CONTEXTInter-personal communication and international cooperation play a key role in education and, in a broader sense, in active citizenship. These opportunities should be equally available to all, promoting social inclusion. This is a concern of modern society and a key issue in European Education. However, the access to these opportunities by disabled people is constrained, in particular for deaf people due to the barriers they face in daily communication. These are facts that severely compromise the development of creative, emotional and social skills in deaf students. Barriers to education limit future opportunities. Any contribution to tear these barriers down promotes equity.The I-ACE project established an innovative infrastructure to promote fluid communication with, and between, deaf students from different European countries. This infrastructure includes an automatic European Sign Language Translator allowing the automatic bi-directional translation between sign language and written speech in six European sign languages thus reducing the communication gap and contributing to promote the access to education and a better quality of life of deaf students.The I-ACE project transfers innovative research results and puts them to the service of the European community.OBJECTIVESThe I-ACE project aims to promote the access of deaf students to education and citizenship. The specific objectives are:(a) shorten the barriers to the inclusion of deaf students in education(b) promote active citizenship of the European deaf communityPARTICIPANTSThe partnership of 7 full partners and 6 associated partners includes 5 higher education institutions, the European Association of Career Guidance and the “Provedoria Municipal do Cidadão com Deficiência” from Câmara Municipal do Porto, 2 schools, one Education School, an Association of Sign Language Interpreters and 2 Deaf Associations. Every partner institution expects to actively participate in the process of social inclusion and European citizenship.ASSOCIATED PARTNERS are end-users and the main stakeholders benefiting from the I-ACE outputs. They have key roles in the project and are our gateway to sustainability. The consortium implemented pilot installations at the Metro of Porto and in special needs schools in all partners’ countries to test I-ACE outputs in real scenarios.METHODOLOGY AND PROJECT ACTIVITIESThe project work plan covered an initial preparation phase aimed at implementing the required management framework and performing a comprehensive study of the challenges faced by deaf students. At the implementation phase we transferred the results from the VirtualSign research project adapting them to new sign languages.VirtualSign is a bi-directional translator between written Portuguese and Portuguese Sign Language, a research product developed at the applicant institution. In concrete, we extended it to support other European sign languages, a product we call the European Sign Language Translator, and we have developed applications to assist deaf students in the classroom and in their daily life.We organized certified staff training sessions in each country to train staff in the fundamental of sign languages and on the operation of the I-ACE applications.At the closure of the project we evaluated the European Sign Language Translator through several pilot installations in schools and at the Metro of Porto, a public attendance service. The results from the pilot installations and the outcomes of the project were presented to the media and to general public at an open session.RESULTS AND IMPACTSIn order to disseminate project activities and results, we have provided information to the stakeholders through the media, online social networks, email, participation in conferences and other events and meetings. I-ACE raised the interest of the media (newspapers, radio and TV broadcasts)LONG TERM BENEFITSThe I-ACE project promotes inclusive school by transferring to the civil society innovative assistive technology research products that facilitate the communication between/with deaf people. I-ACE provides unique conditions to promote social inclusion, active citizenship and an improved educational experience to the European deaf community.Given our former experience with the VirtualSign impact in the Portuguese institutions related to the deaf community we expect that the I-ACE outputs will become more and more requested by public services, schools, museums, tourism offices, airports, police stations and many other places where fluent international communication is important.