VIP Speaker – Karuna Gopal

Karuna Gopal
President of Foundation for Futuristic Cities

Ms. Karuna Gopal, is an Internationally acclaimed Thought Leader, Keynote Speaker and Advisor on SMART CITIES. Inspired by the vision “VIBRANT CITIES for a VIBRANT INDIA” her foundation has been influencing Urban Transformation in India. Currently FFC is developing a “SMART CITY Protocol” for Indian Cities collaborating with Technology, Government and Corporate partners.

Ms. Gopal serves on the:

• International Jury for Intelligent City Awards (ICF, New York) – a Global Think Tank that identifies and awards ‘Smart & Intelligent Communities’ around the world.
• CTBUH Leadership – City representative, India – Council on Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat (Illinois, USA) is an International think tank in the field of Tall   Buildings and Sustainable Urban Design.
• Advisory Board “Green World City Organization” (Australia) – A Global alliance of a of CEOs, senior executives and experts involved in creating a sustainable world
• Advisory Board, Asia Pacific CXO Forum.
• Advisory Board
  • Economic Times ACETECH Global Green Summit & Smart Cities Summit
  • IIM (Bangalore) Business Fest
  • Mentor IIT (Mumbai) Tech Fest
• Chief Minister’s Advisory Council of Andhra Pradesh (erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh) India.

As a member of the US Government’s Foreign Leaders Program in 2011, Karuna studied the Smart City approach of not only the United States but 15 other nations as well. She played a key role in forging a Sister State Partnership between Washington State, USA and Andhra Pradesh, India. A sought after speaker, she addressed several conferences around the world including DAVOS for Women at Paris. She taught policy makers and senior IAS officers WBI (World Bank Institute) and India’s Premier Academy for Civil Service training at (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. Lectures at ISB (Indian School of Business), IIM (A) Indian Institute of Management, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), BITs Pilani etc.

Was associated with the city development and reform projects of DFID (UK), USAID and the World Bank.

She launched “SCULPT YOUR CITY^TM, CORPORATE FOR CITIES^TM and STOC^TM – Innovations in Indian landscape … Is the Recipient of “Woman Leader” “Woman Innovator” & “Youth Icon” Awards.

Her team is currently developing a “SMART CITY Protocol” for Indian cities collaborating with Technology, Government and Corporate partners. This includes a wide range of solutions from developing a framework for Smart Cities, BIG DATA and Predictive analytics for safe cities, City Sentiment Analysis, Situation Awareness Tools (STOC^TM) and mobile Apps being a few in the suite.

Ms. Gopal has recently been inducted into BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), by the Union Minister of Urban Development.