Last year, Emma Bruns proved that if you have an interesting idea, it’s all you need to be on the TEDxAmsterdam stage. Only 22 at the time, Emma is a medical resident who charmed the audience not only with her stunning red dress, but also with her simple yet clever idea to memorize important medical procedures with music. By playing a classic Dutch children’s song “Op een Onbewoond Eiland“, accompanied by first aid lyrics on what to do when someone is having an heart attack, this unorthodox method turned the audience all smiles.

“It was wonderful to see that the idea that I came up with and videotaped in my attic in the middle of the night got so many people interested”, says Emma. “After my talk I have been in touch with some wonderful people. Olivier van den Eynde for example, who I met during the break. We didn’t only discuss my TEDxAmsterdam talk, but also Stichting M.O.E.T.: a charity that helps build schools in South-Africa and that I am now personally involved in. On the spot he promised to donate a bunch of computers, and he kept his word.”

“That’s the one thing I’ll remember from TEDxAmsterdam: the great atmosphere where it’s not about where you come from or what you do, but about what your ideas are and about how you want to realise them.”

It didn’t stop there though, Emma also met Hans Nijenhuis (chief editor NRC Media) through Yasha Lange (chief editor of  De Groene Amsterdammer). These meetings ended in Emma now writing a monthly column for the daily nrc.next ,and inspired her to start writing her first, yet to be published, children’s book. “It was the energy, talking with such a mixed crowd and hearing different perspectives on a wide variety of topics that inspired me greatly. After my medical internship I will get back to my idea and make it work,” promises Emma.

TEDxAmsterdam is all about putting the right people together to create opportunities; and we love stories like this. Do you have your own TEDxAmsterdam success story that we should know about? Please share them with us by emailing sasha@tedxamsterdam.nl

See Emma’s talk below (only 3 minutes)

TEDxAmsterdam: Emma Bruns on Melody Memories from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

TEDxAmsterdam: Bjarke Ingels from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

Danish architect Bjarke Ingels is the principal of the architecture firm BIG, based in Copenhagen. An alumnus of Rem Koolhaas’  OMA practice, Ingels takes a similar approach: experimenting with pure space, but never losing sight of the building as a solution to a real-world problem. In his talk, Bjarke Ingels rockets through photo/video-mingled stories of his eco-flashy designs. His buildings not only look like nature — they act like nature: blocking the wind, collecting solar energy — and creating stunning views.

His manifesto “Yes Is More” takes the form of a giant cartoon strip, 130 meters long, that reminds people to keep thinking big — to see all our modern problems as challenges that inspire us. (The manifesto is now available in comic-book form.)

Links and reports

“‘Bjarke Ingels of the architectural firm BIG showed off some of the company’s work, including a comic book describing the history of architecture right up to Obama. From there he explained how Darwin was a big influence on his company’s design meetings and finished by describing a cultural exchange between his native Denmark and China, detailing the efforts involved in shipping 500,000 litres of Danish harbour water to Shanghai and Chinese government censorship: where BIG had compared the dragon and the swan, the cultural board had suggested ‘change swan to panda’.  A charismatic and humorous talk which had the crowd laughing, until Twaalfhoven’s singers weirded them out, in a good way“‘. Wired UK

• Visit the website of Bjarke Ingels’ Company BIG
• Order the BIG book Yes is More from Amazon
• (Dutch) Bjarke Ingels krijgt staande ovatie
• (English) TEDx report Bjarke Ingels
• Bjarke Ingels’ talk at TED Global (similar to his talk at TEDxAmsterdam)
• And as a bonus a short interview with Bjarke Ingels at TEDxAmsterdam

TEDxAmsterdam: Kevin Kelly from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

What does technology mean in our lives? That’s the question Kevin Kelly explored in his new talk. Kelly presented a new definition of technology: ‘anything useful invented by a mind’ – whether it be a hammer or the rule of law. So technology is more than gadgets; it’s part of a great story that started long ago, an extension of life and it is moving through us.

