Verbmobil was a long-term project of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF, Projekträger DLR).
After the successful evaluation of the research prototype (Forschungsprototyp) on October 24, 1996, in Munich, the project ontinued into its second phase until the year 2000.

Its aim was to give Germany a top international position in language technology and its economical application in the next millenium by cooperation and concentration of as many specialists as possible from industry and science.

The long-sighted aim reached, was the development of a mobile translation system for the translation of spontaneous speech in face-to-face situations.