Institutional support to the platform technology Española del Olivar, Alenta

Present at the presentation ceremony were Pedro Prado, the Sub-Directorate General of strategies of public-private collaboration of the Ministry of science and innovation, Ernesto Ríos López of the Sub-Directorate General of Industrial development and innovation of the Ministry of environment and Rural Environment and Marino, Gervasio lamb, Assistant Director General of business growth of the Ministry of industry, tourism and tradeAntonio López, responsible for innovation of the Andalusian Federation of agricultural cooperative enterprises (Faeca), and Mª Angeles hairstyle, Vice-Rector for research, technological development and innovation of University of Jaen (UJA). The event also attended by Cristina de Toro Navero, general director of Citoliva, who explained the objectives of Alenta: "Aims to bring together all the public and private actors in the chain of value of the sector of olive Spanish to identify and prioritize technology needs and research medium and long term in the sector, and in this way can advise to the bodies responsible for technology policy". "It aims to promote cooperation between institutions for the development of projects of applied research, technological development and innovation, both at the national and international level".

Ernesto Ríos, Assistant Director-General of Industrial development and innovation of the Ministry of environment and Rural Environment and marine (MARM), has stressed the importance and necessity of this platform for a key sector in our country as the olive oil. For rivers, Alenta must make concerted efforts to develop synergies with other platforms and thereby gain competitiveness.

For its part, Gervasio lamb, Assistant Director General of business growth of the Ministry of industry, tourism and trade, during his speech, has stressed the importance of the technology platforms as a complement and reinforcement for innovative business groupings such as Inoleo, managed by Citoliva, which aims to contribute to the promotion of research, technological development and innovation in the supplier Sector of goods and services of the olive Sector, through the engagement of all relevant actors in the sector to cooperate in national and international levels, in order to increase the competitiveness of the sector.

Then, Antonio López, responsible for innovation of the Andalusian cooperative agricultural enterprises (Faeca) Federation, referred to the difficult moment that passes through the olive grove, an "atomized" sector and "little proactive" in r & d, dragging prices for oil similar to for 30 years. Lopez stressed the importance of this tool for the olive sector that Alenta will contact all the agents knowledge and funding with the production sector to improve their competitiveness and cooperation.

Finally, Mª Angeles hairstyle, Vice-Rector of research of the University of Jaen, recalled the commitment that the University of Jaén maintains with the company and the sector of olive oil, so strategic to the province of Jaén, and highlighted the work of this institution for the transfer of knowledge of the r & d towards this sector.

The Technological Centre/Center of the Olivar and of the Oil, Citoliva, leads this initiative in collaboration with the Upper Council of Scientific Investigations (CSIC), the Association AEI of the Sector Provider Oleícola (Inoleo), the Andalusian Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Companies (Faeca) and the University of Jaén (UJA) and with the support of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. With his launching, the entity reinforces his strategic positioning like referent in innovation and technology of the sector oleícola, covering all the links of the chain of value, and at the same time, improving the competitive position of the sector oleícola.