TEDx Talks

Human creativity in the age of AI | Stark Holborn | TEDxBristol

Jul 16, 2026

Award-winning games writer Stark Holborn argues that the "mistakes" and serendipity of human creativity, like locking the butler in the freezer, are exactly what AI can't replicate. A clear, witty case for creativity, intentionality and integrity in an age tempted to outsource all three. TEDxBristol 2025 was held at We The Curious, Bristol's much-loved science centre on the city's historic harbourside, and beautifully filmed and edited by the team at Watch & Learn Productions (watchandlearnproductions.com). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx Stark Holborn is an award-winning games writer, novelist and critic, the author of the acclaimed Triggernometry and Factus Sequence series and a BAFTA-nominated narrative designer. Their work sits at the collision point of storytelling and technology, making them a sharp observer of what AI can and cannot do to human creativity. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The quiet power of making a difference | Roxroy Fearon | TEDxBristol

Jul 16, 2026

Roxroy Fearon shares a remarkable life, from young carer and young offender to senior social worker, shaped at every turn by small acts of kindness from others. A reminder that you never know when a tin of beans, a handshake or simply being seen might change the course of someone's life. TEDxBristol 2025 was held at We The Curious, Bristol's much-loved science centre on the city's historic harbourside, and beautifully filmed and edited by the team at Watch & Learn Productions (watchandlearnproductions.com). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx Roxroy Fearon is a senior social worker whose own life traces the journey he now helps others make: from young carer and young offender to a career spent changing lives. His work and story are a testament to the quiet power of small acts of kindness, and to seeing people rather than problems. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The human reality of heat waves | Eunice Lo | TEDxBristol

Jul 16, 2026

Climate scientist Eunice Lo turns the data on heatwaves into something human: not distant numbers, but our sleep, our health, and the people we love. A sobering but hopeful look at why we have to act now, and where she still finds reason for hope. TEDxBristol 2025 was held at We The Curious, Bristol's much-loved science centre on the city's historic harbourside, and beautifully filmed and edited by the team at Watch & Learn Productions (watchandlearnproductions.com). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx Dr Eunice Lo is a climate scientist at the University of Bristol specialising in extreme heat and its impact on human health. Her research connects the data of a warming world to the things we care about most: our sleep, our health and the people we love. She is a leading voice on why climate action is a matter of public health. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Purpose: The Power to Rise Again | Andrew Scott | TEDxBristol

Jul 16, 2026

From surviving a childhood bombing to losing everything in business, Andrew Scott shares the framework that helped him rebuild: Purpose, Plan, Execute. A story about silencing your inner "demons" and the belief that no matter how dark the road, you can rise again. TEDxBristol 2025 was held at We The Curious, Bristol's much-loved science centre on the city's historic harbourside, and beautifully filmed and edited by the team at Watch & Learn Productions (watchandlearnproductions.com). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx Andrew Scott is an entrepreneur and speaker whose life has been defined by rebuilding. From surviving a childhood bombing to losing everything in business, he has turned hard-won experience into a framework for resilience: Purpose, Plan, Execute. He now shares that framework to help others rise again after their darkest moments. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Un-Clusion Revolution | Julian Davis | TEDxBristol

Jul 16, 2026

Storyteller and activist Julian Davis reframes Bristol as the UK's civil rights capital, from the Bristol Bus Boycott to today. His big idea, "Un-Clusion," goes beyond a seat at the table: it's about building your own, and authoring the story rather than being written into someone else's. TEDxBristol 2025 was held at We The Curious, Bristol's much-loved science centre on the city's historic harbourside, and beautifully filmed and edited by the team at Watch & Learn Productions (watchandlearnproductions.com). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx Julian Davis is a Bristol-based storyteller, activist and community leader. His work celebrates Bristol's place in civil rights history, from the Bristol Bus Boycott onwards and challenges what inclusion really means. He is the originator of 'Un-Clusion', not asking for a seat at the table, but building your own. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Perfect Cage | Sudev Sudheer | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

