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).

Arenberg Schouwburg
Arenbergstraat 28
Antwerpen, Antwerpen (nl), 2000
Belgium

Aniana Taelman

Entrepreneur and Writer

Aniana Taelman grew up in West-Flanders in Belgium. Aniana studied languages (Translation and Interpreting) in Ghent, after which she build a career in Human Resources in several international professional services companies such as Accenture, Ernst & Young, and DLA Piper. She later transitioned into the field of Communications and Public Relations out of personal interest. Being a entrepreneurial self starter, she specifically selected her managerial jobs in which innovative transformation was needed and in which she could motivate her teams to a higher level of performance. In 2014, she left corporate life in order to fully dedicate her time to creating her own brand: Aniana Taelman, a Writer with a Mission. Therefore she has focused all her energy over the past three years on writing her debut, which will be published in the beginning of 2019 and which is the first book of her autobiographical trilogy.

Charlotte McDonald-Gibson

Author and Foreign Correspondent

Charlotte McDonald-Gibson is the author of Cast Away: Stories of Survival from Europe’s Refugee Crisis, which was published to critical acclaim in 2016. The book tells the story of the refugee crisis through the eyes of five individuals forced to flee their homes. Her work was nominated for four awards, including the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. A foreign correspondent with more than 15 years’ experience, Charlotte has reported from three continents for a wide range of international media. She was based in Brussels for five years, reporting on the European Union for TIME magazine and other publications. She is now based in The Hague and continues to report on European affairs, migration, extremism, and the rise of populism for TIME and others.

Cyriel Kortleven

Creativity Booster

Cyriel stimulates people to break rigid thinking patterns and inspires them to unleash their full potential. He spends an average of around 100 days a year on the road, pushing his (almost) 20 years of hands-on experience in the domain of creativity and innovation, Cyriel is a Global Speaker Fellow, the author of 5 different books and is the first Belgian Certified Professional Speaker, with only 750 CSP's in the world. A digital nomad in every sense of the word, he is out to change your mindset and free what lies beyond.

Dalilla Hermans

Writer, Coach, Journalist

Dalilla Hermans is a wife and a mother of three young children. She is also the author of the autobiographical novel Brief aan Cooper en de wereld, the children's book Brown Girl Magic. She also contributed to the anthology Black. She is a columnist for De Standaard and editor for Charlie Magazine. She became a public figure by participating in a popular game show on the Flemish TV in 2017. That same year she was the most googled person in Belgium. She uses her platform to give lectures and coaching on racism, discrimination, and representation, and tries to ignite public debate about these topics in Flanders. This earned her the titles of opinion-maker and activist, but she sees herself as a mother, writer, and journalist first and foremost. She was born in Rwanda, but adopted by Flemish parents.

Dirk Neefs

Dentist

Dirk is not your typical dentist. He had a quiet life in Antwerp, but decided to expand his vision, so he moved to Barcelona in 2002. In 2006, he went to live in Asturias, in the north of Spain. He has not stopped flying on a regular basis to Belgium to keep contact with his kids, family, and friends, and he is still affiliated with two dental clinics in Antwerp. Dirk is also a member of the apoQlar Medical Advisory Board, who are developing surgical and dental applications for the Microsoft Hololens. In between his work and the travelling, he still has found some time to give some lectures all over Europe (Nice, Valencia, Dublin, Bilbao). He has cases published in text books and on the site of TRI Dental Implants in Switzerland.

Julie Foulon

Founder & Community Leader

Julie is the founder of Girleek.net, a platform that talks about new technologies to an audience of women. Girleek is breaking the stigma that only men belong in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. For three years, she was the Managing Director of BetaGroup, the largest tech community in Belgium. Gathering over 400 people every month for their networking events. After one year as Community Leader in one of the biggest incubators in Belgium, she co-founded MolenGeek. This Incubator and Coding school wants to make new technologies and entrepreneurship accessible to everyone, including people with no academic background or IT skills.

Liliana Carrillo

Social and Digital Entrepreneur

Liliana Carrillo is a social and digital entrepreneur, with several master diplomas in computer science, artificial intelligence, and business. Liliana has lived in 4 different countries, speaks 5 languages, and loves travelling and getting to know new people and cultures. Liliana is a curious and creative lifelong learner, eager to learn, passionate about several topics related to humans and technology. Her personal mission is to create awareness of methodologies and technologies that can enable our collective intelligence, improve our society, and increase the sense of co-responsibility in our communities. To build a better future with prosperity for all Liliana has chosen to work/play with kids, and work/play with high tech.

