TED Raises Curtain on TEDGlobal 2012 Conference, "Radical Openness"

EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, opens its annual Europe-based TEDGlobal conference today in Edinburgh, Scotland. The conference, this year themed "Radical Openness," shares the same format as its twin event in Long Beach, CA: inspired leaders, thinkers, makers, and performers from around the globe take the stage for talks, music, and demonstrations across dozens of disciplines.

"TEDGlobal is remarkable both for the caliber of international leaders, inventors, and visionaries who take the stage and comprise the audience," says TED's European Director Bruno Giussani, who curated this week's program. "With support from innovative partners, TEDGlobal brings to the UK world-class scientists, writers, foreign affairs and political experts, innovators, designers, and artists to explore Radical Openness from every angle. With a diversity of content and cultures, we guarantee an invigorating week – and a surprise or two."  

The TEDGlobal 2012 conference has attracted 850 attendees from 71 countries to the Edinburgh International Conference Center.  Scientists, inventors, policy leaders, entrepreneurs and artists will offer more than 70 main-stage talks and performances – as well as 22 presentations from TED Fellows and another 30 or so shorter TED University talks.  

Under the TEDLive membership, the conference will be streamed live to paid members around the globe. TEDGlobal will also be webcast to more than 120 independently organized TEDx events worldwide.

Speakers will cover a wide spectrum of topics, including mental healthcare in developing countries, levitating objects, the merits of whistleblowing, flip teaching, and a new approach to wind energy. At the conference, a number of innovative technologies will also be unveiled for the first time.  TEDGlobal 2012 speakers and performers include:

• James Stavridis, NATO Supreme Commander
• Sanjay Pradhan, Vice President of the World Bank Institute
• Massimo Banzi, Creator of Arduino open-source hardware
• Ellen Jorgensen, Biologist and community science advocate
• Robert Neuwirth, Economist and author
• Clay Shirky , Internet expert
• Andreas Schleicher, Creator of the PISA education assessment
• Jane McGonigal, Game designer
• Ivan Krastev, Public intellectual
• Vikram Patel, Psychiatrist
• Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Neuroscientist
• Susan Solomon, Stem-cell advocate
• Ramesh Raskar, Femtophotographer
• Macy Gray, Singer-songwriter and producer
• Daria Musk, Musician and Google+ sensation

At the conference, TED's award-winning video team will begin editing talks to share with the world – through its TEDTalks video series – which recently surpassed 800,000,000 views. TEDTalks from the TEDGlobal 2012 conference will begin to appear on TED.com during the conference and throughout the coming year.

A number of world-class brands and companies have partnered with TEDGlobal to share ideas and foster an atmosphere of innovation.  This year's partners include: Arup, Autodesk, Bain & Company, Delta Airlines, Deutsche Telekom, Dewar's, frog, Getty Images, Intel, InterContinental Hotel Group, Nespresso, Novartis, Open University Skolkovo-OpUS, Shell, Unilever, Visit Scotland, Vodafone Turkey and Steelcase.

The detailed TEDGlobal program and more information can be found online here:
http://conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2012/

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 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Long Beach, California, along with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs. The annual TEDGlobal conference is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide, the educational initiative TED-Ed, and TEDBooks, short e-books by speakers that elaborate on a single idea originally presented on TED's stage. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

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

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