The UNL Programme started in 1996, as an initiative of the [http://www.ias.unu.edu Institute of Advanced Studies] of the [http://www.unu.edu United Nations University] in Tokyo, Japan. In January 2001, the United Nations University set up an autonomous organization, the [http://www.undl.org UNDL Foundation], to be responsible for the development and management of the UNL Programme. The Foundation, a non-profit international organisation, has anis independent identityof from the United Nations University, although it has special links with the UN. It inherited from the UNU/IAS the mandate ofto implementingimplement the UNL Programme soin thatorder it canto fulfilfulfill its mission.
From the very beginning, a consortium of university departments from all regions of the world has been engaged in developing the UNL. That'sThis is the UNL Society, a global-scale network of R&D teams, involving about 200 specialists in computer science and linguistics, who are at work creating the linguistic resources and developing the web structure of the UNL System. The UNL Centre provides technological support and co-ordinates the implementation of the Programme.
The Programme has already crossedreached important milestones. The overall architecture of the UNL System has been developed, along with a set of basic software and tools necessary for its functioningfunction. These are being tested and improved. A vast amount ofMany linguistic resources from the various native languages already under development,asand wellmany as from theassociated UNL expression,expressions hashave been accumulated in the last few years. Moreover, the technical infrastructure for expanding these resources is already in place, thus facilitating the participation of many more languages in the UNL system fromgoing now onforward. A growing number of scientific papers and academic dissertations on the UNL are being published every year.
The most visible accomplishment so far is the recognition by the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) of the innovative character and industrial applicability of the UNL, which was obtained in May 2002 through the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). AcquiringThe theacquisition of patents (US patents 6,704,700 and 7,107,206) for the UNL is a completelyan novelunprecedented achievement within the United Nations.
