From 12 to 16 November 2013 the 25th edition of SIMEI will be held in Milan and its focus will be sustainability in the winemaking sector. The schedule is full of important meetings dedicated to this matter: in-depth study opportunities, professional updates and occasions to take stock of the state-of-the-art.
The keystone of these events is the International Conference “Sustainable viticulture and wine production: Steps ahead toward a global and local cross-fertilization”, organized by Unione Italiana Vini, which involved, for this occasion, some of the most important exponents of the scientific community directly committed to the subject of sustainability in the winemaking field.
The Conference will cover two days and it will be the real scientific heart of SIMEI: interesting topics will be discussed with a special development formula of the programme. At the end of each work session, there will indeed be a sort of talk show, where all the attendees will have the possibility to speak with regard to the issues discussed, by directly interacting with the speakers and by taking part in a survey on the level of involvement in the focus “sustainability”.
The works of the conference will be held in the Martini Room of the Stella Polare Congress Centre at the Fairground Centre Fiera di Milano Rho ; they will start in the afternoon of 12 November, right after the official opening of Simei and they will go on and end the day after.
UIV has strongly wanted this Conference, intended and planned as an opportunity to take stock of the current situation of sustainability in the winemaking sector and of the future prospects. It will be an occasion for discussion, allowing to give voice to critical points and chances directly from the stakeholder involved, a stepping-stone for new proposals, a round table for defining a new common protocol with practices and measures to be adopted all over the world .
Top-level members will compose the Scientific Committee presided over by Prof. Ettore Capri, Director of the Research Centre for the Sustainable Development in agriculture Opera: he will work together with Allison Jordan (Wine Institute of California), Sarah E. Lewis (The Sustainability Consortium), Sakkie Pretorius (Macquarie University of Australia), Attilio Scienza (University of Studies of Milan).
In the two conference days the discussions will concern several topics of crucial importance for the above focus. This is the schedule of the two days:
12 November
“Where are we?”
The international sustainability programmes and those consolidated at national level, the institutional ones, those proposed by the international organizations and the individual company programmes.
“Are they recognizable?”
The control of third-party institutions, the response of the mass retailers, the opinion of the non-governmental associations.
13 November
“Sustainability: how do we measure it?”
Indicators, databases, reports and voluntary declarations.
“How do we communicate it?”
How to make information, training, education.
“How can we implement it?”
Computer, ecological, mechanical, chemical, historical, genetic measures.
In addition to this important event, there will also be other meetings, workshops and projects included in the busy programme of the trade show – which can be looked up on the website www.simei.it – dedicated to the subject of sustainability in the winemaking sector, analyzed in all its aspects.
