The centre is created by the Basque Culinary Center and is promoted by the Basque Government and Regional Council of Álava

EDA Drinks & Wine Campus was born as a unique interdisciplinary project with an international outlook and scope based on a comprehensive perspective that will strengthen the drinks and wine industry through training, research and support for entrepreneurship. The centre is created by the Basque Culinary Center and is promoted by the Basque Government and Regional Council of Álava, and will be launched in Álava in 2025. EDA will have two headquarters, one in Vitoria-Gasteiz and the other in Rioja Alavesa. The specific locations in both places are currently under discussion.

 

After more than a decade as an international reference in training, research, innovation and entrepreneurship in gastronomy, the Basque Culinary Center’s aim is to further evolve as an ecosystem for gastronomy. Therefore, with the same exploratory spirit with which it began its journey in 2011, it continues to broaden its 360º vision of gastronomy and advance in its proposal for the future, by creating a new project focused on the world of drinks, that meets the current needs of the industry with an innovative, transversal and transformative approach.

 

EDA will be a pioneer, knowledge-based centre for a strategic industry in the economy, and an example of public-private cooperation that will foster economic and social development based on excellence, promoting not only the wine-growing area and the wine culture of the Basque Country, but also exploring and developing all aspects of the world of drinks at international level. Beer, kombucha, tea, distilled drinks, non-alcoholik drinks, etc., they will all have a place at EDA.

 

EDA is open to everyone who wants to create alliances and synergies with prestigious entities, leading companies, wineries, research centres and private partners, with the aim of forming an international collaboration network. EDA will provide a space for coming together and creating new ideas aimed at attracting and developing talent, based on innovation, excellence, knowledge and sustainability.

 

In short, the mission of EDA Drinks & Wine Campus will be to help transform the drinks industry, becoming an international reference for innovation and contributing a differential aspect to companies and entities involved in the design of business, products and services in line with the principles of quality, sustainability and health, with a local and global focus and generating economic and social development.

 

COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING

 

EDA Drinks & Wine Campus’s training programme is based on a 360° vision of gastronomy and interdisciplinary training. Within this learning scenario, students will acquire knowledge on various subjects in a transversal way through an innovative and practical teaching model.

 

In this context, the training programmes for students, professionals, companies and entrepreneurs have a global, 360º vision of drinks, which will help to create new, versatile and specialised professional profiles who understand the industry from all aspects and who will be able to innovate in different areas and adapt to the consumption, technology and social changes that arise in the industry.

 

For this, the academic plan must take into account all related academic disciplines (from the laboratory and the sciences, cuisine and the avant-garde, dining service, business, design, tourism and leisure to history, sociology, communications and marketing), and all stakeholders in the value chain (from producing the raw material, processing, distribution and sale, the HoReCa channel and tourism).

 

Similarly, the study programme will take a transversal look at all drinks, present and future. In addition to wines, the programme will cover other drinks with great potential –beer, alcohol-free drinks, fermented and distilled drinks, etc.– , building bridges and creating synergies, with innovation and sustainability as academic pillars.

 

INNOVATION AND RESEARCH AS DRIVERS FOR GROWTH

 

EDA is also contemplating the need to generate knowledge about the world of drinks and to promote the transfer of this knowledge through research and innovation, both for industry professionals and for all stakeholders involved in the value chain and in society.

 

This leadership in research will provide the wine industry and drinks companies with a major competitive advantage over new countries that are looking to gain a foothold in the market. Sustainability is also key in this industry, and will be one of the strategic research and development pillars for guiding companies in the drinks industry.

 

EDA will be able to promote the expansion of scientific knowledge about the negative effects of drinks on health and well-being. It will also drive the internationalisation of the sector and improve the position of national drinks in the global market, by fostering intra- and intersectoral cooperation in innovation and marketing actions, to modernise and improve business management, optimise knowledge of marketing and communications material, and increase and support the resilience capacity of companies in the industry through technological innovation tools.