The 2023 Annual Meeting of the Wine Technology Platform (PTV) was held in Tarragona on 8 and 9 May. The event brought together the main agents involved in the promotion of R&D&I in wine and included various activities such as a visit to the Familia Torres winery, a technical tasting by oenologist Jordi Foraster and the 11th General Assembly of PTV Members, inaugurated by the director of INCAVI, Alba Balcells.

The assembly approved the composition of the new Board of Directors with Carlos Moro, president of Bodegas Familiares Matarromera, as President of the association, and Rosana Lisa, Director of R&D&I at Ramón Bilbao, as Vice-President. The outgoing president of the PTV, Mireia Torres, pointed out that over the last few years the PTV has forged strong alliances with wine entities of extraordinary importance, such as the Spanish Interprofessional Wine Organisation, the Spanish Wine Federation and AgroBank.

This change has also led to the partial renewal of the Technical Committee, which now includes a new area of Digitalisation, which will be coordinated by Eva Navascués, R&D&I Director at Alma Carraovejas; David Martínez, Director of Digital Transformation at AINIA, and Juan Manuel Corchado, President of AIR Institute.

To close the General Assembly of Members, Fernando Zamora, Professor of Oenological Technology at the URV, gave a keynote speech on “How to reduce the use of sulphur dioxide without compromising the quality of the wine”. Xavier Ybargüengoitia, former CEO of Estates & Wines (LVMH), presented his book “Creating value in the wine industry”, and explained that it was based on three pillars: strategic vision, product and operational excellence as well as brand creation.

The 2023 Annual Meeting of the PTV has been a space for meeting, renewal and emphasis on the need for digitalisation that leads to this new area of the platform, which Juan Manuel Corchado joins with enthusiasm and valuing it as a source of opportunities and innovation.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.