World leaders in the sector join the OOWC's Scientific Committee

The Olive Oil World Congress (OOWC) today held a meeting of its Scientific Committee. The meeting brought together the sector's leading experts, including scientists from more than 10 different countries, to collaborate on the development of its programme for 2024, outlining the themes to be developed during this important event that will feature the best speakers in each subject, both nationally and internationally.

The programme of the first OOWC is in full development, adding proposals from scientists and professionals who are part of the Scientific Committee, who have suggested topics such as artificial intelligence, industry 4.0 and other technological innovations applied to the production and processing of olive oil. Sustainability will also be a key topic at the congress, without forgetting the profitability of farms, the health benefits of olive oil and marketing in international markets.

Kostas Chartzoulakis, senior researcher at the Institute of Olive and Subtropical Plants (NAGREF) in Greece, indicated during the meeting that the Scientific Committee "will be responsible for incorporating the proposals of the members that are most interesting for the OOWC programme" and thanked that "the attendees have contributed improvements and suggestions to make the programme more participatory and enriching".

Thanks to the support of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) in Zaragoza, a partner of the OOWC, several representatives of universities and research centres from the main olive oil producing and consuming countries have joined this project, such as Blanca Landa del Castillo, researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and Luca Testi, researcher at the Department of Agronomy of the CSIC; Sara Oulbi, researcher at the National Institute for Agricultural Research in Morocco; Georgios Koubouris, researcher and head of the Olive Growing Laboratory at the Institute of Olive, Subtropical Crops and Viticulture in Greece; Ali Ben Dhiab, researcher at the Institute of Olive Growing in Tunisia; Milad Riachy, researcher at the Institute of Olive Growing in Tunisia; Milad Riachy, researcher at the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute; Mivan Peci, food engineer at the Musai Olive Oil in Albania; Jouini Nourelhouda, head of laboratory at the National Oil Office in Tunisia, and Kamel Gargouri, professor at the Olive Institute in Tunisia; Ayça Akça Uçkun, researcher at the Olive Research Institute in Turkey, Figen Tokatli, PhD at the Department of Food Engineering at the Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey; Enzo Perri, researcher and director of the CREA Centre for Research in Olive, Fruit and Citrus Growing in Italy, and from the Casa do Azeite Association in Portugal, the researcher and professor Helder Fraga, from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, has joined the Scientific Committee.

Under the slogan 'Taste it, enjoy, It's olive oil', the congress has AgroBank, the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha through the brand Campo y Alma and the Junta de Andalucía through its brand 'Gusto del Sur' as Platinum sponsors, Grupo Interóleo, Balam Agriculture and Agrocolor, as Gold sponsors; and the company Kubota as Silver sponsor.