by Rebecca Engmann*

The man-machine interface is alive and well at Decuma. Since 1999, the Lund-based firm has taken on perhaps the most poetic of all technological missions: designing a technology that accurately recognises human handwriting, along with all the personal quirks and cultural nuances of an individual's scrawl. The world's leading manufacturers of PDA's, pocket PC's, and palm pilots have taken note, and demand is soaring on the Chinese and Japanese markets.

	Decuma's technology can recognise script in any language. From top to bottom, examples of Japanese and Latin for Pocket PC 2002.

Computer metaphor

Developing this kind of technology is no simple task, based though it is on a simple concept of a computer metaphor that mimics ordinary handwriting with pen and paper. Decuma assembled the best brains in mathematics and linguistics to devise its patent-based algorithm for handwriting recognition, Geometrical Invariant Technology, which can recognise not only different languages, but characters of different size, slant, and style. Decuma's technology can also interpret shaky handwriting: an important feature for the emerging line of hand-held and miniature computer devices.

What's more, the technology can recognise script in any language. Decuma Latin is ideal for writing in the European and American languages. Decuma Japanese supports input of Kanji and Kana characters, and allows users to switch to English-language script and numerals at will - a key feature for business users. Decuma Chinese can read standard variations in Chinese handwriting. The program also interprets regional linguistic differences, with characters used in mainland China and Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and even some characters unique to Shanghai. The technology requires very little computer memory space, making it ideally suited to small, hand-held digital devices, and is extremely easy to use.

Multilingual workers

Rikard Bertilsson, one of Decuma's founders and an architect of the company's innovative Geometrical Invariant Technology, explains:

"Number-crunching is only one part of handwriting recognition technology. But other elements are equally important to consider. You have to have a good feeling for culture and what people expect in a product in terms of culture. In addition, you have to have a sense for interaction, for the user's ease.”

Knowledge is a bankable asset at Decuma, which is headquartered at Lund's Ideon Science Park. The company was founded in 1999 by a trio of PhD's: Bertilsson, together with Professors Gunnar Sparr and Kalle Åström. Of Decuma's staff of 25, seven hold doctorates. In addition, Decuma's international staff includes a number of Japanese and Chinese associates, and several multilingual workers.

The company's branch offices in Tokyo and Beijing are a testament to Decuma's rising profile on the Asian markets. According to Sales and Marketing Director Anders Berglund, associates in China and Japan are amazed to learn that a tiny, independent venture in Sweden has developed this state-of-the-art technology. But Berglund says that's an asset.

The absolute best mix

"They think it sounds strange, but we believe it's one of our advantages. We're not bound by their conventions, though of course, we have to respect those cultures. Ultimately, our biggest selling point is that we can provide the absolute best mix of user interface technology with knowledge in algorithms that can interpret a multi-script approach in a user-friendly way. And we can draw attention to our Øresund connection as a way of pinpointing where we come from," explained Berglund.

Decuma's selling point has caught the ear of the world's heavyweights in digital technology. In May, Decuma secured a partnership agreement with Japan's Sony, which will install Decuma's Japanese handwriting recognition on all of the company's CLIÉ and handheld digital devices.

This article was originally published by Øresund IT Magasine (Autumn 2003). You can download the magazine in PDF format on Publications.

*Rebecca Engmann is an American journalist living in Copenhagen.