THE UNIVERSITY OF CASTILLA-LA MANCHA WILL BE UNDERTAKING THE FUTURE CHALLENGES AND COMPETITIVENESS IN THE WORLDWIDE MARKETS AT FENAVIN

Nemesio de Lara, President of the Provincial Government and of the National Trade Fair on Wine and Ernesto Martínez Ataz, President of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, have renewed the Agreement of Collaboration.

The University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) will be holding a fundamental role at FENAVIN 2011, which will be taking place from May 10th to the 12th and at which the latest scientific advances and research carried out in the wine sector will be put at the reach of the winery owners and professionals.

Both institutions have decided to renew the Agreement of Collaboration, which has been signed by the President of the Provincial Government and of the Trade Fair itself, Nemesio de Lara and by the Rector of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Ernesto Martínez Ataz, who were accompanied at the signing by the Vice Rector of the Ciudad Real Campus, Mairena Martín, among other representatives of the UCLM, as well as by the Vice President of the Provincial Government, Ángel Cabellero and by the Director of FENAVIN, Manuel Juliá.

During the signing, Nemesio de Lara stressed the importance of the regional University's presence at the Trade Fair, this due to its crucial scientific and educational contribution, representing one of the pillars that adds value to the wineries, which on this occasion will enjoy the extraordinary opportunity of obtaining first hand information on the scientific improvements that are taking place in the sector. On the other hand, Ernesto Martínez Ataz underlined the university's absolute will to contribute with its knowledge at a Trade Fair that in itself is already extraordinary, "as it is the great national standard of reference on wine". Diverse sessions and round tables will be hosted at FENAVIN, during which the ties between the scientific world and the wine producing sector will come even closer together. Among these sessions a very important debate will be taking place on the future challenges of the sector and competitiveness in worldwide markets.

The University of Castilla-La Mancha will have its own space at the Trade Fair in order to promote the work carried out by its research teams, its R&D and innovation lines and its scientific-technological offer, apart from bilateral encounters or 'brokerage events' between the University and the Company. These meetings are common in international commercial trade fairs and they duly cover the permanent need for modernization that companies have by way of the scientific-technological advances that are taking place.

The winery owners or impresarios that are interested in these types of bilateral meetings, which will have a duration of between 15 and 20 minutes, will be able to visit the website www.fenavin.com as of April 18th in order to see the regional university's scientific-technological program, and thus choose the subject matter that interests them and request a meeting with the work team or research representatives. The staff at the Vice-Chancellor for Research and, more specifically, the Industrial Liaison Office (ILO) (in Spanish OTRI: Oficina de Transferencia de Resultados de Investigación) will be meeting with all professionals and impresarios that are interested in all these matters, as is likewise the case with the specific researcher involved.

Round Tables and Educational Sessions

In this edition the regional university, along with the sponsorship of the Tierra de Viñedos Foundation, has organized a new workshop, 'Innovation as a Strategy of Differentiation in the Wine Sector', which will be divided into four 45-minute sessions and during which the enological potential and quality of the red wines made with minority varieties grown in Castilla-La Mancha will be undertaken, the same under the responsibility of Miguel Ángel González Viñas, Professor of the UCLM, or prevention of oxidative maderization in white wines, which will also be put forward by a Professor of the Castellano-Manchego institute, Isidro Hermosín Gutiérrez.

The remaining sessions will include a chat on obtaining polyphenols as of grape residue, imparted by the Professor of the UCLM Jesusa Rincón Zamorano (UCLM), while Miguel Ángel Gómez Borja, of the same university, will be covering commercialization and marketing in the winegrowing industry. The chats will be hosted on May 11th, as of 10:00 a.m. in Lecture Hall 3 of the trade fair pavilion.

The regional university will likewise host an interesting round table at FENAVIN, which will cover the future challenges of the sector and competitiveness in the worldwide markets, with the round table to be moderated by the Full Professor Juan Sebastián Castillo Valero and with lecturers such as the Director General of Agricultural Production for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Francisco Martínez Arroyo; along with the Member of the Regional Parlament Antonio Salinas; the Expert in European Agricultural Policy Tomás García Azcárate; the Director of the winery Bodegas Vinícola de Castilla, Alfonso Monsalve; and the President of both Baco and Ucaman, Ángel Villafranca. This round table will take place on the last day of the Trade Fair, May 12th, at 04:30 p.m. in Lecture Hall 3.