Loulou Van Ravensteijn

Founder ChangeAutomation

Loulou is founder of ChangeAutomation. She studied environmental engineering, political science, and business administration at Wageningen University and Imperial College London, but she felt a strong pull toward the world of technology. Since four years now, she has worked in various sales and strategy positions at leading Artificial Intelligence startups in London, Amsterdam, and Gent.

Maarten Weyn

Entrepreneur, Teacher, PhD in CS

Maarten Weyn received his PhD in Computer Science on the topic of Opportunistic Seamless Localization from the University of Antwerp. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Antwerp, currently teaching the 3rd year bachelor courses Mobile Communication and Telecommunication. He is also the professor in the Master courses Communication Systems, and Internet of Things: Low Power Embedded Communication in the department of Applied Sciences: Electronics-ICT, and in the postgraduate Internet of Things (IoT), the course on Context Aware Wireless Embedded Systems. Maarten is an instructor at the LoraWAN Academy on the topic of localization. He is lecturer in a few courses on Coursera on Embedded IoT systems. His research in the imec-IDlab research group focuses on ultra-low power sensor communication and embedded systems, sub 1-Ghz communication, sensor processing and localization. Maarten is part of the television program Team Scheire at CANVAS.

Mark Esposito

Professor and Bestselling Author

Mark Esposito is a Professor of Business, Government, Society, Economic Strategy, and Competitiveness for Harvard University's Division of Continuing Education, where he also serves as Institute Council Co-Leader, at the Microeconomics of Competitiveness program (MOC) at the Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness, at Harvard Business School. Mark has been appointed as a global expert for the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the World Economic Forum, where he contributed to five cross disciplinary reports and worked with the Forum on Accelerating the Circular Economy as well as in the Future of Production.

Sarah Baatout

Head of Radiobiology at SCK-CEN

Sarah Baatout is head of the radiobiology unit at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK•CEN) in Mol, Belgium. The unit evaluates the potential risks of ionizing radiation on health and conducts radiation risk assessments for occupational, accidental, medical, or space radiation exposure. The work is performed in close collaboration with the European Commission, the European Space Agency, Belgian and European Universities, and hospitals and research institutes. Besides this, Sarah is a guest-professor at Ghent University and maître de conférence at the University of Namur. She is also a member of the Belgian delegation at United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and of the High Council for Health. In 2018, she received the BeSpace personality of the year award and was recognized by Femmes d’Aujourdhui as one of the 85 women that make Belgium move.

Tom Van Minsel

Raven VR Founder & CEO

Tom is the CEO of RAVEN, Benelux's largest Virtual Reality corporate center. A jack of all trade, Tom has had an atypical career. His first professional years were spent developing expertise in the field of Horeca and have allowed him to develop very unique skills: multitasking under stress, providing great costumer service in impossible situations, improvising when disaster strikes and staging a unique "ambiance". An avid video gamer, Tom quickly developed a taste for software development and after some IT studies, decided to start his own game development studio that he ran for … years. After an event that is covered in his talk, Tom decided to flip his life around and to become a fully fledged entrepreneur of a venture with global ambition. He now runs RAVEN with an iron first in a velvet glove and is recognized as an expert in the field of location based VR entertainment

Vincent Buyssens

Digital Strategist

Vincent Buyssens is a digital nomad who uses the power of social media to mobilize people and give transformative ideas a larger platform. He brought 16,000 Pokémon Go players to the Zoo of Antwerp using just Facebook and has a knack for making things go viral. As a digital strategist at the ad agency Friendship, he helps brands unbore life on social media. He mobilized fans worldwide to save his favorite TV show (Jeff Bezos himself did it!).

Wahid Ahmad

Intercultural Mediator

Wahid Ahmadi was forced to become a refugee for the first time in his life in 1994, after a bomb was dropped on a local mosque in his neighbourhood. He and his family fled to Iran, and it wasn’t until 2001 when they could go back to their own country, Afghanistan. After falling victim of a trap promoting the extreme version of Islam, he was able to get out and find his way thanks to his father’s constant care and attention. He then decided to study English and to travel. In 2014, he left his country and started a new life. Nowadays, he lives in Antwerp with his wife and daughter. He works at Fedasil, the Federal Agency for the reception of asylum seekers, as Intercultural Mediator. He has a bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Masters in Management.