In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Teatro Sucre
Calle Guayaquil y Flores
Quito, Pichincha, 17586
Ecuador

Alex Alvear

Alex is an Ecuadorian composer, bass player and performer with a great musical trajectory. During his beginnings in Ecuador, Alex was co-founder and co-director of Promesas Temporales and Rumbasón, two bands that marked the development and birth of new Ecuadorian music. His musical career includes numerous appearances and performances in Jazz, folk and world music festivals. Since 1998, he has taken part in workshops, concerts, demonstrations and lessons of Caribbean and Latin American music in schools, universities and artistic associations through out Massachusetts.

Carla Barboto

Carla and Santiago are the founders of Pacari Chocolates. Since 2008, when they began exportation of their chocolate bars, they revolutionized the cacao industry in Latin America, through the creation of a transparent business innovation model in the fabrication from “Tree to bar”, social responsibility and direct trade with certified organic farmers. Together with their producers, they developed new innovation strategies, designing new flavors and products. They believe in chocolate with imagination. They have created an exciting pallet of South American flavors, with chocolate bars made with Andean fruits, which have been forgotten.

Carlos Grijalva

Born in Quito, Carlos’ trajectory as a professional Singer goes back to 1996. He has developed his career as soloist, singing in various stages throughout Ecuador, United States, France and Argentina. In 2001 he presented his first album, “Discovering”, at the Auditorium of the Chamber of Commerce in Quito. In 2004 he received his bachelor in Music from the Berklee College of Contemporary Music at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. In 2005 he presents his second album “Perfidia”, performing in different venues around Ecuador. The following years Carlos goes on tour through Argentina and Ecuador, presenting his work “Tango A”, visiting Tango music and reflections of Ecuadorian music. He continues to promote his work in Latin American music.

Denisse Calle

Denisse was born in Loja, a southern city of Ecuador. Since her childhood she felt great interest towards medicine and studies in her native town. She has been a doctor since 2013, the same year she began her rural medical service in small communities in the highlands of Ecuador. Here she discovered the potential of the public health system. From then on she decided to record the success and failures of the rural health system through her blog #ruraleando. Initially her blog contained her personal experiences as a rural doctor but is has become a tool that other rural medicine doctors use to bring light into the conditions they also face and how the health system can be improved.

Dominic Muren

Dominic Muren is founder and principal of The Humblefactory, a design laboratory in Seattle, Washington which develops tools and technologies that increase the capabilities of Makers around the world. Since his early career founding the popular industrial design blog IDFuel.com, and writing for Treehugger.com – dubbed “The Green CNN” – Dominic has been exploring the opportunities and consequences of how we make the objects we need. Since 2006, he has been writing about a new, open-hardware-based, human-scaled ethos for manufacturing at Humblefacture.com. His most recent project, Alchematter.org, is an online platform to host a global conversation about what can be made, and how to make it, in order to accelerate the development of open, distributed, community embedded manufacturing. In addition to his work at The Humblefactory, Dominic lectures in Industrial Design at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Eduardo Villacis

Born in Quito, since young interested in traditional art as well as in the influence of technology in art, Eduardo founded the Digital animation program within the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. He develops his art with the liberty of being an amateur. His passion is to imagine unreal stories and laugh about the universe. He will share with us what he enjoys the most, imagining things, as they are not. He sees his taste for the false and the imaginary world as an opportunity for transformation.

Javier Cevallos

Javier is a constant seeker of narrations, mythologies and memory. Born in Quito, Javier is an actor, play writer, poet, teacher and researcher. For over 20 years he has developed his theatrical career. He studied and worked with the theatrical group “Espada de Madera” completing his training in the workshops of the theatrical group “Theater MalaYerba” and with the Argentinian puppeteer Sergio Mercurio. Since 1999 he directs his own scenic proposal with the educational Project Quito Eterno (Eternal Quito), where he reconstructs the history and identity of Ecuador and the city, through theater and play write. In Quito Eterno, he has been responsible for the artistic and theatrical processes and has been director of the non-profit since 2010. He has developed several of the characters of Quito Eterno, and has collaborated with national and international theater groups and actors.

Javier Chicaiza

Teebot es un robot que he venido desarrollando durante muchos años. Este robot demuestra a todas las personas que han trabajado en él, mientras se ha ido mejorando constantemente, que si se quiere realizar algo sólo es cuestión de proponérselo, aun cuando el amino se vea muy difícil o casi imposible. La visión que tengo respecto a Teebot es que la gente que interactúe con él pueda superarse tanto individual como cooperativamente mediante un juego interactivo con éste. Por este motivo Teebot es el inicio de un gran cambio, tanto tecnológico como ideológico y educativo.

