Theme: Crossroads & Crosslinks. Digital Society

In what way did and will our social life, our ways of perception and communication change in the light of a proceeding digitalization? In what extend will new media reshape our perception, consciousness and life forms? What will a fully digitalized society look like? What are the great future possibilities, what are the challenges and risks? Will our perception and world outlook as well as our social life be more rich and expanded or in the end even more restricted and uniform?

Our speakers and performers will challenge us to think bigger when it comes to the aspects of our common digital future. TEDxFrankfurt is dedicated to explore the benefits and downsides of digitalization from a national and international perspective in the areas of health, cities and mobility, identities, arts and cultures, politics as well as economic development.

Palais Frankfurt
Große Eschenheimer Straße 10
Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, 60313
Germany

Andreea Sultan

Andrew Bastawrous

Andrew Bastawrous is an Ophthalmologist (Eye Surgeon) and Clinical Lecturer in International Eye Health based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has worked and undertaken research in Sierra Leone, Peru, Belize, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Uganda and has recently returned from living in Kenya where he was leading a major eye disease study and the development and testing of Peek, the Portable Eye Examination Kit, a new smartphone based tool to detect eye diseases in the worlds most challenging areas.

Christoph Krachten

Christoph Krachten founded the “VideoDays”, one of the most successful youth culture events of our time. He has organized Europe’s largest gathering of online video producers and creators since 2011. The event, which originally was part of the Gamescom, takes place in Cologne and Berlin. After working as a television journalist and producer for many years (amongst others for WDR and RTL) Christoph recognized the potential of online videos as one of the first media professionals in Germany. Christoph Krachten is also a founder of Mediakraft Networks, a leading online video network in Europe. Since 2009, he has also hosted “Clixoom” which is the most successful science show on YouTube in Germany.

Dan Emodi

Leading Beyond Verbal marketing operator, Dan Emodi is a 18-year technology-marketing veteran of Cisco, Sheer Networks (acquired by Cisco), Orbotech and Comverse. Beyond Verbal has developed an innovative emotional analytics technology that is capable of extracting, in real-time, the full spectrum of human emotions from a person’s vocal intonation. Dan started his career as a sous-chef before moving to financial journalism, investment banking, technology pre-sales, and finally to marketing. Combining his diverse career background, Dan has developed an alternative point of view to the traditional mix of technology, engineering and marketing. Dan is a distinguished speaker and has appeared on CNN, quoted in the New York Times as well as countless on-line, printed and broadcasted media.

Elton Rivas

Serial entrepreneur and triathlete Elton Rivas is well versed in the challenges of launching a company. Elton is the founder/co-founder/advisor of businesses ranging from construction to footwear to tech start-ups. Elton has a background in corporate marketing, but left that world behind with a goal to reinvigorate the local business climate in Jacksonville, Florida. To that end, he has launched CoWork Jax, downtown Jacksonville’s first co-working space, and co-founded OneSpark, a six-day event for creators where they can connect with the people and resources they need to make their great ideas reality. One Spark is the World’s Largest Crowdfunding Festival.

Henrik Scharfe

Since 1999 Henrik Scharfe is employed at Aalorg University, Denmark, as PhD fellow, Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor (2012). From 2008-13, he has served as the Director of Center for Computer-mediated Epistemology at AAU. His diverse career includes contributions to seemingly distinct research areas such as: Narratology, AI / Knowledge Representation, Persuasive Design, Human Centered Robotics, and Research Infrastructures. The common denominator in these efforts is his determination to understand different aspects of human understanding, specifically how technology influences the way we think about ourselves and our world. Dr. Scharfe has served as reviewer, editorial member, and advisor to governments and research councils in equally diverse fields.

Keira Haavens

Biotechnology is a fascinating and complex field, but it is often portrayed as a parody of itself - a scientist in lab coat and glasses, holding a syringe of blue liquid at a bench in an industrial clean room. Keira Havens is a scientist with a love for beauty, and as CEO of Revolution Bioengineering she has combined the two by making flowers that change color throughout the day. In her talk, she shares her vision of a vibrant and stunning future made possible through responsible innovation and the integration of computation, engineering, and biology. Keira wants to shatter some stereotypes, and inspire people to learn how beautiful biotechnology can be!

Keira Havens

Biotechnology is a fascinating and complex field, but it is often portrayed as a parody of itself - a scientist in lab coat and glasses, holding a syringe of blue liquid at a bench in an industrial clean room. Keira Havens is a scientist with a love for beauty, and as CEO of Revolution Bioengineering she has combined the two by making flowers that change color throughout the day. In her talk, she shares her vision of a vibrant and stunning future made possible through responsible innovation and the integration of computation, engineering, and biology. Keira wants to shatter some stereotypes, and inspire people to learn how beautiful biotechnology can be!

Kenneth Cukier

Kenneth Cukier is the Data Editor of The Economist and co-author of “Big Data: A Revolution That Transforms How We Live, Work and Think,” a bestseller translated into 21 languages. He serves on the board of directors of International Bridges to Justice, a Geneva-based NGO promoting legal rights in developing countries. He is on the advisory board of the Daniel Pearl Foundation.

Michael Schulte

Michael started off his career as a YouTube cover artist in 2009. His most successful cover "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye has been viewed over 4.4 million times so far and so it was only a matter of time until established musicians became aware of Michael's talent. In 2011, Rea Garvey checked his Channel, invited him to a gig at “Kieler Woche Festival” and finally they wrote the song "Carry Me Home", which directly hit Nr. 8 of the German Single Charts. His first studio album "Wide Awake" – with 12 original songs - was released in September 2012 and debuted at number 1 in the “Media Control Newcomer Charts”. In 2013 Michael presented his Album during a Solo Acoustic Tour and at numerous festivals, including the “Reeperbahn Festival” in Hamburg. In just 11 Months, he played more than 50 – mainly sold out - Gigs.