The MOSAIC Project is a European research and innovation initiative aimed at transforming multimedia content management through advanced artificial intelligence tools. Its core ambition is to enable the transformation of European content archives, supporting the creation of new media that can be easily adapted and reused across countries. By integrating AI capabilities such as automatic subtitling, dubbing, transcription, translation, and summarisation in multiple European languages, including English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Slovenian, and Estonian, MOSAIC facilitates cross-border collaboration, wider content distribution, and more inclusive audience reach. As the project coordinator, Fincons Group leads this initiative in collaboration with a consortium of eleven prominent partners. Through this collaboration, the project will test and validate the MOSAIC platform with real-world applications, ensuring it meets the needs of the media industry while upholding European values of privacy, ethical AI usage, and linguistic diversity.
All technologies are developed by European providers, ensuring a platform truly made for and by the European media ecosystem.
Prof. Pilar Orero, lecturer at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and accessibility lead for MOSAIC, shared some insights on the impact of MOSAIC on accessibility and inclusion.
Specialised in translation, accessibility, and cross-cultural communication, during her career, Prof. Pilar Orero has moved far beyond traditional linguistic translation, exploring semiotic translation, i.e. the transformation of meaning between different modes, such as from image to text or text to sound. Her expertise spans audiovisual translation, subtitling, dubbing, and voice-over, and more recently, the development of inclusive services like subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH), audio description for the blind, and sign language interpretation.
As Pilar recalls, “In less than a decade, we’ve gone from simple subtitling and dubbing to a whole ecosystem of accessibility services. The evolution has been technological, but also deeply human, and each innovation opens new doors for participation.” Talking about the MOSAIC project, “its uniqueness comes mainly from its reuse and transformation of existing content, making it about sustainability as much as accessibility. We already have vast archives of accessible materials, why not reuse them to generate new services and reach more people?” she states.
While traditional accessibility workflows often require large investments of time, expertise, and money to produce content that supports inclusion, MOSAIC recognises the hidden value stored in the thousands of hours of accessibility data already available in broadcasters’ archives. For example, existing subtitles can be transformed into audio subtitles, a service that is particularly useful in countries such as Italy, Spain, France or Germany, where dubbing is the norm, or for audiences who struggle to read subtitles, such as people with dyslexia or other cognitive disabilities. Similarly, audio descriptions created for films can be adapted for live events, for examples music festivals. Pilar adds, “We’re finding creative ways to give new life to existing content. This isn’t just efficient, it’s sustainable, inclusive, and aligned with the European Accessibility Act.”
In fact, MOSAIC aligns closely with the European Accessibility Act, a legislative milestone that came into force in June 2025 to ensure that digital products and services across the EU are accessible to everyone. As Europe adapts to the new legal framework, projects like MOSAIC can provide both a roadmap and a proof-of-concept for integrating accessibility into media production from the ground up. “Many organisations are only now realising the range of accessibility services available to them,” explains Pilar. “MOSAIC has helped raise awareness among media stakeholders about what accessibility means and the creative opportunities that it brings.”
The MOSAIC project, in fact, goes beyond disability-related accessibility, embracing a broader definition of inclusion that extends to language learners, expats, migrants and vulnerable communities. Europe’s rich diversity of languages, writing systems and cultures, demands a flexible solution that goes beyond one-size-fits-all approaches. In practice, this also means tackling the long-standing problem of linguistic silos: media content produced in one country often remains confined to its original language market, especially when it comes to news, fast-turnaround formats or projects with a limited budget for professional dubbing or subtitling.
MOSAIC’s AI-powered translation, subtitling and synthetic dubbing can change this dynamic entirely. By enabling rapid, low-cost but high-quality language adaptation MOSAIC has the potential of breaking down barriers and making content accessible across borders, allowing stories, information and cultural products to circulate more freely within Europe, strengthening cultural exchange and democratic participation by giving more people access to timely information in a language they understand. By widening the target audience, MOSAIC is redefining accessibility as a universal design principle, something that enriches the experience for all users, not just those with specific needs.
As Pilar puts it, “Accessibility is for everyone, we want to make sure no one is left behind, whether because of a disability, a language barrier, or even lack of digital skills.” For instance, the project’s simplified news services aim to make television journalism easier to understand, combating misinformation and ensuring that important information reaches all citizens. Similarly, cross-language access to archives allows researchers and audiences to explore television and media collections from different linguistic regions, helping to break down cultural barriers and strengthen inclusion at a European level.
The MOSAIC Project represents more than just a technical innovation, it’s a new way of thinking about communication, sustainability and inclusion. “Technology gives us the tools, but it’s collaboration and empathy that make change possible.” concludes Pilar.