On Wednesday 22 March, Adoberia Bella hosted the launch event of the International Joint Master in Innovative Leather Technology, which will be taught from next academic year.

The event which could be followed both in person and online, was organised by Leather Cluster Barcelona together with A3 Leather Innovation Center of the Igualada-UdL Campus, the Universitat de Lleida and AcexPiel.

The session at which the Innovative Leather Technology Master's degree was presented featured contributions from Anna Bacardit, director of the A3 Leather Innovation Center research group; Sílvia Sorolla, researcher at the same centre; and Maria Mercè Solé, Ph. D. University Associate professor at the Universitat de Lleida.

With the new International Joint Master in Innovative Leather Technology, students will study for two years around the world, at four universities specialising in leather. A3 Leather Innovation Center-UdL, together with ITECH (France), EGE University (Turkey) and CIATEC (Mexico), have combined their academic strengths to offer a 120-credit leather master's degree that will qualify graduates for senior positions in the global leather industry and its international value chain. The Master's degree will be taught in English across the different higher education institutions and will focus on innovation, the circular economy, fashion and sustainability.

This international master's degree stems from the LEATECH project led by the A3 Leather Innovation Center of the Universitat de Lleida, under the Erasmus Mundus programme, whose purpose has been to coordinate and prepare a group of higher education institutions active in leather science, with the aim of implementing this European joint master's degree in innovative leather technology.

Leather Cluster Barcelona, together with other business organisations in the leather sector such as AcexPiel, the Asociación Española de la Indústria de la Piel para el Comercio Exterior, and the Confederation of National Associations of Tanners of the European Union, COTANCE, has taken an active part in the LEATECH project and has supported the new international master's degree in the conviction that this university programme meets the need for highly qualified professionals in the leather sector.

For further information about the academic programme of the International Joint Master in Innovative Leather Technology and the enrolment requirements, please visit the website: leatechmaster.com

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector. The cluster is an entity accredited under the Catalonia Clusters programme and is supported by Acció.