The European Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) InnoEnergy has a new CEO: Since September 14, Diego Pavía Bardají has been managing the business of the energy research consortium of 35 enterprises, universities, research and institutions. The engineer Pavía has been assuming management positions in industry for years. He now follows Professor Hans-Jörg Bauer from KIT, who coordinated the preparation and setup phase of KIC InnoEnergy as an interim CEO.
Diego Pavía, born 1963, studied electrical engineering and specialized in electronics and automation at the Polytechnical University of Madrid. Meanwhile, he can look back on a long career at private companies. Diego headed multicultural working groups all over the world in the field of energy. His last post was that of a CEO of Atos Origin, a leading international IT service provider, where he was responsible for Spain and South America, about 9000 employees, and an annual turnover of EUR 450 million. From 2006 to 2010, Diego chaired the Spanish Consultancy Association (AEC), in which all leading IT enterprises in Spain are represented.
“I am very much looking forward to my new tasks at KIC InnoEnergy,“ says Pavía. “The consortium supports cooperation of first rank industries, universities and research institutions. Our measurable goals are startups, patents, and close-to-industry education of graduate and Ph.D. students in the field of sustainable energy. It will be the key to Europe’s economic competitiveness in the future.”
KIC InnoEnergy, a public private partnership, funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), links research, education, and innovation in order to accelerate technology transfer and create a sustainable energy system in Europe. KIC InnoEnergy is managed like an enterprise. “We are pleased to have won for KIC InnoEnergy such a dynamic and charismatic personality like Diego Pavía,” underlines Professor Hans-Jörg Bauer. “He possesses vast entrepreneurial experience and his qualification precisely corresponds to the profile a CEO of KIC InnoEnergy is expected to have.“
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is one of Europe’s leading energy research establishments. The KIT Energy Center pools fundamental research with applied research into all relevant energy sources for industry, households, services, and mobility. Holistic assessment of the energy cycle also covers conversion processes and energy efficiency. The KIT Energy Center links competences in engineering and science with know-how in economics, the humanities, and social science as well as law. The activities of the KIT Energy Center are organized in seven topics: Energy conversion, renewable energies, energy storage and distribution, efficient energy use, fusion technology, nuclear power and safety, and energy systems analysis.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.