At 12 years old, I mispronounced one word in class. The whole room laughed. In that moment, I made a silent vow: never again. So I erased myself. I wiped the sacred ash from my forehead before walking through the school gates. I stopped watching Malayalam films on Thursday nights. I even asked my grandfather to turn off the radio station we used to love together. And it worked. Nobody laughed at me anymore. But the house went quiet, and I stopped recognising myself. This is a talk about what happens when survival becomes a permanent address, and what it actually means to grow beyond where you started. Not erasure. Not reinvention. Integration. Sudev is a final year Money, Banking and Finance student who is taking the TEDx stage because he mispronounced a word in seventh grade and, apparently, never fully got over it. The talk is about identity. The therapy is ongoing, but he might finally have an idea of what lies beyond it. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Why Trying Harder Keeps Failing You | Youssef Elderiny | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

We often treat change as a matter of desire and discipline: want it badly enough, stay motivated enough, and you will become the person you aspire to be. But desire fades. Some people can sustain it for hours, others for years, but eventually it depletes. In this talk, I explore a simple metaphor: desire is like a phone battery, and willpower is the charger. Useful, necessary, but ultimately powerless without a source of electricity behind it. That "electricity" is the deeper force that replenishes us: purpose, faith, responsibility, community, family, or accountability to something greater than ourselves. Drawing from personal experience and ideas inspired by Viktor Frankl, I argue that sustainable transformation does not happen in isolation. It happens when we intentionally shape the influences that shape us. This talk challenges the myth of radical self-sufficiency and asks a deeper question: what are you connected to that can carry you through your worst day, not just your best one? Youssef is a software engineer, reflective thinker, and lifelong student of human behavior, discipline, and meaning. Drawing from personal experiences navigating faith, self-improvement, and modern life, he explores the tension between who we aspire to become and what actually sustains lasting change. His work and interests sit at the intersection of technology, philosophy, psychology, and spirituality, with a focus on intentional living in an age of distraction. Through honest storytelling and practical insight, Youssef challenges the idea that transformation is purely an act of willpower, and invites audiences to rethink what truly shapes identity, purpose, and resilience. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Illusion of Closure | Rayana Suleman | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

What happens when the thing keeping you stuck isn't loss, but the desperate need to understand it? In this talk, I explore the psychology behind our obsession with closure. Why the brain clings to unanswered questions, what that fixation actually costs us, and the quiet but radical decision that changes everything. Drawing on the Zeigarnik effect and my own experiences of being paralyzed by unresolved endings, I reframe closure not as something another person gives you, but as the moment you choose yourself over the question. A talk about uncertainty, self worth, and what it means to step into the unknown. Not after the unfinished stories resolve, but while they are still open. Graduating with a BSc in Psychology, Ive spent the last few years turning academic insight into honest, human conversation. I explore mental health experiences that define our generation, from social comparison to the subtle ways our upbringing shapes who we become. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Culture Knows First | Sarah Sidney Pereira | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

The signals that precede major crises are rarely hidden, they're just spoken by people institutions have decided aren't worth hearing. Through three examples spanning the 2008 financial crisis, the Me Too movement, and the Arab Spring, this talk shows that the truth consistently arrives early, through culture, through marginalised communities, through voices that never get counted as data. The next unknown is already broadcasting itself. Sarah Pereira is a third-year Aerospace Engineering student who spends equal time studying the mechanics of flight and the mechanics of how the world misses what is right in front of it. Her TEDx talk asks a simple but uncomfortable question: if the next crisis is already visible in the culture, why do we keep being surprised? From the underground economy to grassroots movements to the music of revolutions, this talk traces the signals that were always there, spoken by the people nobody thought to ask. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Courage to Be Complicated | Yahia Ghaleb | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

