Miðeind recently received a grant from Skerfur. Skerfur is a fund that supports the development and implementation of practical solutions based on Icelandic language technology. The general goal is to put the development of language technology and AI in recent years into the hands of end-users, and to support the use of Icelandic in as many areas as possible.

The project that received the grant revolves around adding optical character recognition (OCR) to Málstaður, Miðeind's language technology platform, and also making it accessible via an API. We call this new addition Lísa. Lísa opens up access to a large amount of Icelandic data that is “locked away” on paper and in PDF documents. The project is of advantage for everyone who writes and reads in Icelandic.

In addition to Lísa, Miðeind is also a partner with Fjölmennt and the Centre for Easy-to-Read Language in another project that received a grant from Skerfur.

The project involves improving Miðeind's solution for simplifying language, and going even further in serving different target groups and facilitating the dissemination of content in Icelandic to as many people as possible.

On Málstaður, you can now simplify text in an instant with a single click to make it more accessible and easier to understand. The intention of the Skerfur project is to go further in simplification and also offer so-called easy-to-read language, which requires meeting specific and detailed requirements for the presentation and content of the text.

Both projects align well with Miðeind's goal of supporting the Icelandic language and bringing the benefits of language technology to the public. We look forward to introducing the new functionality when it is ready.

See more: https://almannaromur.is/nytt/uthlutunskerfs2025