The ICSuro, AECORK and the URV, through the Faculty of Enology, will promote Knowledge on the capping of wines and cavas with corks.

Albert Hereu, managing director of theCatalan Institute of Cork (ICSuro), Joan J. Puig, president of theAsociación d'Empresaris Surers de Catalunya (AECORK), and the rector of the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) Josep Anton Ferré, have signed a collaboration agreement on Monday 22 February at the Rectorate, in Tarragona.

theICSuro is a public-private consortium whose mission is to promote the development of the entire value chain of the Catalan cork sector; theAECORK is the association of entrepreneurs, located in Catalonia, which brings together companies that manufacture and/or market cork products that export to the main world wine markets. And the URV, as a University, is dedicated to teaching, research and university extension.

The URV trains oenologists at university level through the Faculty of Oenology, teaching the Oenology degree and the master's degree in Fermented Beverages, among other teachings. In accordance with the agreement, the three entities will deepen the use of cork for the caps of wines and cavas in the training of future oenologists and in the world of wine. This will materialize among others with the organization of a teaching day, with a visit from the students of the URV in the cork production area of Girona; promoting two final works of the master's degree in Fermented Beverages to the students on a topic related to cork closures, and also offer it in the catalog of final works of the Oenology degree. In order to facilitate the completion of master's theses, ICSuro i AECORK they will fund a maximum of two scholarships to students to carry them out.

The tripartite relations established through this agreement open the door to future collaborations, such as conducting studies or participating in R+D+i projects that are of common interest or the promotion of capping training of cork in other oenology faculties