This talk explores the complexity of being human in a world that often pushes people toward extremes and rigid labels. Drawing from several psychological frameworks, it reflects on how pain, trauma, diagnosis, emotion, and societal expectations can shape identity, self-perception, and the life narratives people come to author. Rather than presenting healing as perfection or the elimination of suffering, the talk explores integration, psychological flexibility, meaning-making, authenticity, and the capacity to hold contradiction with compassion. Audiences are invited to reconsider how they understand themselves, their suffering, and what it truly means to live a more values-aligned, authentic, and fulfilling life. Yahia Ghaleb is an MSc Clinical Psychology student at University of Birmingham Dubai fascinated by the complexity of human experience and the processes that shape distress, healing, and recovery. Influenced by Humanistic and Existential Psychology, Yahia believes in a more compassionate, relational, and holistic vision of mental health care ; one that looks beyond rigid labels and reductionistic understandings of psychological distress. Through clinical training, research, and reflective practice, he hopes to contribute to conversations that humanise mental health struggles, embrace complexity, and deepen the way people understand both themselves and one another. Outside of psychology, he’s a huge bookworm who enjoys meaningful conversations, travelling, and rewatching Friends and Grey's Anatomy. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Heaven I Stopped Chasing | Aaditya Rajesh | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

Almost every culture in human history has imagined heaven as somewhere else. Somewhere we're going. A place where the waiting finally ends. And even when we strip the faith away, the structure stays — we all spend our lives reaching for something just ahead of us. A few more years, a few more achievements, a little more peace. And then we'll be there. But what if we've been looking in the wrong direction? What if the heaven we keep chasing was never ahead of us at all? In this talk, I share what I learned the hard way about what that chasing actually does to a life — and what I found when I finally stopped. It's a talk about the cost of always reaching for somewhere else, and the strange, ordinary beauty of being exactly where you are. Aaditya is a student in his final year, with a habit of turning ordinary moments into bigger questions. He is driven by the search for meaning in the everyday. Today he's taking on a question a friend asked him once and couldn't let go of. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Family: Humanity's Biggest Inefficiency? | Alwin Kallely Jose | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

What if the most celebrated institution in human history was actually designed wrong? The data is uncomfortable. Individuals without heavy family obligation take more risks, earn more, and achieve more. Family-related stress accounts for a third of reported anxiety in young adults. The global cost of informal caregiving sits at $10 trillion annually. By every rational metric, the family is a constraint. And yet, I would not be standing on this stage without mine. This talk is about the moment the argument falls apart. About the sacrifices nobody sees. About the phone calls, the deferred dreams, and the people who believed in you before the results were in. The family may not be optimal. But it might be the most important thing we have ever built. A Year 3 Economics student at the University of Birmingham Dubai, he is exactly the kind of person you'd expect to question everything and then surprise you with the answer. Living independently, far from home, he has spent the last three years doing what economists do best: running the numbers on life. And somewhere between the data, the late nights, and the quiet moments of figuring out who he is without the people who made him, he arrived at the most unexpected conclusion of his academic career. A natural leader, avid quizzer, and UPSC aspirant with a track record of showing up, in classrooms, in boardrooms, and on stage, he brings the same curiosity to ideas that he brings to everything else. His journey has been one of identity, of distance, and of realizing that the thing he travelled furthest from was the thing that mattered most. His family. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

0.4 | Faris Abubaker | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

In a system built entirely on metrics and performance, 0.4 isn’t just a bad grade; it’s an academic emergency. For most of us, that number feels like a life sentence. We are conditioned to believe that if you trip that hard at the starting line, the race is over, the tunnel collapses, and you are officially going nowhere. But what if the end of that dark tunnel isn't a dead end, but the start of a completely different track? This talk challenges everything we think we know about failure, success, and the unexpected detours that save us. Strategy and Marketing Leader | Ecosystem Builder This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

