Salvador Illa i Roca
Biography
Salvador Illa i Roca is the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, leading the Catalan government since August 2024. Under his presidency, Catalunya has approved its Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2030, committing €1 billion through 2030 to position the region as a European reference for responsible AI — spanning sovereign cloud infrastructure, talent, research, and the transformation of the public administration. He previously served as Minister of Health of the Government of Spain (2020–2021), where he led the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a career spanning three decades in public service — including a decade as Mayor of La Roca del Vallès and leadership of the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya — he brings the perspective of a head of government treating AI as a matter of national strategy: competitiveness, quality of life, and shared prosperity.
His perspective is especially relevant for audiences interested in public AI investment, European digital sovereignty, and how governments mobilize technology for the common good.