Theme: LET('S) GO!

TEDxUtrecht 2016 focusses on meaningful innovations and insights that help us to progress in our individual lives and society. Because in order to truly progress, we don't need more, we need different.

Our line-up consists of speakers that challenge society - individuals, governments and businesses alike - to focus on meaning rather than profit and humanity rather than economy. Because innovations only help us to progress when they increase the amount of people that live healthy, happy and meaningful lives.

So, think of what you can do without in your live and LET('S) GO to TEDxUtrecht!

TivoliVredenburg
Vredenburgkade 11
Utrecht, Utrecht, 3511 WC
Netherlands

PAX

Artist, vocalist and writer

Pax is a musician, vocalist and a writer. He was also one of the members of the Kyteman Orchestra.

Adinda van Wely

Art Consultant. Chosen One of TEDxUtrecht Talentstage.

Adinda van Wely (25) is a student Art History and one of the winners of the TEDx Talentstage. She has been working as an art consultant for three years. Her goal in life is to share the passion she feels about art, and to teach anyone who wants to hear. On our stage she will illustrate the three questions she always uses when looking at art, and how to use them on a day-to-day basis.

Anna Chojnacka

Director global partnerships 1% Club

Polish-born Anna Chojnacka is co-founder of the 1%Club. She takes great pride in what she does and with a good reason: doing good things works. In 2014 and 2015 Chojnacka was named one of the most influential Dutch women. In the old world people with knowledge and resources ruled society. Knowledge was expensive and hard to get and only within reach for a limited group. Knowledge was locked in a Cathedral. People without access to that kind of knowledge and resources went elsewhere, to the Bazaar. The Bazaar nowadays is all the unorganized knowledge that is accessible with the help of modern media. Here the knowledge is vast and cheap, but you don’t know the quality of it and where to look for it. That can be harmful and even dangerous for the user. But: when you connect the Bazaar with the Cathedral, then you have best of both worlds. How do we construct such connection? Chojnacka presents two examples that might work.

Ben Langeveld & Ingmar Larsen

Creatives

Ben Langeveld and Ingmar Larsen are the founders of the One Hour Agency during Hyper Island Stockholm. As creatives at Silver + Partners New York, they created the NoPhone. Next to their work as creatives at 180 Amsterdam, they continued working on solutions for social issues. Resulting in, for example, 'Pakjesavond Voor Iedereen' a country wide exchange of Santaclaus gifts between strangers.

Bon Verweij

Neurosurgeon

Bon Verweij is a neurosurgeon at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. In a 23 hour long surgery he, and craniofacial surgeon Marvick Murrain, have implanted world’s first total cranial skull using 3D print and virtual reality technology. He tells us: 'Usually surgeons use conventional scans to visualize a 3D model of the patients brain to prepare for the surgery; they use their experience of the past to operate tomorrow’s patient. That is changing: I use a 3D print and virtual reality of you…. to practice and plan your surgery'.

Bright Richards

Artistic director New Dutch Connections

Bright O. Richards was a famous actor in Liberia before the war broke out. Arriving in the Netherlands as a young asylum seeker, he lost the platform that he was used to. For this reason, he decided to buy a pair of typically Dutch wooden shoes. As a result, he became known as 'The African on wooden shoes'. These shoes gave him back his platform: people in the streets would come up to him, start conversations with him and they always heard him walking by.

Chris Bárez-Brown

Author, speaker and founder of 'Upping Your Elvis'

Best-selling author and speaker Chris Baréz-Brown has a rather unusual view of the world: he knows that everybody is perfect. Unfortunately, as we grow up we develop and socialise and we often lose touch with that brilliance and can become somebody we’re not. Chris has worked with thousands of people and has come to one conclusion; creative success comes from tapping your innate genius and not from tools, techniques and clever business process. Chris founded ‘Upping Your Elvis’ in 2009 to help people reconnect with their inner genius and once again become confident in being who they truly are. Although that may seem rather hippie to some, his results produce tangible returns on investment for companies such as The Nike Foundation, Unilever and Diageo, who come back time and again for his unique and energetic approach to transforming their people and their businesses. The Guardian recently described Chris as 'a long haired, twinkly eyed cross between Richard Branson and a wizard'.

David van Bodegom

Medical doctor, ageing researcher and best-selling author

David van Bodegom is a medical doctor and historian, now working as an ageing scientist at knowledge center Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing. David left his medical practice because he believes he can best serve people’s health in the public space. Together with professor Rudi Westendorp, he wrote 'A Guide for Growing Older’ (2015), presenting a unique approach to living longer and staying healthy.


Egge van der Poel

Data scientist

With a PhD in Elementary Particle Physics, his experience in consulting and hands-on knowledge about the value of data analytics Egge van der Poel ties the (future) possibilities of data analytics to the current needs of professionals.