An Engraved History | Beyond Borders | Abdullah Al-Arifi | TEDxTaiz

Jul 15, 2026

From silversmith to defender of a city's heritage, he saved thousands of artifacts from looting and succeeded in registering "metal engraving" as world heritage, believing that identity is made with determination. From silversmith to defender of the city's heritage, he saved thousands of artefacts from looting and succeeded in registering "metal engraving" as world heritage, believing that identity is forged through passion. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Milk Before the Cereal | Moiz Fattani | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

"Milk or Cereal: Why One Decision Shouldn't Define Your Life" challenges the idea that success must follow one perfect order. Using the simple debate of whether milk or cereal comes first as a metaphor, Abdul explores how many young people grow up believing their future is limited to a few "safe" paths chosen by society, culture, or fear of failure. Through personal experiences, career risks, and moments of uncertainty, the talk highlights how growth rarely comes from one perfect decision but instead through repeated choices, mistakes, adjustments, and learning over time. Ultimately, the talk encourages audiences to stop viewing life as a single irreversible choice and instead see it as something they are constantly allowed to reshape. Moiz Fattani is a Dubai-based student speaker and creative strategist passionate about challenging conventional ideas of success. With experience across finance, media, content, and startup growth, his journey reflects the realities of navigating identity, ambition, and uncertainty in today’s world. Through his TEDx talk, Moiz explores how growth is shaped not by one defining decision, but through repeated choices, mistakes, and the courage to create your own path. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Now What? | Rinaaz Sulthana | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

What happens when the finish line disappears before you cross it? This year, the CBSE board examinations were cancelled in the Middle East. Overnight, months of preparation had nowhere to go. What followed wasn't relief or disappointment — it was a question that had been waiting since 10th grade: who are you when you're no longer defined by what you achieve? "Now What?" is an honest and unexpected exploration of identity after the system ends. It's not a talk about bouncing back. It's not about finding yourself. It's not a list of things you should do differently. It's about the parts of you that existed long before any finish line — quietly, in the background, attached to no grade and no goal. The parts that don't announce themselves. The parts you only notice when everything else goes silent. And what you do with them when it does. Rinaaz is a recent high school graduate who once had a sketchbook, a camera, and a growing list of things she'd get to eventually. Most of them are still waiting. Currently in the in-between — somewhere after the finish line that never arrived and before whatever comes next — she is slowly figuring out what it means to feel like herself again. A storyteller at heart, she returns to the TEDx stage for her second talk, this time with something more personal to say. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Beyond Grief | Amaan Iqbal Ibrahim | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

When Death Comes is unlike any of Amaan Iqbal Ibrahim's previous TEDx talks. There are no slides, frameworks, or explicit lessons. Instead, the talk unfolds as a deeply personal spoken reflection that gradually transforms into a live poetry reading. The experience begins with observations about life, memory, and the quiet rituals people inherit after loss: replaying voices in empty rooms, reaching for phones before remembering, preserving ordinary objects long after they stop being useful, and discovering how absence continues to behave like presence. Through humour, vulnerability, and reflection, the talk explores the strange emotional afterlife of love. At the center of the story is Theodore Pudding Iqbal Ibrahim — a mischievous kitten whose brief life unexpectedly altered the emotional architecture of Amaan's own. Rather than focusing on loss itself, the talk lingers in what remains afterward: memory, guilt, tenderness, family, prayer, and the unbearable normality that follows grief. Midway through, the format changes entirely. Seated on stage, Amaan reads an original poem titled When Death Comes — a poem he began writing years ago, long before he understood why he was writing it. For years it remained unfinished. Then, in the days following Theodore's passing, the final lines emerged. The poem moves through imagined death, parents, friendship, regret, childhood, faith, and the emotional lives carried by the people we leave behind. It avoids spectacle and instead dwells in the intimate details grief quietly creates: the chair nobody sits in, the extra food cooked by accident, the phone number no one deletes, the instinct to turn toward someone who is no longer there. Rather than attempting to explain grief or offer solutions, When Death Comes creates space for recognition. It invites audiences to sit with the emotional contradictions of love and loss without resolving them too quickly. The talk closes with a few final reflections on what remains of people after they are gone, and the possibility that love itself may have no instinct for disappearance. Amaan Iqbal Ibrahim is an award-winning speaker, clinical psychologist-in-training, leadership, and youth advocate based in the United Arab Emirates, currently pursuing his Master's in Clinical Psychology at the University of Birmingham Dubai, where he founded TEDx University of Birmingham Dubai in 2024. Known for blending storytelling, humour, emotional honesty, and psychological insight, Amaan’s speaking style is deeply personal and reflective, often exploring the hidden emotional worlds people quietly carry within them. His work draws from lived experience as much as academia, shaped by his background in Clinical Psychology and his years working in leadership and capability development. He is the recipient of the International Diana Legacy Award for Social Work and the Sharjah Award for Volunteer Work, and has been recognised for his contributions to youth leadership, mentoring, and public speaking. Beyond the stage, he works extensively in coaching and mental health advocacy. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Sixth | Tarai Tariro Makawa | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

