The Wire Communications Laboratory (WCL) (www.wcl.ee.upatras.gr/) was established in 1970 in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Patras. With a long tradition in education, WCL currently has a staff of more than 50 researchers, support personnel, and PhD students. The WCL is active in three main areas with organised R&D teams: Speech & Natural Language Technology, Telecommunications, and Audio & Acoustics Technology.  A high number of education materials are prepared and published every year by the department staff, targeting not only to students but to public at large too, such as the KORAIS lexicon which is accompanied by an interactive DVD using new technologies to promote learning (i.e. TTS synthesis for foreign learning Greek). WCL is involved in research on environmental issues, such as the automatic identification of species and detection of pests from their sound emissions and specifically on the area of Hymettus (coordinator of AmiBio).