This body, which in July 2016 will celebrate 25 years since its creation, has organized a series of activities that it will carry out throughout the year with the intention of reinforcing its strategic lines and creating links with all its members and organizations with which it has a relationship.

The Catalan Cork Institute brings together the interests of the Catalan cork sector, made up of around 50 companies that manufacture corks for wine and cava, which invoice 210 million euros and employ 1,000 workers, mainly located in the regions from Girona. Annual production is around 2.7 billion corks of which 1.3 billion are cava/champagne and represent 60% worldwide, and 1.4 billion are wine and represent 10% worldwide. It is a sector that exports the 50% of its production. At the forest production level, 4 thousand tons of cork are obtained annually of which only the 50% is put into production, with a potential of 7 thousand tons.

The start of the year of celebration will be given by an institutional event in February with representatives of the Administration and prominent personalities of the Catalan cork sector taking advantage of the opportunity to hold the first General Meeting of the year. During the month of March, the ICSuro will receive visits from schools and institutes in the nearest cork municipalities in order to show the functions and objectives of this body that serves as a meeting point between the forestry, industrial and entrepreneurial sectors new applications of cork.

Also, during 2016, the Institute will organize and/or participate in three competitions in different areas but framed within its strategic lines, such as: competition for entrepreneurs and business ideas with cork, the CorklabELISAVA (School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona) i Sponsorship of the Master's Degree in Fermented Beverages of the Rovira i Virgili University along with AECORK. These activities will strengthen the areas of new applications of cork and oenology.

The revitalization of the cork territories will be carried out through a touristic-pedagogical route where the entire cork value chain (from the forest to the bottle) will be shown, starting with the activity of the Cork Peeler, passing through a visit to a cork factory corks, theCatalan Institute of Cork, the Cork Museum and a local winery, jointly coordinated with the Cork Museum.

Specific actions will also be carried out on designated days such as: Sant Jordi, Environment Day, Forest Day, etc. And throughout the year, actions and revitalization will be strengthened in social networks and in general in the field of online marketing (#ICSURO25).

In order to establish and strengthen links with entities related to ICSuro, meetings, training sessions and/or visits to the Institute's facilities will be held, with entities such as DO Empordà, INNOVATE, AENOR, ISO, CELERY, AECORK, RETECORK, Forestry Consortium of Catalonia, Forest Technology Center of Catalonia, Chambers of Commerce, University of Girona, Town councils of cork municipalities, Cork Museum, Tourism Board - Empordà DO Wine Route,others.

As for the ICSuro laboratory, the Cork Center, apart from the development of new services and the search for new clients, one of the objectives for 2016 is to obtain ISO 17025 certification; the highest quality standard for a laboratory of these characteristics.

Likewise, during 2015 an important area was consolidated, such as research and innovation, a fundamental pillar for the Institute since it must provide tools and resources to cork organizations in order for them to be more competitive . For this reason, during 2016 we will see some results of the main projects in which this body participates: LIFE ECORKWASTE which aims to use cork waste to generate electricity and treat waste water from the wine sector; CORK, which consists of the creation of a prototype of an electronic nose for the detection of aromas; or the recent acquisition of a 3D printer with the intention of giving more added value to cork by-products through additive technology.

So, this celebration aims to give greater visibility to the entire value chain of the Catalan cork sector, through research, innovation and communication through the interrelationship with all its audiences and members.