With a special ceremony, the Center for Wine Studies of CETYS University (CEVIT) was inaugurated and the coordinated commitment of the government, business sector, and academia to one of the most important productive vocations in the state of Baja California, viticulture, was reaffirmed.
The building that houses the CEVIT has 1,000 m2 of construction, where there are laboratories, a tasting room, an auditorium with a capacity for 90 people, a library, a meeting room, offices for researchers, walkways, and green areas to carry out actions aimed at supporting to consolidated companies, developing companies, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, organizations and institutions, researchers and enthusiasts associated with the subject of wine in Mexico and the world.
Its mission is to develop skills and abilities for the wine industry, wine production, and the development of wine and wine tourism businesses through the training and education of technical staff and professionals of excellence. Also, create and transfer knowledge relevant to the productive development of the wine sector based on applied research and cutting-edge technological development.
Before the Chancellor of the CETYS System, Fernando León Luna, and Luigi Moio, president of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIVV), Baja California Governor Avila Olmeda praised the efforts of the educational institution to strengthen this important productive industry.
“The scientific knowledge and professionalization offered by this Study Center will allow us to anticipate and plan this growth, promote it in an orderly, sustainable manner, respecting the agricultural vocation of our valleys, and discover a fairer and more equitable distribution of the bonanza of this industry,” she said.
Dr. Fernando León García, Rector of the CETYS University System, emphasized that CEVIT was born as a project in 2018 and that its objective is to share knowledge and practical knowledge that contribute to the comprehensive development of the wine sector and regional and national prosperity, all through of applied research and technological and business innovation.
“CEVIT will be key in generating knowledge, capabilities, and technological infrastructure to develop the potential for productive scaling; Likewise, it bears witness to the direction of higher education institutions that, coming from the pandemic and heading towards the post-pandemic, will seek to be local multiversities, in this way CETYS once again reiterates its commitment to regional and national development”, shared Dr. Fernando, Leon Garcia.
For Mr. Santiago José Argüello Campos, General Director of Agricultural Promotion of the Federal Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development, the basis of all growth, innovation, and development must be science and technology, since they are the engines that They are going to keep agriculture on a positive trend, prosper and generate development.
“To continue promoting viticulture in the scientific field, spaces like this are needed that allow more women, men, and young people to get closer to science and innovation, and in this sense, we have no doubt that CEVIT will be the best ally of viticulture in the country”, emphasized Mr. Argüello.
Diana Celaya Tentori, director of the wine center, said that this project has been proposed since 2018 and its goal is to form human capital, scientific research, and productive linkage.
“As of 2024 we will already have a master’s program, but we already have diplomas, seminars, and workshops for people who are already working in the sector,” she said.
Dr. Francisco Velez Torres director of CETYS University Campus Ensenada said that this will complement the training that is currently being done to help the wine sector and hope to have more students registered with this new building.
“From 2018 to date we have had 500 people in these courses and we hope to exceed this number in 2023 alone,” he said.