TEDGlobal 2013 Kicks Off, Asks People to "Think Again"

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TED

10 Jun, 2013, 08:00 GMT

- 900 participants arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland for four-day program featuring 79 talks, performances, and innovative demonstrations

EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, begins its annual TEDGlobal conference today in Edinburgh, Scotland. The conference, themed "Think Again," is one of the organization's two annual events (the other takes place in North America). It features innovators, global leaders, artists and scientists from around the globe who take the stage for talks, performances, and demonstrations.

"Every year TEDGlobal ignites an exciting conversation about the issues that matter most in the world," says TED's European Director Bruno Giussani. "This year's theme reflects the fact that some radical rethinking is needed right now. We really want people to reexamine critical policy, social and economic issues, and to be aware of scientific advances and technologies that are changing the way we work and interact."  

The TEDGlobal 2013 conference will host 900 attendees from 62 countries at the Edinburgh International Conference Center.  Scientists, inventors, policy leaders, entrepreneurs and artists will deliver more than 70 main-stage talks and performances – as well as more than a dozen TED University talks given by attendees themselves.

Speakers will cover a wide, eclectic spectrum of topics, including the aftermath of the financial crisis, spinal cord treatment breakthroughs, cities of the future, drones, poetry, the neuroscience of sleep, and the rise of Africa. At the conference, a number of innovative technologies will also be unveiled for the first time.

TEDGlobal 2013 Speakers and Performers Include:

Session 1: Moments of Truth

Session 2: Those Flying Things

Session 3: Exquisite Enigmatic Us

Session 4: Money Talks

Session 5: Listening to Nature

Session 6: World on Its Head

Session 7: Regeneration

Session 8: State of the Nations

Session 9: Forces of Change

Session 10: Imagined Beauty

Session 11: Tech Impact

Session 12: All Together Now

Throughout the conference, TED's award-winning video team will begin editing talks to share with the world for free on TED.com, where videos have already well surpassed a billion views. Talks from the TEDGlobal 2013 conference will begin to appear on TED.com during the conference and throughout the coming year. The TED blog [http://blog.ted.com/] will also include speaker highlights and critical links.

A number of innovative brands and companies have partnered with TED to share ideas and foster an atmosphere of collaboration and conversation at TEDGlobal 2013. This year's partners include ABB, ARUP, Autodesk, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Deutsche Telekom, Fondation Lombard Odier, frog, Getty Images, Intel, InterContinental Hotels Group, Knight Foundation, Novartis, O2, PR Newswire, Renault Nissan, Shell, Skype, State Street, Steelcase, and Walmart.

Under the TEDLive membership, the conference will be streamed live to paid members around the globe. TEDGlobal will also be webcast to more than 135 independently organized TEDx events worldwide.

The detailed TEDGlobal program and more information can be found online here:
http://conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2013/

Details about the TEDLive membership can be found here:
http://www.ted.com/pages/tedlive

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California almost 30 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The TED2014 Conference will take place next spring in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast in neighboring Whistler.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; and TEDBooks, short e-books on powerful ideas. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDNews, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED.

Contact: Erin Allweiss, TED@groupsjr.com +1 (917) 512-2118