The Edariak eta Ardoa (EDA, Beverages and Wine) Drinks & Wine Campus is born, a project "that aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the wine and beverage sector through training, research, innovation and support for entrepreneurship".

The center, promoted by the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Álava, will be developed by the Basque Culinary Center and will be launched in Álava.

It will have two headquarters, one in Vitoria-Gasteiz and the other in Rioja Alavesa. Work is currently underway on the specific location of both spaces.

Joxe Mari Aizega, director of the Basque Culinary Center, explained that "wine is the heart" of the project but "with a 360-degree vision of the drinks", by naming not only the wine, but also the entire group made up of "cider, txakoli, distillates, liqueurs and infusions, within "a very broad sector".

"The objective is to create a center of excellence of international prestige as a sectoral and economic development tool based on four pillars: training, innovation, entrepreneurship and the positioning of the brand at an international level", he specified.

300 students from all over the world

The campus "will be a reality in 2025", the year in which it hopes to start its academic activity "at full capacity", with the implementation of "a degree in the field of beverages", as well as several "specialized master's degrees" with the aim of attract, already in that first academic year, "between 200 and 300 students from all over the world", with "bilingual training in English and Spanish".

For this, the academic project will take into account all the related academic disciplines (from the laboratory and the sciences, the kitchen and the avant-garde, the living room, business, design, tourism and leisure, to history, sociology , or communication and marketing), and also all the agents of the value chain (from the production of raw materials, processing, distribution and marketing, the horeca channel and tourism).

  In the same way, the study plan will offer a cross-sectional look at all present and future drinks. "It will take into consideration, in addition to wine, other beverages with great potential such as beer, non-alcoholic, fermented and distilled beverages, among others, thus building bridges and synergies that will take innovation and sustainability as academic keys. .", clarified the director.

€9,6 million

Edariak eta Ardoa (EDA) Drinks & Wine Campus was born with a budget of 9.6 million euros from the Basque Government and the Álava Provincial Council will provide "a physical space" to the center in Rioja Alavesa, as well as "finance the project with the needs that arise.

The Minister of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, stated that the plan will allow "applying innovation to the entire wine sector". "It is a pioneering project in excellence in training and innovation to strengthen the entire beverage and wine sector in the Basque Country. We want to be the best and for the work we do in these fields to be recognized internationally," Tapia indicated.