In Beyond², I reflect on what happened after I achieved the one dream I once believed would define my entire life: becoming a lawyer. Speaking from my experiences travelling alone through Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Seoul, and Tokyo, I explore how achieving the goal did not bring the finality I expected, but instead introduced me to a deeper process of self-discovery and expansion. Through stories of navigating unfamiliar cities, missing the last MTR back from Shenzhen, and being unexpectedly helped by a woman named Kae — who commended me for remaining calm despite being completely lost — I realised that resilience is often built long before we recognise it in ourselves. The talk explores how the trials, detours, and uncertainties I once resented ultimately became the tools that allowed me to grow beyond the limitations I had placed on myself. Beyond² is ultimately about redefining success, embracing continual becoming, and understanding that life was never meant to fit inside one singular dream. Tarai Makawa is a lawyer, storyteller, and curious observer of human experience whose work explores identity, ambition, resilience, and what it means to grow beyond the lives we once imagined for ourselves. Having built a career in law through determination and perseverance, she now uses her voice to reflect on the intersections between achievement, reinvention, and personal expansion. Her TED Talk, Beyond², was inspired by solo travels across Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Seoul, and Tokyo, where moments of uncertainty, kindness, and cultural connection challenged the narrow definitions of success she once held. Through deeply personal storytelling, she invites audiences to rethink the idea of “arrival” and embrace the continual process of becoming. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Going Back to Go Beyond | Raisa Anvar Raseena | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

We spend our lives operating under the assumption that softening the truth makes us a good person. We rewrite texts, water down opinions, and hide our real feelings, convinced it protects the people around us. But this constant focus on keeping the room comfortable isn't actually selflessness. Behind our obsession with being "nice" lies a hidden reality: our politeness is rarely about saving others from getting hurt. It is a protective reflex born out of a fear of judgment. We would simply rather fake a smile than deal with the temporary discomfort of someone being mad at us. When we look at how we treat our friends, families, and co-workers, the cost of this compromise becomes undeniable. True connection requires us to stop prioritizing comfort over reality, step out of the roles we play just to be liked, and finally find the courage to speak plainly. As someone who values clarity over comfort, Raisa is taking the stage to deconstruct the 'nice' disguise. Her talk is a wake-up call to stop editing our thoughts, stop fearing conflict, and finally get back to the unedited version of ourselves. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Not by Default | Jerzen Benny | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

Jul 15, 2026

Most of us don't choose our lives — we inherit them. We follow the path that was laid out, say yes to what's expected, and call it responsibility. But what happens when you stop and ask: is this actually what I want? Not by Default is a talk about the quiet courage it takes to pause — and the clarity that follows. Drawing on his own experience leaving medicine for a startup, then returning to it by choice, Jerzen explores what it means to live deliberately in a world that rewards momentum over reflection. The talk offers a framework for recognising when you're on autopilot, and what it looks like to take the wheel. Because a life chosen — even an imperfect one — is worth more than a life simply continued. Jerzen is a doctor who took the long way around. After graduating from medical school, he traded the wards for a healthcare startup in Dubai — then chose medicine again, this time on his own terms. Now pursuing a pediatric residency, he believes the most meaningful choices are the ones we stop making by default. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Can nuclear power keep our moon bases alive? | Tyler Bernstein | TEDxPaloAlto

