BOKU and MCI launch joint training program

Unique training program for craft beer brewers offers support in brewing technology, product development, and innovation: workshop series launched at Management Center Innsbruck

With its origins in the U.S. the craft beer boom perfectly matches European brewing traditions. It provides especially small breweries with enormous market potential and opportunities for development. A training program, jointly developed by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) and Management Center Innsbruck (MCI), now offers support for small breweries in brewing technology and product development. The training program, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, opened with a two-day workshop in Innsbruck. The workshop was organized by the MCI working group for food technology.

Committed and innovative breweries, often belonging to the smaller or smallest of businesses, enhance the beer market and contribute to the renaissance of beer as a modern beverage. They produce so-called craft beers, in other words “handcrafted beers”, which are known for their unusual diversity in both type and taste. This trend, characterized by its combination of tradition and innovation, receives support from today’s conscious and pleasure-seeking consumer, increasingly demanding high-quality local food and drink.

The craft beer boom creates excellent market opportunities for small breweries, but also presents them with particular challenges: many of them lack the resources required to continuously develop their product range, to improve relevant production processes, and to create suitably effective economic conditions. The joint initiative of BOKU and MCI offers help; selected microbreweries from all over Austria can now participate in a premium training program to deepen their knowledge of modern brewing technology and acquire valuable know-how relevant to their business. The focus of the program is on raw materials, fermentation and brewing technologies, as well as business knowledge and marketing tools.

The workshop series forms part of the “R&D Competences for Industry” promotion program, funded by the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy.

Statements:

Professor Henry Jäger, head of the BOKU working group for food technology: “Training programs are ideally suited to facilitate the development of small and medium-sized businesses, while at the same time demonstrating the benefit of cooperating with research institutions. This pioneering interdisciplinary cooperation with Management Center Innsbruck allows us to create a training program tailored to the needs of the participants and to make the most of available synergies.”

Professor Katrin Bach, head of the agro & food technology program at MCI: "Technology transfer, that is the immediate application of scientific findings to practical problems, forms the basis of all research projects carried out at MCI. Over the past few years, our research in food technology has, thus, increasingly focused on fermentation processes such as those used for brewing beer. It is a pleasure to be able to cooperate with the renowned BOKU on this new training project.”

Funding Authorities:

Further Information:
Research Topic Agro & Food Technology
Master Studies Food Technology & Nutrition (German)

Press Contact:
Mag.(FH) Ulrike Fuchs
+43 512 2070-1527
ulrike.fuchs@mci.edu