Ms Karuna Gopal is an internationally acclaimed Thought leader, Innovator and Advisor on Smart Cities. She is the Founder President of Foundation for Futuristic Cities, a think tank that has influenced Urban Transformation in India for over a decade.

Ms Gopal contributed to the design of the ‘100 Smart Cities Mission‘ of India and has been invited to speak at the launch of the Mission by the Prime Minister. Her innovation SCULPT your CITY -2009 has shaped the Mission guidelines and has been declared a National Best Practice.

Governments of Singapore, Sweden, UK, Philippines, UAE, Turkey, Israel and USA have invited her for inputs on Smart Governance.

In the past, she served as an Urban Expert for The WORLD BANK, DFID (Department for International Development, UK), USAID (United States Agency for International Development) & ADB (Asian Development Bank).

In 2015, Ms Gopal was senior advisor, Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs on behalf of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She was also one of the urban experts to have carried out a mid-course evaluation of the National Mission Program ‘ Clean India – Swacch Bharat Abhiyan on behalf of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Ms Gopal lectures at programs meant for senior IAS officers at India’s Premier Institutions like LBSNAA( Mussoorie ), CGG etc

Ms Gopal been Interviewed widely both by National and International Media like the ECONOMIST, Channel News Asia, The National,National Geographic and World Economic Forum etc.
Her articles have been incorporated into Parliamentary Documentation of Lok Sabha .

Ms Gopal attended Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and participated in IVLP a flagship program of US Government.

Her current initiative SURGE (Smart Urbanization Reinventing Growth with Equity) is about transformative policies for ushering a NEW INDIA.

Ms. Gopal has been inducted into BJP, (Bharatiya Janata Party) in 2014. She hails from a family of freedom fighters & IAS officers..