Sam Pitroda

Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda (born 17 November 1942), also known as Sam Pitroda is an Indian telecommunication engineer and entrepreneur.

He was born in Titlagarh in the eastern Indian state of Odisha to a Gujarati family.

He was also an advisor to the PM during Dr. Manmohan Singh's tenure and for United Nations.

Pitroda was born in Titlagarh, Odisha, India to Gujarati parents.

He had seven siblings and is third oldest among them.

The family was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy.

Consequently, Pitroda and his brother were sent to Gujarat to imbibe Gandhian philosophy.

He completed his schooling from Vallabh Vidyanagar in Gujarat and completed his master's degree in physics and electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara.

After completing his master's degree in physics, he went to the United States in 1964 and obtained a master's degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

In 1966 he went to work for GTE in Chicago.

In 1974, Pitroda joined Wescom Switching which was one of the first digital switching companies.

He developed the 580 DSS switch, over nearly four years.

He is regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of hand-held computing because he invented the Electronic Diary in 1975.

It was released in 1978.

Wescom was acquired by Rockwell International in 1980, where Pitroda became vice president.

During his four decades as an engineer, Pitroda filed scores of patents in telecommunications.

The latest set of patents related to mobile phone-based transaction technology, both financial and non-financial.

On a 1981 trip back to India, he was frustrated by how hard it was to call his family back in Chicago, and decided he could help modernize India's telecommunications system.

In 1984, Pitroda was invited to return to India by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

On his return, he started the Center for Development of Telematics C-DOT, an autonomous telecom R&D organization.

He had previously become a naturalized US citizen but renounced his US citizenship to take Indian citizenship again to work in the Indian Government.

In 1987 during his tenure as advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Pitroda headed six technology missions related to telecommunications, water, literacy, immunization, dairy, and oilseeds.

He spent nearly a decade with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as the leader of an effort to build an Indian information industry.

The task was to extend digital telecommunications to every corner of the country, including remote villages, like the one of his birth.

Pitroda launched the Center for the Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and served as Advisor to the Prime Minister on Technology Missions related to water, literacy, immunization, oil seeds, telecom, and dairy.

He is also the founding chairman of India's Telecom Commission.

In the 1990s Pitroda returned to Chicago to resume his business interests.

In May 1995, he became the first chairman of WorldTel initiative of the International Telecommunication Union.

When the United Progressive Alliance government came to power following the 2004 General Elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited him to head the National Knowledge Commission of India.

Pitroda returned to India a second time in 2004 to focus on building knowledge institutions and infrastructure.

Pitroda served as chairman of the National Knowledge Commission (2005–2009), a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, to give policy recommendations for improving knowledge-related institutions and infrastructure in the country.

During its term, the National Knowledge Commission submitted around 300 recommendations on 27 focus areas.

In 2008, Javier Jileta started working for Mr Pitroda's initiatives, leading to the creation and cofounding of Scientika, a nonprofit organization focused on fostering talent to drive effective change through innovation and creativity.

Together, Pitroda and Jileta designed a new paradigm for Mexico City and published it in Mexico City: a Knowledge Economy, an ideological platform with more than 100 interviews of opinion leaders from academia, government, business and civil society for Mr Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City.

In July 2009, the Government of India invited Pitroda to head an expert committee on ICT in Railways.

In October 2009, Pitroda was appointed as advisor to PM of India Manmohan Singh on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations with the rank of Cabinet Minister.

Pitroda also founded the National Innovation Council (2010), and served as the Advisor to the Prime Minister with rank of a cabinet minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation, to help democratize information.

In August 2010, Pitroda was appointed Chairman of the National Innovation Council.

He was appointed as the chancellor of the Central University of Rajasthan by the President of India in 2013.

In 2017, he was appointed as Chairman of Alpha-En Corporation, a Lithium Metal Clean Technology company.