coordinator of META-NET, as part of a complex process toward a strategic research agenda for European language technology. It was held at an unusual place as an informal creative collective deliberation. The focus of this meeting was the scientific perspective. The outcome serves as provocative input to the process of deriving together with industry, language professionals and language communities a shared vision and a strategic research agenda.