The Institute for Computational Linguistics of the University of Heidelberg is willing to host the 39th Annual Meeting of the ACL (ACL'01) together with the 10th Conference of its European Chapter in Europe.
Heidelberg's location in Europe is very central. The town lies on 500 km distance between Paris, Milano, Prague and Amsterdam. Heidelberg is connected to Frankfurt International Airport by bus services (operating every half hour; the trip takes about 45 minutes). Fast EC-trains connect Mannheim/Heidelberg with major towns in Europe. Highways (Autobahn) lead to Heidelberg from all directions.
The University of Heidelberg is the oldest and most famous university in Germany (founded in 1386). At present there are 30,000 students. The buildings of the university are located partially in the scenic old town, partially in a new campus. The main conference venu will probably be the main building (Neue Universitaet) in the center of downtown. Heidelberg is a touristic spot with a great variety of hotels. Special offers will be negotiated for participants. There are many student dorms which will be made available for student participants.
The Department of Modern Languages of the University of Heidelberg is the largest department of linguistic and literary studies in Germany. Computational linguistics has evolved gradually since the beginning of the seventies. In 1988, the Chair for Computational Linguistics was established and charged with the implementation of a masters degree in Computational Linguistics. At present, there are about 160 students studying CL as their main subject field. Many research projects have been carried out by the institute. For more information see our Web Site CL University of Heidelberg .
Heidelberg is also the location of the European Media Lab (EML) a new private institute with intensive research in AI and CL. See their web site European Media Lab
The IBM Scientific Center Germany is located in Heidelberg too, known for their NLP research (e.g. the LILOG project).
Last week of July 2001.
No problem. As many rooms as necessary can be reserved by the university.
No problem. Equipment will be provided by the university.
Heidelberg is probably the most scenic place in Germany, with its old castle and the river Neckar meandering between the hills covered with vineyards. The town has been praised by many philosophers and poets. There are plenty of fine restaurants as well as student cafeterias. There is more than one possibility for an excursion (including the famous cathedral of Speyer comprising the tombs of the medieval emperors or Schloss Schwetzingen modeled according to the gardens of Versailles). A party could be organized on a boat sailing on the river Neckar. The banquet may take place in the Rittersaal of the old castle. The historic aula of the old university is available for a reception.
This will all be organized.
The so-called Rhine-Neckar-Triangle is one of the most developing industrial areas in Germany (SAP, BASF, many SMEs in IT). We have close contacts with several companies due to a trainee program for CL students. So, we hope that we will be successful in acquiring funds.
Detailed estimates must be provided later. In general, the university will not charge for the use of their facilities. We certainly need a half-time secretary for the organization of the congress for one year plus student assistance. The costs in the preparatory phase amount to around 25,000 Euro.