Machine Translation (MT) is one of the oldest language technologies having
been researched for more than 70 years. However, it is only during the last decade
that it has been widely accepted by the general public, to the point where in many
cases it has become an indispensable tool for the global community, supporting communication
between nations and lowering language barriers. Still, there remain major
gaps in the technology that need addressing before it can be successfully applied
in under-resourced settings, can understand context and use world knowledge. This
chapter provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art in the field of MT, offers
technical and scientific forecasting for 2030, and provides recommendations for the
advancement of MT as a critical technology if the goal of digital language equality
in Europe is to be achieved.