The theme of TED2013 is “The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered.” So how did we find those undiscovered speakers with incredible stories to share?
From April to June 2012, TED held a worldwide talent search. Working with TEDx organizers in 14 cities across the globe — Amsterdam, Bangalore, Doha, Johannesburg, London, Nairobi, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Tunis and Vancouver — we held special salons to find the new voices you need to hear. Thousands applied to speak at these events and, in the end, 290+ speakers stormed the stage.
This February, thanks to this partnership between TED, TEDx organizers and big thinkers worldwide, 34 of these Talent Search speakers will appear on the TED2013 stage. In fact, these great talents comprise more than a third of our just-announced program. These speakers have energy, power and beautiful insights — and we can’t wait to hear them in action.
After the jump, the Talent Search speakers who will be speaking at TED2013:
- Phil Hansen, who’ll talk about his unusual art process, took the stage at TED@NY.
- Teenage inventor Richard Turere was discovered at TED@Nairobi.
- The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, who’ll show off their bluegrass chops, appeared at TED@NY.
- Alastair Parvin, of WikiHouse, spoke at TED@London
- Yo-yo champion BLACK appeared at TED@Tokyo.
- Lesley Perkes, who’ll talk about making renegade public art, spoke at TED@Johannesburg.
- Artist Liu Bolin, who will share his secret of invisibility, was discovered at TED@Shanghai.
- Young Jack Andraka, who has created a promising test for pancreatic cancer, first wowed us at TED@NY.
- Teenager Dong Woo Jang, who will share why he’s fascinated by ancient bows, spoke at TED@Seoul.
- Jinsop Lee, who’ll talk about designing for all five senses, also spoke at TED@Seoul.
- Kate Stone, who’ll talk about the promise of printing electronics, spoke at TED@Amsterdam
- Leyla Acaroglu who’ll answer the age-old question “Paper or plastic?” presented at TED@Sydney.
- Allan Savory, who’ll share how wildlife can bring dying grasslands back to life, came to us via TED@Johannesburg.
- Design visionary Yu “Jordy” Fu appeared at TED@Shanghai.
- Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao, finalists for Canada’s top student biotechnology award, spoke at TED@Vancouver.
- Michael Green, who imagines a wooden skyline, spoke at TED@Vancouver.
- Edible garden enthusiast Ron Finley also appeared at TED@Vancouver.
- Ajit Narayanan, who will share his grammar engine based on a visual language, spoke at TED@Bangalore.
- Mohamed Jemni, who has created an avatar that speaks sign language, shared the story at TED@Tunis.
- Saki Mafundikwa, who’ll share the intricacies of Afrikan writing, was at TED@Nairobi.
- John McWhorter suggests that that txting is a coherent language system. He tested this idea on us at TED@NY.
- Prime number fan Adam Spencer took the stage at TED@Sydney.
- James Lyne, who’ll talk to us about cryptography, spoke at TED@Amsterdam.
- Daniel Reisel, who’ll discuss the neuroscience of evil, spoke at TED@London.
- Kees Moeliker, whose life changed with a dead duck, spoke at TED@Amsterdam.
- Rose George, who’ll ask us to take toilets seriously, was at TED@London.
- Undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas spoke at TED@Nairobi.
- Ji-Hae Park, who’ll talk about the joy of the violin, took the stage at TED@Seoul.
- Hyeonseo Lee, who made a harrowing escape from North Korea, appeared at TED@Seoul.
- Eleanor Longden, who’ll share what she’s learned from the voices in her head, was at TED@London.
- Christopher Ryan, who’ll ask “Why is sex such a big deal”?” spoke at TED@Vancouver.
- Philospher Daniel Ogilvie took the stage at TED@NY.
- Writer Joshua Prager, who’ll talk about his personal half-life, also was at TED@NY.
- And Orly Wahba, who’ll talk about the power of kindess, is a TED@NY alumni too.