KNOWLEDGE ALLIANCES AND LIFE LONG LEARNING IN THE WINE BUSINESS - FORMS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES AND ENTERPRISES

The basic idea behind the term lifelong learning is simple. It is that deliberate learning can and should occur throughout each person's lifetime [1]. Following the need of education and learning over a lifetime, this paper focuses on possible forms of cooperation between universities and the wine business and what challenges they are facing right now. Within the frame of the ERASMUS+ Project "The Wien Lab - Generating Innovation between Practice and Research" sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted in the wine regions of Austria, to identify the interests and needs of the stakeholder group. In order to answer the research questions of this master's thesis a qualitative content analysis was used to review the available data. Further a secondary research approach included a review of existing literature and articles linked to the topic of university-industry cooperation. Several finding within this study were directly or indirectly related to communication within cooperation. So therefore, the integration of communication into all kinds of cooperation is important. Having the right communication tools and channels in place is seen as a major improvement when working in large groups. Also, it is recommended to use existing communication tools that are already in place. Further the conducted research revealed several very specific problems of individual participants as well as two mayor topics that seem to be related to the branch of wine business in general. The first problem is the labor market. Leasing companies are important to be able to cover the work, during the peek seasons, in the vineyards. The second issue is the overwhelming bureaucracy in the wine business. Regulations, laws and permissions are hindering the vintners from a free workflow.