Even as Indian and U.S. government officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, met in Ahmedabad for the Vibrant Gujarat business summit, America’s Silicon Valley entrepreneurs driving Code for India, a “fast growing network of Indian-origin tech professionals,” has been busy proving that private citizens are equally important in lifting up bilateral engagements.
Partnering with iCREATE, IIM-A, IIT-Gandhinagar and U.S.-India Business Council, the mission of CFI, which comprises volunteers from some of the iconic companies in the world, including Google, Facebook, Infosys, Microsoft, and Cisco, is “giving back to the community through their tech-talent,” said the group’s founder and venture capitalist Karl Mehta.
Led by Mr. Mehta, CFI has built free software and apps for over 30 NGOs, and on the occasion of Vibrant Gujarat the community of 1,500-plus tech professionals across its chapters in California, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, and a new chapter in Ahmedabad, will focus on building technology-based solutions for public services, the group noted.
With the goal of “Think local and hack global,” CFI will also be tapping the USIBC Education Foundation for support in education and skill building initiatives in the State.
“This is yet another initiative to deepen the U.S.-India knowledge partnership which fits [in] with our commitment in connecting corporate entities, universities, research institutions and non-profits which are drivers in innovations and collaborations,” said Diane Farrell, Acting President of USIBC.
Completed projects
Among its recent achievements, CFI has completed several large-scale projects, including a real time Ebola-tracking mobile application, a voter registration app, a pothole tracking app, and also a garbage-tracking app that supports the nationwide Clean India Movement, according to a statement by the group.
In Gujarat this month, the CFI Ahmedabad chapter will seek to engage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goals for technology skills development under the Digital India campaign, CFI said, which aims to make 10 lakh people digitally literate by the end of 2015 and facilitate growth in nine identified areas, including e-governance and IT for jobs.
Narayana Murthy, Chairman of iCREATE’s Advisory Board, said “We are excited to bring CFI to Gujarat and implement its proven model of volunteer driven open-source technology development for problem solving.”