Espoo – Smartbot gives multilingual advice

Espoo is testing a smartbot, a learning artificial intelligence application, to answer questions in more than a hundred languages on the city website. The smartbot is available around the clock and can serve more than 100,000 users at the same time. The bot has been added to the helpline already offering guidance in 16 languages. Read more here and here

Contact: Annika Forstén

Stuttgart – Refugees for refugees videos

The city website now includes video clips from refugees, for refugees explaining hygiene and behavioural measures to follow to contain the spread of the virus. Refugees have produced, on their own initiative, written information and explanatory video clips in seven languages. Read more here (in German)

Contact: Claudia Schulcz

Nuremberg – Mobile guide for refugees and migrants

Integreat is a mobile guide for refugees and migrants, used by over 60 municipalities in Germany. The contents of the mobile guide, however, are tailored to local needs and contain local information. In response to the current COVID-19 situation, multilingual information has been added to the guide. The aim is to inform and educate all citizens as best as possible – regardless of their mother tongue and background. The mobile guide is for free and for Nuremberg currently available in seven languages (German, English, French, Arabic, Farsi, Russian and Amharic). Read more here

Contact: Siegfried Zelnhefer

Turku – Getting the information out

Turku has turned to Google Translator to make sure all 100 languages spoken in the city could be covered to get out useful information about the pandemic as quickly as possible. Migrant organisations, large companies and the Regional State Administrative Agency have helped to spread the word about where to find this information. Read more here

Contact: Mika Akkanen