David Salvo, new president of the UPV Social Council

With humility, ambition, multiple challenges ahead, and an unwavering commitment to always be available to the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) to aspire to leave a positive mark on a new era that is undoubtedly beginning with great enthusiasm.

This is how David Salvo Lillo, CEO of Power Electronics, a company founded in 1987 and currently leading manufacturer of solar inverters in Europe, Oceania and America, and the global leader in inverters for energy storage, begins his term as the new president of the UPV Social Council.

'If I didn't feel capable of contributing, I wouldn't have accepted the challenge'

'I know The Social Council of the UPV through my brother, who was a member, and for us, the UPV is a benchmark with which we have collaborated for decades, almost since the company's inception,' says Salvo, beginning to explain how and why he has become the new head of the collegiate body representing Valencian society at the university.

"What attracted me, basically, was the project. If I didn't feel capable of contributing something to the management team leading this educational institution, which is the most important one we have in Spain in terms of engineering, I would not have accepted the challenge, 'explains the new president, who considers the UPV to be a' fundamental" institution if we want Valencia to continue growing, for the Valencian Community to continue growing, and for Spain to strengthen its international position as a hub for investment and knowledge '.

'We must stop perceiving entrepreneurial activity in academia as something negative'

Clear in his thinking, Salvo believes that 'we must stop seeing it as something negative and start valuing it as the opposite: that academia wants to be entrepreneurial, producing new businesspeople and entrepreneurs in society and generating employment'.

This conceptual transformation is just one of his major objectives. Another is to boost the internationalisation of the UPV, something in which he is aware he is not starting from scratch, 'but on a basis where the UPV is a leader within Spain', so 'it is much easier to be part of a project where things have been done well'.

However, Salvo, who admits that he has always set utopia as his goal to get as close to it as possible, does not give up climbing the ladder: 'The world is changing, teaching is changing, and we must take advantage of it. We cannot be satisfied with being the best nationally; we can become a global benchmark in something as important as AI.

'I want to be remembered like Mónica Bragado, whom everyone speaks highly of, as someone who has made an institution with such a long history as the UPV grow and improve'

Aware of the challenge ahead, Salvo, who has no qualms about acknowledging that her experience 'is 100% private,' is clear that he cannot 'apply the same methods in The Social Council, which works differently.'

'What I can do,' he says, 'is ensure that what has been done well is not lost, and help manage this current transformation, which is what we have done at Power Electronics.'

The challenge is set, and Salvo is eager to take it on. His wish? To leave a positive legacy in an institution he admires and in a position in which he is replacing someone who has achieved precisely that, Mónica Bragado: 'I want to be remembered like her, someone everyone speaks highly of, someone who has worked for an organisation with such a long history and helped it to grow and improve.'

The goal has been set. Now it's time to start working towards it. A new era begins.

News UPV TV
Download File