14 December 2017
Madrid Headquarters
Under the shared Focus motto, five speakers from very different backgrounds but who share high aspirations and the same pursuit of excellence, gave TEDx talks on what assuming the challenge to inspire others involves. The event was held at DBSMadrid on 14 December.
The speakers, Judge Eloy Velasco of the National High Court; the PP Deputy, Javier Maroto; University of Deusto lecturer and researcher, Begoña G. Zapirain; millennial entrepreneur, Pablo González and the Secretary General of the CEOE (confederation of employers’ organisations), Ana Plaza, were in the limelight at the thirdTEDxUDeustoMadrid talks.
Presented by Iñaki Ortega, Director of DBSMadrid and the TEDx organiser and managing partner of LTC, it was held round an innovative 360º stage where the first speaker was Ana Plaza, Secretary General of the CEOE.
This business executive highlighted the importance of growth being fair for all and delivered her message with a story about one of her trips to Nepal. Her conclusion was that each and every one of us should take control of our responsibility to build a better world.
The next speaker, Judge Eloy Velasco, alerted of the new dangers involved in using the new technologies and the rights needed to fight against them. Velasco underscored the need to once again become owners of our personal data. More often than we know, they are in the hands of third parties who might know more about us than we do ourselves.
The following speaker was Pablo González, the 23 year-old founder of the platform, Pangea. This platform aims to identify young talent to locate similar people who have different profiles but share a passion or project. González explained what led him to create the platform and emphasised his firm conviction that age is not what determines how young a potential project participant is. In his opinion, regardless of age, the main thing is to achieve a better world.
University of Deusto lecturer Begoña G. Zapirain followed the millennial entrepreneur as the next speaker. Lecturer and researcher in the field of health sciences, she explained one of the projects she has led by drawing parallels with the series Game of Thrones. It consists of co-creating with the elderly in a nursing home to make a series of games that enable them to do fun sport in a more efficient manner.
The PP Deputy,Javier Maroto, was the last speaker at this TEDxUDeustoMadrid event. He explained the risks of politicians becoming “deaf and blind” if they delegate contact with the man on the street to their teams. He highlighted that, given the so called "new politics", what really matters is good politics.
TED
TED, a prestigious initiative begun in the United States, looks to function as a sounding board through talks. The aim is to explore scientific, business, cultural or social ideas that could accelerate progress and improve people's lives.
“TED” stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, three broad areas that are shaping our future. In fact, the event also accommodates a wider thematic field, showing “ideas that are worth explaining” from any discipline. TED events have been attended by (executives, scientists, creators, philanthropists, etc.), who are almost as extraordinary as the speakers. To mention some: Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono. TED was first held in Monterrey, California in 1984. In 2001, Chris Anderson’s “Sapling Foundation” bought TED from its founder, Richard Saul Wurman. In recent years, TED has expanded to include an international conference in the UK, TEDGlobal; a parallel conference to its TED event in Long Beach, TEDActive in Palm Springs; content initiatives, including the TED Talks, TED.com; and the TED award.
TEDx and TEDxUDeustoMadrid
TED created a programme named TEDx to spread the most interesting ideas. This is a local conference programme, organised independently and voluntarily to enable people in different countries to enjoy an experience similar to TED conferences. Promoted by a group of people linked to the University of Deusto, TEDxUDeustoMadrid aims to be an inspiration to help in spreading the example of speakers from very diverse fields, ages and experience who share the same high aspirations and pursuit of excellence in what they do.
