New Delhi/ New York, September 30, 2014: The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, held in New York awarded the World’s Most Innovative People Award in Philanthropic Innovation to Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Trustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation and CEO HCL Corporation. The award was conferred for VidyaGyan, a path-breaking initiative in rural leadership development by the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Manvi Chaudhary, a Standard XI student of VidyaGyan, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh from the first batch of the school, who is currently in the United States on the Kennedy-Lugar AFS Youth Exchange Program, received the award on Roshni’s behalf.
The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship was launched in 2006 at the United Nations with the mission to use innovation to improve and transform lives. It was launched under the support of three UN agencies, OECD, in partnership with many multinationals such as PepsiCo, Cisco, Boeing, HP, Microsoft, CNBC and Business Week. The World Most Innovative People Awards honor remarkable leaders whose contributions to education, energy, environment, arts, business, technology and health have demonstrably benefitted the prosperity of their families, companies and communities. Past recipients include Bill Gates – Technology Innovation; Stephen Hawking – Science Innovation; Desmond Tutu – Social Innovation; David Jones – Social Business Innovation; Tarja Halonen – Collaborative Innovation among many others.
Accepting the award, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Trustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation and CEO HCL Corporation said, “This is a great honor and I thank the World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship for this recognition and for having created a platform that so seamlessly integrates innovation with economic growth and development. I believe that in today’s increasingly fragile socio-economic ecosystem, innovation is a powerful medium for enabling inclusive, transformational and sustainable change. Education is a great leveler and at the Shiv Nadar Foundation, we believe that the best minds, irrespective of their socio-economic background, when given the right opportunity can even excel their privileged counterparts across various fields.”
“The World's Most Innovative People Award pays tribute to the most original, creative and effective thinkers in the world today,” said Sam Hamdan, Chairman & Curator, The WSIE 2014. “I congratulate Roshni Nadar Malhotra and the Foundation for creating a remarkable and truly innovative initiative like VidyaGyan. This Philanthropic Innovation award is a tribute to VidyaGyan’s vision and its vast potential to become a high-impact, replicable model of transformation for every developing nation. I strongly believe that the VidyaGyan students will become role models in their country by inspiring their families and communities and society at large.”