New York: Vikram Verma, co-founder and chief executive officer of Savi Technology, has been named as one of the 40 'Technology Pioneers for 2003' by the World Economic Forum.

Verma will now be involved in ongoing dialogues with world economic leaders on a variety of far-reaching issues affecting business and society, such as how innovative technologies can improve the global community by transforming the way business and society operates.

"These companies (like Savi) are true pioneers – their importance lies in how their discovery and development of radical and "transformational technologies may present us with alternatives to how we live or do business," said Klaus Schwab, president of the World Economic Forum, an independent international group of corporate leaders committed to improving the state of the world.

"This significant recognition of Vic (Vikram) is well deserved because he has been the driving force behind the development of some of the most innovative and productive technology available today," said Geoffrey Moore, founder of The Chasm Group, and who wrote about Savi in his book 'Crossing the Chasm', on the strategic marketing of technology.

The World Economic Forum has created the Technology Pioneers programme in partnership with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in 2000. Each year, the Forum selects up to 100 Tech Pioneers and invites them to speak at their annual conference, which will now be held at Devos, Switzerland next year.

PTI