Estonia's Bürokratt and Open Voice Network Join Forces to Revolutionize Voice Interoperability in the Public Sector

The Estonian Information Systems Authority (RIA) and the Linux Foundation's Open Voice Network (OVON) have teamed up to break new ground in the voice industry, aiming to establish interoperability between various voice assistants across different technological platforms. This collaboration marks a significant milestone for both parties.

The demonstration, led by RIA architect Rainer Türner and Open Voice Network project lead Dr. Deborah Dahl, will showcase specifications developed by OVON. These specifications will allow users of Estonia's new citizen assistant for government services, Bürokratt, to connect with third-party voice assistants and independent digital services.

Bürokratt, launched last year by the RIA, is designed to offer Estonian citizens 24/7 access to public and information services through voice interaction. The service, which provides reliable, vetted information, aims to enable users to obtain desired information via a chain of delegated dialogs, seamlessly moving from one conversation to another without interruption.

"We're thrilled to collaborate with the Estonia RIA," said Dr. Deborah Dahl, Principal of Conversational Technologies, Inc., and OVON project lead. "Their vision for Bürokratt as an open, interoperable network of public and private sector AI solutions aligns perfectly with our mission."

Bürokratt's quest for open, vendor-neutral voice assistant interoperability led the RIA to OVON's approach. Kaupo Laagriküll, Head of the RIA's department of Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing, expressed his confidence in this partnership, stating, "We believe that OVON's interoperability solution will not only benefit us but also the entire voice community."

The demonstration project is set to yield public results as early as Q4 2023.

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For media inquiries, contact:

Noah Lehman The Linux Foundation [email protected]

Helen Uldrich Estonia RIA [email protected]