Video reports

• RTLZ, Hella krijgt 15 minuten college van Kevin Kelly
• TEDx: TEDx report Kevin Kelly
• Ilsemedia: Joris van Heukelom interviews Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly’s slides

Writings:

• Wired UK:  Wired US Visionary takes to the TEDx stage
• (Dutch) Marketingfacts: Interview met Kevin Kelly over moraliteit van technologie
• (Dutch) NRC Next: En zo spreekt techniekoptimist Kevin Kelly (referring to cover article and spread in print edition)

Links to explore

• Kevin Kelly blogs about his upcoming book on his own site: The Technium
• (TED video) Kevin Kelly on the next 5000 days of the web
• (TED video) Kevin Kelly on how technology evolves
  

And as a bonus, the interview that TEDxAmsterdam partner Freedomlab did with Kelly. As Kelly writes on his own blog,  “Why do interviews have to rely on the same old talking head shot? They don’t. Hundreds of other forms are possible. The Dutch consultancy FreedomLabs produces a series of audio interviews, called A Penny For Your Thoughts, that are fantastically graphic — in a texty way. I think their approach is fabulous. They produced this interview with me talking about the Technium for their Future Studies“.

Prof. dr. Wubbo J. Ockels is a Dutch physicist, and also the Netherlands’ original astronaut. He is a Professor of Aerospace Sustainable Engineering and Technology at the University of Delft, and tries to stimulate a mentality change among Dutch citizens.

In his mind-bending TEDxAmsterdam talk, Ockels explains how ‘time’ is created by human beings, as a way our brains can make sense of gravity. The speed of light is constant, because it is made by us: it’s the clock by which we have calibrated our existence. Based on this premise, Ockels proposes a new way to explore life in our galaxy.

Reports on his talk

• Wired UK, TEDx Diary

“The original Dutch astronaut, Professor Wubbo J. Ockels, sliced through the atmosphere of self-congratulation to give a mind-bending talk, based on his experiences in space. He started by berating the audience for pretending to understand the universe and mysteriously declaring, “I know what it is that you don’t know yet and it will change your life”. What we didn’t know, and were told, was that time is a creation of life, since it’s the only way our brains can make sense of gravity. This can be pithily put in the very post-Cartesian phrase: “I live, therefore time passes”. Such a view isn’t a new notion philosophically (Heidegger suggested being and time determine each other reciprocally), nor physiologically (which acknowledges time is a construct of the central nervous system) but it was not treated with seriousness in physics.”

• Idealize: Wubbo Ockels: De Nederlandse staat blundert
• Bizz: Ockels: Overheid stimuleert innovatie niet
• Studio ICT: Een spirituele maanlanding

And as a small bonus, here an interview with Wubbo Ockels, made at TEDxAmsterdam

TEDxAmsterdam: Merlijn Twaalfhoven from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

Composer Merlijn Twaalfhoven is most known by the remarkable projects he creates, connecting styles, cultures but first of all people. Twaalfhovens intention is to bridge worlds of contrast, and to mix unusual elements to a new unity. In his TEDxAmsterdam talk, he suggests that art needs to be reconnected to society to open the art world for new audiences.

Or as he says on his own website,

“‘Strictly speaking, I am not interested in adding more and more new art to the existing arsenal, but want to investigate ways to refine the perception of the visitor and open their senses. I think  contemporary, innovative art should be placed in the great open world and not only in the laboratory – or museum-like environment of theaters, concert rooms and cultural institutions. By taking art out of its setting of the existing expectations and behavior patterns of the audience, I would like them to look at experience at hand in a new and refreshed way. I do not wish to mark art by its boundaries, but instead melt it with commonplace matters and the space around it.”‘

Examples of his work are the musical piece for which he took “bridging the gap” literal and positioned 400 musicians on rooftops on both the Greek and Turkish side of the buffer zone in Nicosia, the divided capital of Cyprus. Last year, Merlijn worked in Jordan and Palestine, combining the Amman Symphony Orchestra with Palestinian refugee children, created a musical bridge across the separation wall in the Occupied Territories and organized a hidden festival in the Old City of Jerusalem where cultural diversity could be celebrated by the local people.