Jul 11, 2026

America is returning to the moon, but there is a threat to that mission that almost no one is talking about. Tyler Bernstein reveals the vulnerability hiding in plain sight, and the surprisingly compact solution he is building to solve it. Tyler Bernstein is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zeno Power, a company building nuclear batteries – compact power systems that can generate reliable electricity for a decade. Founded in 2018, Zeno is developing these systems to power frontier missions, from persistent infrastructure on the ocean seabed to long-duration operations on the lunar surface. Under his leadership, the company has secured more than $135M in funding, including $75M in private capital and $60M in contracts with the Pentagon and NASA, and is on track to commercialize its nuclear batteries for maritime and space applications by 2027. Tyler has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and as a Thiel Fellow. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

We don’t buy digital products: We live in them | Bruno Giussani & Katerina Biliouri | TEDxBerlin

Jul 10, 2026

We still think of digital technologies as products, but over the last couple of decades, first slowly then rapidly, they have become architectures, virtual spaces within which we live and work, and whose rules are established by their developers and owners. In this conversation, Bruno Giussani, former European director of TED and author of "Our Minds Under Siege: How to Avoid Being Manipulated in the Age of AI" and Katerina Biliouri, curator and co-founder of Lemondrop, discuss the meaning of this technological evolution for our lives and explore how AI, as the old Greeks would say, is a "pharmakon": at the same time remedy and poison, help and threat. Bruno Giussani is the author of "Our Minds Under Siege: How to Avoid Being Manipulated in the Age of artificial intelligence" (Scheidegger & Spiess, 2026) and the former European director and global curator of TED. He’s written for newspapers in Europe and the United States (including, for several years, an internet column for The New York Times), was head of digital strategy at the World Economic Forum and has co-founded two software firms. He lives in Switzerland. Katerina Biliouri Davidson curates ideas, conferences, and narratives that move people. For a decade, she worked alongside the TED Conferences curation team, coaching speakers to bring their boldest messages to life. Known for turning complexity into clarity, she helps individuals and leaders around the world speak with confidence, authenticity, and power. She leads public speaking workshops online and in person for individuals, companies, and global organizations. Katerina is the co-founder of lemondrop agency. https://lemondrop.agency This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Why AI forces us to rethink leadership and organizations | Florian Bankoley | TEDxBerlin

Jul 10, 2026

AI is not just changing tasks — it is changing how organizations hold together. Florian Bankoley argues that hierarchy was our old answer to complexity, but AI forces us to invent a new one. As intelligence and decision support spread across institutions, leaders must rethink trust, authority, coordination and legitimacy before old organizational structures stop holding. Florian Bankoley is Chief Digital Officer of Bosch Mobility, leading digital, AI, software, data, and IT transformation across one of the world’s largest mobility businesses. Over two decades, he has moved between corporate leadership, entrepreneurship, and board roles — including founding a digital mobility business within Bosch and driving major global transformation programs. Florian is fascinated by the human side of change: why some ideas scale, why others fail, and what leadership really demands in times of disruption. With roots across Europe and a career shaped by technology and business, he brings a practical but deeply personal perspective on transformation, innovation, and the future of mobility. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Why Europe was never behind in AI | Alexander Woellwarth-Lauterburg | TEDxBerlin

