Washington, Aug 25 (IANS) Entrepreneur Karl Mehta, the only Indian-American among 18 Presidential Innovation Fellows, would work on "The 20 percent Initiative" that aims to transition international development assistance payments from cash to electronic methods.
Selected out of 700 applicants for their data, coding and programming expertise, the fellows would spend six months in Washington DC to work on five "high-impact" federal IT projects aimed at supporting entrepreneurs, small businesses and the economy.
"The 20 percent Initiative" assigned to Mehta to transition "the last mile" of international development assistance payments is aimed at "lowering administrative costs, promoting financial inclusion, and reducing theft, fraud, and violence", the White House announced.
A member of TiE Silicon Valley, Mehta is founder & CEO of PlaySpan, which was acquired by Visa in March 2011. He is said to be a leader in monetisation platform for digital media, mobile apps, social networks and online games.
Mehta has more than 18 years of experience in founding, building and funding technology companies in the US and international markets.
He was earlier part of the founding team at MobileAria Inc, acquired by Wireless Matrix, based in Mountain View, California and co-founder/CEO of OmniLabs Inc, based in Singapore and India.
Prior to that, he held executive positions at Hughes, leading new business and technology development. He won the 'Entrepreneur of the Year 2010' Award from Ernst & Young for Northern California.
Announcing the programme, US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park said: "These private sector innovators bring their entrepreneurial expertise to the table that has helped jump-start high-tech companies, increase efficiency and public engagement, and redefine how technology is used in business."
Federal agencies selected projects for the innovation programme, with the goal of boosting the US economy "while also significantly improving the ability of the federal government to serve the American people", he said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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