Tech start-ups get WEF award

Two Silicon Valley firms "" Nanostellar and Meraki "" have been selected by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum as Technology Pioneers 2008.

Both companies are headed by Indo-Americans "" Nanostellar by Pankaj Dhingra, president and chief executive officer, and Meraki Inc by Sanjit Biswas, co-founder and chief executive officer.

Nanostellar is a clean-technology start-up company working towards manufacturing revolutionary pollution control materials for cleaner air and fewer environmental toxins.

To reduce exhaust emissions in the automotive and stationary power industries, it is developing a methodology combining computation materials science, novel synthesis and chemical engineering to develop new materials containing precious metals.

Catalytic converters, used in motor vehicle exhaust systems, are vital for reducing toxic emissions from the engine in cars, light and heavy-duty trucks, diesel train engines, generators and any engine-equipped machine. Nanostellar's NS Gold catalyst has been named as one of the most innovative products of 2007.

Meraki Networks, on the other hand, builds products for wireless community networks and offers an integrated package of software, hardware, and management services to build mesh networks.

The company's platform helps connect communities, apartment complexes, or business districts to the Internet. Founded in 2006, the company, based in Mountain View, California, is building its networks in thousands of locations around the world from San Francisco to villages in India. Meraki is funded, in part, by Sequoia Capital and Google.