Links and reports

• More info on his website: www.twaalfhoven.net
• NOS Journaal op 3 News item in Dutch public broadcaster’s evening news  show, with Merlijn Twaalfhoven as special guest: item TEDxAmsterdam starts on 4′04 (in Dutch)
• NRC Opinie organised an online discussion on the theme of Merlijn’s talk (in Dutch)
• Worldfocus: interview with Merlijn Twaalfhoven on his Jerusalem project (in English)

and as a bonus, the video of Joshua Bell playing in the metro, as referenced by Merlijn in his talk.

TEDxAmsterdam: Tony DiSanto from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

Tony DiSanto is President of Programming and Development at MTV in New York in the United States. In his TEDxAmsterdam talk he explores the way we tell stories in a digital age. DiSanto developed several reality shows and was executive producer of hit series Run’s House, The Hills, The City, Paris Hilton, My New BFF and Made. In 1998 DiSanto co-founded very popular shows like Total Request Live (“TRL”) with Carson Daly and Say What? Karaoke. DiSanto studied at the NYU Film School and worked as a director of music videos, shorts and commercials before he joined MTV in the nineties.

In the interview below, DiSanto explains in more detail how why he is so excited about the new possibilities: all media are tools to open up our minds.

TEDxAmsterdam: Karsu Donmez from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

Karsu Dönmez (1990) is a pianist and singer from Amsterdam of Turkish descent. She is seen as a major talent in the field of jazz and is being called the Dutch Norah Jones. Young as she is, she has already performed in Carnegie Hall in New York twice, and played her repertoire of original music, easy listening, classical and ethnic music in the world reknowned Concertgebouw. She is also a regular performer on Dutch TV, and has recently signed up with AT Productions/Sony Music.

Karsu, together with violinist Muge Alpay, contributed some wonderful songs to TEDxAmsterdam. In the video above she sings “I’ll leave alone”, followed by the Turkish song “‘Cok Uzaklarda”

Do you want to hear more? On February 26 2010, Karsu will perform in the Muziekgebouw aan het Ij!

Karsu Dönmez and the Turkey Now Festival

Links and reports

• Looking for Karsu? You will often find her on her Facebook page
• NRC: Dutch Norah Jones isn’t giving up her day job
• (Dutch) Ronnie Overgoor interviewt Karsu Donmez

And as a bonus, the TEDxAmsterdam interview with Karsu

TEDxAmsterdam: Nico Baken from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

“Holons and Holarchies, Complex Networks Unravelling the Origin of Knowledge and Culture“ was the title of the talk given by Prof Dr ir Nico Baken. In his talk, Baken explores the knowledge we can gain by observing networks and networks characteristics, knowing that all logical entities, holons, can be organized in networks. What if we transfer this knowledge and mechanisms from one network domain to another? Not sure what a holon is? You are one, and so are we – listen to this talk to get an idea what that means!

Professor Dr. ir. Nico Baken currently holds a part-time chair in the Telecommunications Department at Delft University of Technology alongside his primary position as Visionary and Senior Strategist within the department Corporate Strategy of the Royal KPN, the Dutch incumbent Telecom operator.

His main interests concern Broadband Networks and Services, dealing with a broad range of themes such as Sensors (RFID’s), Vehicle, Home and Personal Networks, Fiber To The Home, fixed-mobile convergence, operations, financial strategies e.g. the Real Option Analysis, managerial complexity and regulations.

Recently, he introduced new concepts such as trans-sector innovation, “Streetlight” and the Integral Home/City Architecture to enhance and accelerate ict-applications in and across sectors such as healthcare, energy, transport and education. This now resulted in the national Master Plan Smart Living. These concepts are realized in a co-operation between KPN, TNO, Industrial partners and several Universities, comprising a group of 12 PhD’s, the Dutch Research Delta and TRANS. In the latter, the concept of Smart Living constitutes the dominant research line.

