Over the past year, TED has been traveling the world (literally!) in search of powerful ideas — and the people bold enough to share them.
The result? A 9-part series that pulls back the curtain on what it’s actually like to deliver a TED Talk.
In each episode, you’ll step into a new city and meet the speakers bringing their ideas to the red circle and competing for a spot on the main stage at TED2026 in Vancouver. You’ll go backstage with them into rehearsal rooms and witness the nerves, the breakthroughs and the moments when an idea finally comes into focus. From a rock balancer and a disability specialist to a whale scientist and a bad-breath researcher, see the people shaping the future in their own communities — and learn what it takes to bring those ideas to the TED stage.
Sydney: Inside a theatre tucked in a library, a whale scientist and an Olympian took center stage — a reminder that compelling ideas can come from anywhere (and anyone).
Mumbai: In this episode, speakers explore everything from rock balancing to healthcare innovation, reflecting the range of ideas that make it to the TED stage.
Athens: Athens has celebrated big ideas for millennia — and it’s still not done. From the science of bad breath to the factories of the future, this episode moves from the deeply personal to the forward-looking.
Lagos: With one of the most electric audiences of the series, Lagos delivered talks ranging from renewable energy to the art of tailoring that celebrates a small town’s craft.
London: From a civil engineer revealing the invisible infrastructure shaping our cities to a classical singer uncovering the erased history of women in music, the speakers in London prove that the most powerful ideas are both deeply personal and impossible to ignore.
Singapore: In Singapore, a diver-turned-ocean-restorer, a scientist growing building materials out of fungus, and a government insider reimagining public institutions make the case that the most transformative ideas are already taking root
Chicago: A chemist saving endangered species with precision medicine, a journalist building tools for hard conversations, a runner mapping every street of a divided city: these are the kinds of ideas 10 Chicagoans bring to the red circle.
Buenos Aires: In a warehouse full of opera sets, 10 speakers deliver ideas as bold Buenos Aires itself, from a reframing of “brain rot” as diplomacy to the future of robotic medicine.
Amman: Inside a 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater, a mountaineer who turned grief into motivation, a therapist rewriting the Arab world’s language around mental health and other incredible speakers make the case that the best ideas can come from anywhere.
Watch the full series of TED Idea Search on YouTube or TED.com.