Esther-Clair Sasabone

Co-founder of Bureau Sterrenstof, presenter, writer

On the 1st of June 2007 Esther-Clair participated in The Big Donorshow. The tv show was a hoax, her story was real. Her kidney troubles began at the age of three and she now has her 4th donor kidney. She recently made a children’s book in which she used her experiences as a child with a chronic disease. This story is about Steven Starman. A little boy with a big dream: he wants to travel outer space in his selfmade rocket. But then his kidneys fail! Will he still be able to follow his dream? But it is also a story about Esther-Clair. How she coped with a chronic disease from her childhood up until now. And how she wrote a book about it. Using a little boy named Steven. Esther-Clair: “It’s about a miraculous journey and how I found honesty, determination and passion.”

Femke Groothuis

Wavemaker

Femke Groothuis is a wavemaker. A political scientist specialised in International Relations and Environment. She’s Director of The Ex’tax Project, a think-tank on the tax system of the 21st century. And believe it or not, she will make you see the beauty of tax. ‘Our tax system holds the key to an inclusive and circular economy. A smart tax shift from labour to resource use enables growth based on the abundantly available capacities and ingenuity of people, rather than the extraction of resources from nature.’ Believe it or not, she will make you see the beauty of tax.

Guido Braam

Co-founder Powered by Meaning

Guido Braam was co-founder and Executive Director of Circle Economy. As co-founder of several impact driven companies like Outside.inc, We Beat The Mountain, Next2Company, Kirkman Company and YSE he wants to expand Powered by Meaning with a strong belief that shared value and circular entrepreneurship will be the new normal. Braam: “The circular economy concept provides a tempting perspective to solve these issues. In the last years we have seen new business models, cool innovations and first circular successes. We are in the early stage of development, so the quest is to speed up the process from rhetoric to reality, from concept to practice. Let’s go!”

Ine Gevers

Artistic director - curator

Ine Gevers is curator, writer and activist. She curated 'IK + de Ander. Art and the Human' which received international acclaim and recognition. The widely successful large scale exhibition 'Niet Normaal' was shown in Amsterdam, Berlin and Liverpool between 2009 and 2012. 'Ja Natuurlijk. How art saves the world' in 2013 offered an upbeat prognosis, melding nature, technology and culture in the Anthropocene. Ine Gevers currently prepares the expanded art event 'Hacking Habitat, Art of Control' in Utrecht, with Life Hack Marathons in 2015 and a large scale exhibition in 2016.

Introduction Video

On the 27th of January a TEDx event was hosted in Utrecht with the theme of Let('s) Go!

Jeroen Komen

Couchsurfing backpacker with a plane

When his company matured to 25 employees, Jeroen Komen stepped aside to devote more time to his passions: flying and photography. In the last six years he has inspired many people, flying his little experimental propeller plane to 40 European countries to surf couches and visit extraordinary people. His 1000 hours in an experimental propeller plane led to an overview that can help you choose when to lift off by letting go, and when to approach with focus and control. You too will definitely see parallels that can pilot your life to personal freedom. Komen: “Start flying, stop braking and keep going. If you do so you actually will fly and experience freedom and the most beautiful views. Be the pilot of your own life”

Lex Empress

The empress of improvisation

Lex Empress has been an effervescent star in the international dance music scene for many years. She is the MC and main vocalist for the Mysteryland and Sensation events and worked with many artists all over the world. In addition to her festival stage performances she is an in-demand vocalist and improviser. She is known for her unique musical improvisations, which she does in five languages, English, Italian, Dutch, French, and Portuguese. For Lex, a life full of improvisation is a life of happiness. By embracing each moment and letting go of all doubt, one can cast out fear and live life to the fullest. Central to her musical and life philosophy is the current moment, the “now”. Lex Empress is accompanied by Gilian Baracs, pianist of amongst others Wicked Jazz Sounds and GLXYCHLD.

Luk Dewulf

Talent whisperer and author

What is talent? How do you discover your talent? What is the difference between ‘talent’ and ‘talent in action’? How can you develop skills to use your talent more effectively? And… how to deal with your weaknesses? Luk Dewulf gives an answer to all these questions and will help the audience discover their own talents, based on daily life examples and experiences. Luk Dewulf is Master in Educational Sciences. As an independent consultant, he gives strategic advice on talent development in organisations. He is both a strengths and a burn-out coach. He has written bestsellers on talent and burn-out. He is frequently invited to give lectures and key-notes, both in Belgium and abroad.

Marieke Poelmann

Journalist

Marieke Poelmann wrote a book about losing her parents in the airplane crash in Tripoli in 2010. “It took me several years to see that bad things in life don't necessarily define you as a person. When I suddenly lost both of my parents at 22, I thought my life was over too. Finally, I realized that there is one part of them I could never loose: the part that is in me. Slowly I got back onto my own two feet, gained strength and became an adult. In this process, against all my expectations, good things started happening again. I got to be who I wanted to be. It brought me far beyond anything I had ever imagined.” Poelmann is a writer and a freelance journalist. She studied Media and Journalism at the University of Amsterdam and worked as a producer for the Dutch news and current affairs program ‘Nieuwsuur’ in New York. Currently she is writing her second book, a fiction novel.

Mei Nelissen

The Blue Battery. Biology Student. Chosen One of TEDxUtrecht Talentstage.