More information

• The full text of this talk is available here
• Read an interview with Prof dr Nico Baken from the TEDxAmsterdam book
• Listen to a podcast on ‘trans sectoral innovation‘ (in Dutch)
• Watch a short interview below made before TEDxAmsterdam

Prof. Dr. Ir. Nico Baken | Smart Living from toscani on Vimeo.
(video by Rik Mahieu of Visual Nostalgia)

TEDxAmsterdam: Robbert Dijkgraaf from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

We are in the middle of a golden era of exploration. Particle physicists are probing the smallest distances; cosmologists are looking at the very end of the universe. All are looking for answers to fundamental questions. What is matter made of? Are there extra dimensions? What is the nature of space and time? What can we learn from our past and future?

Robbert Dijkgraaf (1960) is Distinguished University Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Amsterdam. From 1 May 2008 he is President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). In his TEDxAmsterdam talk, he showed us how we now know how much we do not know.

Dijkgraaf studied theoretical physics and mathematics in Utrecht, where (after an interlude studying painting at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie) he obtained his Ph.D. cum laude under supervision of Nobel Prize winner Gerard ‘t Hooft in 1989. Subsequently he held positions at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. He is a member of a research group that works in string theory, quantum gravity, and the interface of mathematics and particle physics. He was the recipient of the 2001 Physica Prize of the Dutch Physical Society and the 2003 NWO Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award in the Netherlands.

Links and reports

“Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf, President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, told us precisely how little we know about the universe and compared our cosmology with the old explorer maps of the world, complete with “there be monsters” illustrations in the form of dark matter – an impressive term for something that is really just a great unknown.  But we should make the most of this opportunity to learn, since we’re still relatively at the centre of things: as the universe expands, the future will be very dark, lonely, and dull.” WIRED UK, Darwinian Architecture and Slumdog Design

“Alles wat wij zien als lege ruimte, bestaat eigenlijk uit heel veel processen die zich uitbreiden,’ aldus Dijkgraaf. ‘Het universum is vergelijkbaar met een auto waar iemand het gaspedaal intrapt; de auto accelereert, het universum expandeert en wordt steeds groter.”, Foliaweb: Dijkgraaf op TEDx

And as a bonus, The Sanoma video interview by Ronnie Overgoor with Robbert Dijkgraaf

TEDxAmsterdam: Gary Carter from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

Gary Carter is Chief Operating Officer of FremantleMedia, one of the largest independent entertainment brand companies in the world. His responsibilities include the management of the central creative functions of the company across all genres and platforms, as well as the management of the overall strategic development of the group.

In his TEDxAmsterdam talk, he presented his world from two very different angles. He started with the world from the perspective of FremantleMedia, a world of target audiences and formats, ”universal” stories and a search for the greatest common denominator; but then, in a move that surprised many in the audience, he turned to his own family and the world of his son.

He showed how different his son’s world is, how the views and interpretations of that world differ too, and how wide the range of human experience can be. Garter concluded that our differences are actually what matter most. As part of Gary Carter’s talk, Albana Shala read her poem ‘Learning to kiss’, and the talk ended with a beautiful rendition of the song Learning to Kiss (music by Jonathan Cooper, lyrics by Albana Shala. performed by Paulien Adriana, Marius de Vos and Kevin Walton, from the CD: Jonathan Cooper: The Madness of Kisses and with pictures by Ania Dabrowska)

Reports and links From Sanoma’s TEDxAmsterdam Channel, Joris van Heukelom’s interview with Gary Carter

“Gary Carter gave a perplexing speech, titled, ‘Learning to Kiss’. He wove together his professional life, producing targeted television, with the personal story of his son’s autism. It became a very compelling and touching celebration of acknowledging ‘human difference’.” from frog design, The theatre of TEDxAmsterdam

“With that problem solved, we heard from Gary Carter, COO of Freemantle. This is the company behind the X factor and he explained how demographics were responsible for its development at quite brilliant length. He switched from statistical segmentation to poetry and from the mass-market to his autisitc son, who is “not representative, and not represented”. His thesis took the idea that maybe “difference just is difference” and is actually much more important than the commonality humans share. This was presented as a positive: difference unites more than similiarities. The talk closed with a acapella rendition of the poem, Learning to Kiss, that he opened the talk with. It was a free-wheeling yet completely in command performance.“, Wired, Our Man in Amsterdam

As a bonus, a studio-recorded version of ‘Learning to Kiss‘  (follow link)

Pictures by Ania Dabrowska