DUVI
David Patiño, professor in the Department of Thermal Machines and Engines at the University of Vigo, is now the new director of the Centre for Research into Technologies, Energy and Industrial Processes (CINTECX), taking over from Mª Ángeles Sanromán, who has been director of the centre since 2024.
A researcher with the Energy Technology Group (GTE), Patiño takes on this new role with “great enthusiasm, a sense of responsibility” and “a commitment to service”. The new director highlights the work carried out by his predecessors at the helm of the centre and outlines his intention to “contribute my experience in research, technology transfer and management to a collective project that brings together a wide range of fields within engineering and industrial technology”.
Patiño considers CINTECX to be “a centre with enormous potential and top-level research staff” and sets out as one of his priorities listening to the various research groups in order to “join forces so that the centre can make a qualitative leap forward in the coming years”.
Consolidating the centre and strengthening its profile
Among the main challenges for this new phase, the new director prioritises the consolidation of the management team and the administrative support staff, with the aim of meeting the day-to-day needs of the research staff.
He is also committed to strengthening internal communication between the groups and CINTECX’s external profile within society, as well as to beginning work on a new strategic plan for the centre. In this process, equality will continue to be one of the key areas of focus, with the aim of “increasing the presence of female researchers and their relevance to the centre”.
In the medium and long term, Patiño has set as one of his main objectives for CINTECX to achieve accreditation as a centre of excellence within the Rede CIGUS, moving beyond its current status as a collaborative centre, and to establish itself as “an international benchmark in industrial technologies and sustainable energy”.
To move in this direction, he considers it necessary to improve high-impact scientific output, increase the acquisition of international projects and help attract talent. “We want a centre that generates knowledge of the highest quality and effectively transfers it to the Galician productive sector,” he states.
A career linked to energy and decarbonisation
The new director of CINTECX carries out his research in the field of biomass combustion and other renewable and decarbonised fuels, such as hydrogen, the modelling of thermal processes and emission-reduction technologies.
He is co-author of more than 65 articles published in JCR, which have accumulated more than 2,400 citations, and has participated in numerous research projects and funded contracts at regional, national and European levels. His track record in technology transfer includes participation in more than a hundred projects with companies over the last 15 years and the authoring of four patents, one of which is European.
In addition to this research and technology transfer experience, he has extensive experience in university management. Patiño has served as deputy director of the School of Mining and Energy Engineering and as head of department in the Vice-Rector’s Office for Academic Organisation and Teaching Staff, amongst other responsibilities.