Nineteen year old Mei Nelissen is studying Biology. In her final year of high school, she did a research project with Lotte van der Velde and Eline Jagtenberg and in cooperation with Wetsus, which has led to the invention of The Blue Battery. The Blue Battery enables us to store and generate electrical energy safely and sustainable. Therefore sustainable energy can be even more sustainable and we can all have power over our driving force: electricity.

Raphael Fellmer

Changemaker, Writer 'Glücklich ohne Geld', founder Yunity

In 2010, a moneyless journey from the Netherlands to Mexico became a turning point in the life of Raphael Fellmer. A backpack for the journey was the last thing he bought. Back in Berlin Raphael continued his money-strike for five years, together with his wife and their two children. He established the foodsaving network against food waste that has already saved more than 2.5 million kilograms of food distributed from 1600 businesses.

Robin Berg

Founder LomboxNet

Robin Berg of LomboXnet is a true innovator. With his company he makes innovations accessible for inhabitants of the Lombok neighborhood in Utrecht, like speed internet access via optical fiber since 2005. For several years now, Berg is also working on smart solutions for mobility, in which solar energy is used. In Lombok, Utrecht Berg started several initiatives to make use of solar energy. One of the initiatives is ‘Smart Solar Charging’, the first sunpower-controlled charging station en V2G-system in the world. This project makes use of the sun to charge electric cars and at night the car battery can also be slowly depleted. The charging station works almost on 100 % solar energy. The initiative of the Smart Solar Charging in Lombok might be small, but is reusable in other parts of the world. Berg will keep innovating with new technology. ” Making use of the sun with new technology is necessary to keep the world a good place to live.”

Robin Berg

‎Lead Concept & Innovation at Triple IT

Robin Berg of LomboXnet is a true innovator. With his company he makes innovations accessible for inhabitants of the Lombok neighborhood in Utrecht, like speed internet access via optical fiber since 2005. For several years now, Berg is also working on smart solutions for mobility, in which solar energy is used. In Lombok, Utrecht Berg started several initiatives to make use of solar energy. One of the initiatives is ‘Smart Solar Charging’, the first sunpower-controlled charging station en V2G-system in the world. This project makes use of the sun to charge electric cars and at night the car battery can also be slowly depleted. The charging station works almost on 100 % solar energy.

Ronald Rietveld

Owner RAAAF, Architect

With his RAAAF‐collective, achitect and Prix de Rome winner Ronald Rietveld operates at the cutting edge of architecture, art and philosophy. Rietveld’s work has been published worldwide and has been exhibited at major art and architecture biennials such as Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Venice. At TEDxUtrecht Rietveld will show what is possible if we let go of existing conventions. In our society almost the entire environment is designed for sitting, while medical research has shown that too much sitting is unhealthy. At RAAAF, Rietveld and artist Barbara Visser have developed a physical concept for the future workplace in which the chair and table are no longer the starting point. The End of sitting is a first step towards a future in which standing work the new norm.

Ruben Abels

Researcher, Designer

Ruben Abels is a designer at DesignArbeid, a research based design studio in Amsterdam that focuses on social issues. One of Design Arbeid’s primary objectives is to reflect on how we can maintain livable cities. In particular, to identify the concrete steps we can take as individuals to influence our surroundings and what kind of contribution new media and technology can make in this respect. Ruben Abels is member of the research group Image in Context of Minerva Art Academy in Groningen and design lecturer at HKU, University of the Arts, Utrecht.

Scott Kennedy

CEO of OpenLabel, adviser, writer

OpenLabel CEO Scott Kennedy explains how global commerce is undergoing a dramatic transformation, affecting a wide range of issues from the environment to politics to human rights. OpenLabel is the social impact project named a ‘Top 100 Innovative Company’ by Entrepreneur Magazine. Besides his work as CEO of this company, Scott is also an advisor at The Impact Hub, an alumni of Founder’s Den, and a frequent writer and public speaker. Scott was previously CEO of Axcelis where he developed artificial intelligence software.

Tijl Koenderink

Founder Feniks Talent

Almost a dropout, Tijl Koenderink embarked on a world journey to find out how learning and the mind works traveling across the world. Most recently he founded organisations that help schoolteachers cater to the gifted. In addition he co-founded a new public school in Amsterdam focused on talent development and he runs a gifted dropout recovery center.

Tijmen Schep

Creative lead SETUP Medialab

Tijmen Schep of the SETUP medialab, playfully challenges us to think deeper about technology. Tijmen (1981) has spent the last two years creating projects that challenge society to ask difficult questions about the future of privacy, surveillance and power. At TEDx you can learn how Tijmen came to puzzle together ‘The National Birthday Calendar’, a database of all (!) Dutch people. Twenty big data experts spent their weekends hacking it together, by scraping and puzzling the data they could find online. Often baffled at how easy it turned out to be, and how much they could find. It’s a story of crime, intrigue, suspense…and it’s all about you! Our advice: especially if you have an account at Schoolbank.nl, check this talk out! Tijmen: “Let’s go people, stroll along the data-stream, staring up at the Cloud, all watched over by machines of loving grace.”