Indian ATM wins WEF Prize
By Sameer

The World Economic Forum has a prestigious Technology Pioneers programme set up to ‘identify and integrate those companies – normally in a start-up phase or in their first rounds of financing – from around the world that are involved in the design and development of new technologies. The innovations of these companies reflect society’s attempts to harness, adapt and use technology to change and improve the way business and society operate’

Hundreds of companies from around the world compete in the three categories 1) Energy and Environment 2) Information Technologies and New Media 3) Life Sciences and Health.

Some of the 31 companies selected this year already have a high profile in the tech media and public.  This year’s winners include Foursquare, OpenDNS and Spotify which have received substantial coverage in Indian media.

Each winner will also be invited to the World Economic Forum’s Davos conference.

Even though this year’s selection committee was dominated by Judges from USA and Europe, at least 2 Indians and one Pakistani also helped in deciding the 31 winners. The Indian judges are Suhas Gopinath (Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Globals ITeS Pvt Ltd) and Saurabh Srivastava (Chairman, India CA Inc).

An Indian company Vortex Engineering was selected as one of the Technology Pioneers of 2011. Vortex Engineering Pvt Ltd is a pioneer and leading provider of innovative low power consuming ATMs tailor-made for semi-urban and rural areas.