Ms. Karuna Gopal, is an Internationally acclaimed Thought Leader, Keynote Speaker and a Futurist. She is the Founder President of Foundation for Futuristic Cities (2005) a think tank that has influenced Urban Transformation in India for one & a half decades.
Her work is at the Intersection of TECHNOLOGY |INNOVATION| FUTURE CITIES
Governments of USA, Sweden, South Korea, UK, Philippines, Malaysia, UAE, Singapore, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Israel have invited her for inputs on Smart Governance. In 2018, Ms Gopal was invited by the Prime Minister of UAE to address their flagship event – World Government Summit at Dubai.
Ms Gopal contributed to the design of the '100 Smart Cities Mission' of India and has been invited to speak at the launch of the Mission by the Prime Minister. Her innovation SCULPT YOUR CITY- 2009 (Crowd Sourced Protocol for Co-Creation) has shaped the Mission guidelines and has been declared a National Best Practice.
In the past, she served as an Urban Expert for The WORLD BANK, DFID (Department for International Development, UK), USAID (United States Agency for International Development) & ADB (Asian Development Bank).
Ms Gopal was a member of the Speaker delegation on Smart Cities at COP21-UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) PARIS 2015. In 2015, Ms Gopal served as senior advisor, Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs on behalf of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She also served as ‘City Representative’ of CTBUH (Council for Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat Illinois USA) for India.
In 2011, she participated in IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program) a flagship program of US Government for Foreign Leaders. She chairs and addresses conferences around the world and is a special invitee to meetings of FII (Foreign Institutional Investors) exploring investments into India. Ms Gopal has given close to 100 Keynote addresses so far.
In 2010 as a member of Chief Minister's Advisory Council of Andhra Pradesh (erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh) she was instrumental in forging a Sister State Partnership between Washington State (USA) and Andhra Pradesh.
Ms Gopal addressed several programs meant for senior IAS officers (Indian Civil Service) at India’s Premier Academy LBSNAA (Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration) Mussoorie, WBI (World Bank Institute) ISB (Indian School of Business), ASCI (Administrative Staff College of India) & CGG (Center for Good Governance). Her lecture sessions were also for elected representatives like Members of legislature & Mayors.
Ms Gopal has been Interviewed widely both by National and International Media like the ECONOMIST, Channel News Asia, The National, Khaleej Times, La Tribune, Eco- Business, National Geographic and World Economic Forum etc. She is widely published and her articles have been incorporated into Parliamentary Documentation of Lok Sabha for their policy relevance.
Her Innovation (IWIN) International Women Innovators Network has been launched by the Vice President of India in 2020 March.Her current initiative SURGE (Smart Urbanization Reinventing Growth with Equity) is about transformative policies for ushering a NEW INDIA.
Ms. Gopal has been inducted into BJP, (Bharatiya Janata Party) in 2014 and she hails from a family of freedom fighters and IAS officers.