Zabala Iturralde, Iosu

Iosu Zabala Iturralde (1952, Donostia-San Sebastián) studied Technical Engineering in Mechanics in Donostia-San Sebastian in 1973, and later moved to France to pursue his studies at the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse. There, he completed Diplomature and Maitrise courses between 1973 and 1975, specialising in Electronics, Electrotechnics and Automatics.

In 1975 he joined the Laboratory of Automation and Systems Analysis in Toulouse, where he completed his doctoral thesis on the Dynamic Modelling of Robots in 1978.

At the end of 1978 Iosu Zabala joined the Ikerlan Technology Research Centre in Mondragon as the head of the Company's Robotics Team. Between 1978 and 1986, he led the development of the first industrial robots to be made in Spain.

In 1986 Iosu Zabala took charge of the Design and Manufacturing Technologies Division of Ikerlan, a position he retained until 1999. During this period, he was also the Spanish representative on the TC5 (Technical Committee 5) at the IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing).

Throughout his career at Ikerlan, he participated in numerous national and international conferences and symposia as a speaker and member of the selection panels.

In 1999 Iosu Zabala left Ikerlan to take up the post of business manager at Fagor Electrical Appliances, where he went on to become Head of the Refrigeration and Cooking Departments.

Iosu Zabala Iturralde was chancellor of the University of Mondragon from November 2006 to December 2014.