Jul 10, 2026

Europe has spent two decades being told it is behind in AI. Entrepreneur Alexander Woellwarth-Lauterburg, who started inside the hidden human supply chain of the AI industry, argues we are measuring the wrong race entirely — and that the real competition is only just beginning. Alexander Woellwarth-Lauterburg is the founder and CEO of InnoButler, where he is building a sovereign European AI platform for enterprise R&D. He founded the company while working inside the hidden human supply chain of the AI industry — an experience that permanently demystified the technology for him. At the core of his work is a fascination with how knowledge moves: why some ideas travel across borders and industries while others get trapped, and what it costs a continent when its intelligence is built somewhere else. Alexander brings a grounded perspective on innovation, sovereignty, and the quiet decisions that shape who owns the future. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

How America Can Inspire the Next Generation | Rosa Rios | TEDxBoston

Jul 10, 2026

What should America strive to become over the next 250 years? Former U.S. Treasurer Rosa Rios, Chair of the America250 Commission, reflects on the nation's past while looking boldly toward its future. From her family's immigrant story to leading the national celebration of America's 250th anniversary, Rios shares a vision centered on opportunity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement. She discusses empowering the next generation through initiatives like America's Startup, fostering patriotism through purpose, and creating new traditions of giving back. This inspiring conversation explores how innovation, education, and service can shape the next chapter of the American story. Rosie Rios was designated as the chair for the United States Semiquincentennial Commission in July 2022, following her prior appointment by Congress as one of the Commission’s 16 private citizens. From 2009 to 2016, Rios served as the 43rd Treasurer of the United States and just completed her term as a Visiting Scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is most recently known for initiating and leading the efforts to place a portrait of a woman on the front of U.S. currency for the first time in over a century. Upon her resignation in 2016, she received the Hamilton Award, the highest honor bestowed in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Rosie was the longest serving Senate-confirmed Treasury official beginning with her time on the Treasury/Federal Reserve Transition Team in November 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. Rios is a graduate of Harvard University and was selected as the first Latina in Harvard’s 384-year history to have a portrait commissioned in her honor. She currently serves on the board of American Family Insurance, Fidelity Charitable Trust, the Schlesinger Council at Harvard, the Advisory Committee for Artemis Real Estate Partners and was previously a Trustee with the Alameda County Employees Retirement Association (ACERA). Her personal passion includes EMPOWERMENT 2020, an initiative that facilitates the physical recognition of historical American women and recently launched Notable Women, a project with some folks at Google’s Creative Lab that uses Augmented Reality to teach kids about historic American women. She remains active in real estate finance and is consulting on several transformational projects in the Bay Area under her “RESCUE” initiative: Real Estate for Socially Conscious Urban Empowerment This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Why the future of AI will be decided by communities | Elena Poughia | TEDxBerlin

Jul 10, 2026

Who really decides what AI becomes? While governments debate regulation and companies race to build more powerful systems, communities are already shaping how artificial intelligence is adopted, trusted, and governed. Drawing on a decade spent building AI ecosystems across Europe, Elena Poughia challenges why the future of AI may be decided not by technology itself, but by the humans who organize around it. Elena Poughia is the founder of Data Natives, one of Europe's largest AI and data science communities, and Managing Director of Dataconomy, a leading global publication covering artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. For over a decade, she has worked at the intersection of technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, and community building, helping connect founders, researchers, policymakers, and investors across Europe and beyond. She serves on the SXSW Pitch Board and as an expert for the European Commission’s innovation programs. In her talk, she explores why communities, not just technology, will determine the future of artificial intelligence. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Why AI needs legal logic to strengthen democracy | Ina Remmers | TEDxBerlin

Jul 10, 2026

Rules are the foundation of democracy. But what happens when they become too complex for people, officials, and even institutions to apply? Drawing on her childhood in East Germany, the Dutch childcare-benefits scandal and her work with Rulemapping, Ina Remmers shows how AI can either deepen the crisis of trust in the state or help make democracy work again. Ina Remmers is an impact entrepreneur interested in how systems can strengthen social cohesion and democratic agency. She co-founded nebenan.de, Germany’s largest neighbourhood network, inspired by her own experience of growing up in small villages. Her work has been recognized by the German Startup Awards, where she was named Best Female Founder. Today, Remmers is the founder of the Rulemapping Group, where she works with her team to make laws and rules understandable, traceable and applicable for both people and machines. Her work focuses on building a citizen-focused state in which bureaucracy becomes a lever for trust, innovation, and democracy. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

