Sam PitrodaSAM PITRODA is an internationally respecteddevelopment thinker, policymaker, inventor andentrepreneur who has spent over fifty-five years intelecom development.Credited with having laid the foundation of India'stechnology and telecommunications revoltionin the 1980s, during Rajiv Gandhi's government, Pitroda has been a leading campaigner in helpingto bridge the global digital divide. In the mid-1990s, he founded Worldtel in London to help privatizetelecom in developing countries. He invented theelectronic diary in 1974, the mobile wallet in 1996, and set up C-SAM Inc., acquired by MasterCard in2013. From 2005 to 2014, Pitroda was chairman ofthe National Knowledge Commission and adviser tothe Indian prime minister with a cabinet minister'srank. He was also chairman of the NationalInnovation Council and Smart Grid Task Force, and a key part of efforts in railway modernization, and the development of public broadcast reforms.He is the founder, investor and chairman of sixstart-ups and five non-profit foundations. Pitrodaholds over 100 patents and 20 honorary PhDs andhas published and lectured extensively around theworld. He is a member of the American Academy ofEngineers. His autobiography, Dreaming Big, waspublished in 2015. Read More Read Less