Manari Ushigua

Manari is a ceremonial leader and healing man. His specialty is medicinal plants, especially natural tobacco, with which he cures “modern day” sicknesses and afflictions. Through dream interpretation and spiritual connections Manari provides cure and haleness to people in search for natural non-invasive processes. As an indigenous rights advocate and specialist, Manari has been able to detain perforation efforts in his native territory. His work has led to the defense of the rights of the Sapara community at the Interamerican Human Rights court, the permanent forum for indigenous communities within the United Nations, the European Parliament and international cooperation agencies. As an entrepreneur, Manari manages the communitarian Enterprise NAKU, “The Jungle” in Sapara language, which provides ecotourism, healing alternatives and research for natural medicine development through native tools and indigenous cultural heritage of his people.

Monserrat Astudillo

Monserrat is a renowned actress and stand-up comedian. Born in Cuenca, Ecuador, with humor, Monserrat challenges the conditions of our society, the role of women and the perception of gender roles through generations.

Oscar Vela

Oscar is a writer and Doctor in Law. He is the author of 5 novels: “El Toro de la Oración” (The Bull and the Prayer); “La dimensión de las sombras” (The Dimension of Shadows); “Irene, las voces obscenas del desvarío” (Irene and the Obscene Voices of Delirium); “Desnuda Oscuridad” (Naked Darkness), winner of the National Novel Prize, Joaquín Gallegos Lara 2011; “Yo soy el Fuego” (I am Fire) winner of the Jorge Icaza Prize in 2013 to the best novel of the year. He has lived surrounded by books, thus his passion for literature. He shares his daily life with his characters and his stories, with his past and his present, imagining his future, but always returning to his beginnings to evaluate his progress.

Samantha Arévalo

Samantha was born in Macas in 1994. She comes from a family of athletes and as the representative of the Morona Santiago province and Ecuador; she is part of the High Performance Enderica Club. Samantha is dedicated to Olympic swimming; she permanently takes part in national and international swimming events and competitions, either in pools or open water. In the past 12 years Samantha has been national champion on several occasions and different categories. She performs her training in Cuenca, where she is getting ready for the Pan-American Games of “Toronto 2015” and the World Championship in Russia. She challenges herself every day to achieve optimal conditions for the 2016 Olympics. Once she completes her Olympic cycle, she wants to pursue a career related to sports taking into account this will always be a part of her life.

Santiago Iñiguez

Born in Madrid in 1962, Santiago is dean of the IE Business School and President of IE University. Doctor in law by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, with an MBA from the IE Business School and recognized student by Oxford University, Santiago also holds the Vice chair to AACSB International and is part of the boards of Jiao Tong University School of Business (China), Mazars University (France), Renmin University Business School (China), Fundaçao Getulio Vargas (Brasil) and the Presidential Academy of Russia. The Financial Times has described Santiago as “One of the most significant figures in the international promotion of European schools”. He teaches Strategic Management at the IE Business School.

Santiago Mosquera

Como Ingeniero en Sistemas, fundador y gerente general de Clear Minds Consultores, soy co-fundador de Teebot. Estoy comprometido con la generación de un cambio social a través de la difusión del conocimiento. Me apasiona la programación de computadores y la enseñanza. Mi misión es colaborar con la formación de toda una generación de niños y jóvenes ecuatorianos que se diviertan inventando cosas, usando la tecnología como herramienta.

Santiago Peralta

Carla and Santiago through Pacari, have worked with 3500 families, helping them improve their fields, promoting organic and biodynamic certification processes and creating schools for Sustainable agriculture. Pacari chocolates are sold in 36 countries around the world, and have received awards in Loa Angeles, Seattle and London, with 53 gold and silver medals in 2012. In 2013 the Association of Fine Chocolate Producers recognized Pacari as the “Worlds best Chocolate”.

Sebastian Cordero

Sebastian was born in Quito, spending his boyhood in Paris. He pursued and studied cinematography and script writing at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He returned to Ecuador with the intention to produce a film in Ecuador, a country at the time with little development in the field. RATAS, RATONES, RATEROS is his opera prima, which debuted in Venice and becomes a huge social and cultural milestone in Ecuador. He has written and directed several movies. CRONICAS (Mexico, Ecuador, 2004) debuted in Cannes and received several international awards; RABIA (Spain-Colombia, 2009) received a special award from the jury at the Tokyo film festival and best film award in Malaga, Spain. And PESCADOR (Ecuador-Colombia, 2011) are part of his work. In 2013 Sebastian explores his first incursion into Science Fiction and with a different language, in EUROPA REPORT (EEUU, 2013). The four movies premiered internationally.