AI already tracks the data that could save lives | Cori Lathan | TEDxBerlin

Jul 10, 2026

Every minute, somewhere in the world, a fall takes a life — and many are preventable. The data that could predict our decline is already streaming from our phones and wearables; the problem, says neuroscientist and inventor Dr. Cori Lathan, is that we've aimed AI at selling us shoes instead of keeping us alive. In this personal talk about her own parents, the hidden toll on caregivers, and the future she believes we can still choose, Lathan makes the case for finally pointing AI at the things that matters most. Dr. Corinna Lathan is an inventor, entrepreneur, and self-described future cyborg. Over three decades she's built technology to make humans stronger, smarter, and healthier. Her inventions sit at the intersection of science fiction and real-world impact — robots for kids with disabilities, brain-health tools for soldiers, virtual reality for astronauts, and wearables that turn electricity into medicine. She founded AnthroTronix, holds 35 patents, and wrote the bestseller, Inventing the Future: Stories from a Techno-Optimist. She earned her PhD in neuroscience from MIT, was named a Technology Pioneer and Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and has chaired its Global Future Council on AI & Robotics. Forbes, Time, and The New Yorker have profiled her work and the Smithsonian featured a full-size statue of her in its Contemporary Women in STEM exhibit. She lives in Maryland with her family under the motto: "We may be crazy, but we're not stupid." This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Cross-thinkers must inherit the world of AI | Bright Simons | TEDxBerlin

Jul 10, 2026

AI didn't teach itself to think. We taught it through the messiness of our life struggles over millennia. Bright Simons introduces the Social Edge Paradox: the more we automate knowledge work, the more we starve AI of the civilisational substrate it needs to get smarter. He argues that the future of AI belongs not to Big Tech but to cross-thinkers - people like Bra Kofi in Africa's auto-garages, who can harness the tacit knowledge trapped in informal economies to advance AI that builds power plants instead of just PowerPoints. Bright Simons is a Ghanaian social innovator, writer, and policy thinker working at the intersection of technology, trust, and development. As President of mPedigree, he has helped deploy technologies across Africa and other regions to transform supply chains and consumer markets. He holds senior affiliations with top think tanks like IMANI and ODI Global and sits on many boards.Bright has advised organizations including Microsoft, the World Economic Forum, and UCB, as well as multiple universities. An inaugural TED Fellow, Fortune World 50 Greatest Leaders honoree, and recipient of multiple global awards, he is passionate about deepening trust & spreading prosperity through policy innovation and tech. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The Future of Boston: Business, AI, Infrastructure, and Innovation | Jon Chesto | TEDxBoston

Jul 10, 2026

What will Boston look like over the next 250 years? In this conversation, veteran Boston Globe business reporter John Chesto explores the forces shaping the city's future—from AI and robotics to transportation, real estate, journalism, and economic development. Drawing on decades of reporting, he discusses how Boston can remain a global leader in innovation while adapting to changing technologies and industries. From expanding innovation districts and electrifying public transit to the future of news and business leadership, this conversation offers a compelling look at what's next for one of the world's leading knowledge economies. Jon Chesto covers the leaders who shape Boston’s business community. He has been reporting on business and politics in New England for the past two decades. Before joining the Globe, he was managing editor at the Boston Business Journal. Prior to that role, he was the business editor at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy. His weekly Ledger column, “Mass. Market,” won several national awards with the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. A graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, he has also worked as a business reporter at the Boston Herald and as a political reporter with Ottaway Newspapers. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx