Theme: shrink BIG, GROW small

Does getting more always mean growing?
Does reducing obligations mean losing something?

We're often overwhelmed with the amount of information around us and we tend to generalise, but by losing sight of seemingly insignificant details we can distort the true picture. At the same time, shedding irrelevant information and beliefs are sometimes the key to what's essential. TEDxTUWien will help you to see your accustomed views from a perspective other than your own.

Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Vienna
Karlsplatz 13
Vienna, Wien, 1040
Austria

Elma Hot

Scientist and Entrepreneur

“If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live!”, Albert Einstein once predicted. In fact, experts are currently observing an alarming decline of bees’ colonies all over the world. Elma Hot is a software engineer who loves both, science and bees. Hence, she is trying to support beekeepers with state-of-the-art technology in BeeAnd.me, a monitoring system for bees. Her smart beehives measure the collected amount of honey, the bees’ health (through sound), as well as local humidity and temperature. Elma is very excited about the numerous possibilities data mining offers and wants to make us aware of the life-threatening situation bees have to face. After attending the University of Montenegro, Elma Hot is currently researching at the TU Wien, trying to prevent the extinction of bees with the help of her World Summit Award rewarded application.

Evgenia Gameova & Stoycho Mihaylov feat. Max Sukaly Moody

Evgenia Gameova was intrigued early by her passion for dancing and fulfilled her dream of being a professional dancer on various occasions. She performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna, was a background dancer with Enrique Iglesias, ran her own dance theatre projects in Rabenhof, travelled around Europe to give workshops and participated in many dance battles. B-Girl Gameova shows us that hearing well is not necessary to let beats and rhythm flow into your body and dance like you are one with the music. Together with Bboy named Stoycho Mihaylov, who as well gained a lot of battle experiences in recent years but moved to Vienna to continue working as a Web Developer, they gave us an incredible breakdance performance at TEDxTUWien 2018. The dancers were accompanied by DJ Max Sukaly Moody, who’s music is „a tool to communicate and bring differences together“. His unique music style always makes a splendid impression bringing out emotions, good feelings and joy.

George Nimeh

Online Marketing Guru

George Nimeh is the CEO of NIMEH & Partners, the agency for changing times. Founded in 2016, his startup combines strategy, innovation, content marketing, research, and product development for businesses seeking to succeed in modern times. With funding from Google’s Digital News Initiative, NIMEH & Partners is also working on NewsGenie, a millennial media project. George is also currently earning an eMBA at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership thanks in part to winning the first INMA Scholarship offered at the school. Earlier in his career, George served as Chief Digital Officer at KURIER where he won the WAN-IFRA World Digital Media Award for “Best Digital Advertising Campaign 2015”. He was the first Digital Director and Editor-in-Chief at Red Bull. He has held leadership positions at CBS-backed iwon.com, iris Worldwide and NYTimes.com.

Johannes M. Schleicher

Expert in Smart City Ecosystems

Johannes M. Schleicher is a founding partner and the heart of JadeMind, where he crafts simple solutions for complex problems by applying cutting-edge technologies. During his research at the TU Wien, he focused on Smart Cities and the Internet of Things. His research has been published in several high-ranking journals and conferences. He believes that impossible is just a matter of perspective and that it is essential to think big, no matter how small things grow. The rising number of small connected devices, paired with the rapid evolution of computing capabilities, changes our perspective on the environment. By using the example of Smart Cities and the Internet of Things, Johannes will explain how the pervasion of computing alters our understanding of complex systems. However, only if we manage to think big, we will be able to tap into the full potential of this new understanding.

Kathrin Weiland

Scientist

After finishing her bachelor studies at the University of Würzburg, Kathrin Weiland is now a master student at the University of Vienna focussing on materials science. Her project combines her passion for environment, animals, and chemistry. Due to the increasing demand for animal products, such as meat and milk, economic and environmental problems caused by animal waste, especially manure, are tremendous. Additionally, both, storage and further handling are expensive and have a high impact on our planet. Yet for Kathrin, this material is pure gold. She wants to show how to gain value-added products from manure since this raw material is so much more than just a bad smelling dilemma.

Martina Hagspiel

Founder of Kurvenkratzer

Martina Hagspiel is creative, brimming with life and sanguine about her research. In her talk, she tackles one of the most current taboos our society has to face – cancer. True to the motto “life is better when you smile”, she takes us on a journey and reveals that the little things in life make big things happen. Martina is a renown communicator, a systemic coach and has been in charge of the marketing and communication department at the ÖGV since October 2016. Besides, she initiated the project “Kurvenkratzer” with the main aim to inform people about the emotional hardships related to cancer and to overcome prejudices. Brief video-interviews of cancer patients, relatives and healthcare professionals proved conducive to minimizing stigmata. Martina Hagspiel is regarded as an influencer in this innovative field and was honored with the “My Aid Award” in Vienna in 2017.

Metin Hara

Teacher & Seminar Trainer

Metin Hara is an author, a teacher and a seminar trainer. He studied at Istanbul University, Capa Faculty of Medicine. The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, where he was associated with, has adopted an effective school of treatment – supporting the very sick patients on the path to recovery. The power of love and thought are key elements in this technique. Hara highlights, “Every day, we are overwhelmed with expectations, rules, appropriate social roles, challenges, and instructions. ‘You are not enough!’ is conveyed from everywhere and creates an epidemic of hurt people. What would you say if I told you that your heartbeat could change the world? It seems impossible, right?” On 5th of May, we will experience the process of discovering the true potential of our hearts. Let us follow a single heartbeat, to hear the tale of the humankind…

Miriam Unterlass

Scientist

Miriam Unterlass studied chemistry, materials science and process engineering. She holds a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry and after a postdoc in the field of polymer physics at ESPCI in Paris, she moved to TU Wien. There she established her junior research group “Advanced Organic Materials” crafting a connection between the Institute of Materials Chemistry and the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry. Classical polymerization conditions consume high amounts of energy and employ toxic and expensive solvents and catalysts. In contrast to this methodology, Miriam aims to generate high-performance materials through non-classical, hydrothermal processes using water as the only reaction medium. These eco-friendly techniques enable the synthesis of interesting polymers with unprecedented properties and crystallinity. This year Miriam is going to share her ideas about polymers, especially for high-performance applications, at TEDxTUWien.

Paul Klanschek

Founder of Bitpanda

Paul Klanschek first heard of Bitcoin back in 2010 and has been fascinated by the impact of blockchain technology on the financial sector and other industries ever since. In 2014, he co-founded, what would four years later become the leading Bitcoin exchange in Europe – Bitpanda. Paul is well-established within the global crypto community and was as an advisor for popular digital currency projects like NXT, Waves, Lisk, Komodo, and more. Presumably, everybody has come across the terms blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin, yet most of us are still wondering what these terms mean and how these technologies will influence our everyday lives. No matter if you are a cyber-expert or a rookie, you will be surprised how blockchain technology is going to turn our established systems upside down – in every respect!

Rocky & Knostl

The bards of sunshine. A ukulele accompanies Rocky's voice, wich is characterized by the cheerful lightness of his Californian homeland. Konsul is writing and performing German freestysle raps, straight away, a diverse mixture of evergreens and Rocky's own songs. When he's not singing, he pushes the flow by beatboxing. If you live in Vienna, you might be lucky on your way home from work, as Rocky and Konsul are regulars at the 'U-Bahn-Stars'! They always inspire spontaneous dance performances in the audience and pedestrians are put in a good mood, guaranteed.

Seneit Debese

Social Entrepreneur

Seneit Debese founded the Greta & Starks apps which are designed to be the one solution for film reception for people with no or low vision, for hard of hearing and deaf individuals and for an international audience – 813 million people worldwide! The idea is to create a unity of humanity that transcends borders, especially for the physically disabled. This idea allows those affected a more independent life and better integration into society. She believes that we all are role models and that we only need to start acting accordingly. Come and share the adventure of Seneit Debese’s journey to success. Discover the highs and lows she has been through in establishing and then managing a profitable business that offers an invaluable service to people less fortunate than ourselves. Don’t miss a chance to listen to her story on the stage of TEDxTUWien.

Thaalavattam Project

The motto is 'reduce reuse retune' and the vision is to CLEAN THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH MUSIC. Thaalavattam is a project and an experience. It might be at the center of it, but it's mainly about collaborative work, not just with musicians, but also with visual artists and designers from all fields who have the passion to experiment and create. For nearly 5 years now, Thaalavattam has been touring EUROPE. "If we take care of our Mother Earth, she will always take care of us and our future generations to come."

Theresa Steininger

Entrepreneur

Theresa Steininger, director and co-founder of WOHNWAGON, is a go-getting spirit with her head in the clouds and her feet down-to-earth. Due to her master´s program in corporate management and her considerable experience in marketing, she has the knowledge and tools to implement her ideas “on the ground”. In her speech, she is going to show us various inspiring showcase projects for a self-sufficient future. In 2013, “Wohnwagon” was the first Austrian company that was successfully founded with the help of a crowd-funding campaign. The goal is self-sufficient living by occupying the smallest amount of space possible. Key questions concerning this new form of autarky are: Which new concepts allow affordable and comfortable dwelling for everyone? Which elements do these concepts base on? And what is vital when it comes to living in a minimal amount of space?

Verena Wagner

Verena Wagner, singer/songwriter from Vienna and Kärnten. In November 2017 she released her single "Windrad", with our any manager or label, to see what would happen. In fact, quite a lot happened since then: her songs are now regularly broadcasted on national radio stations. Moreover she performed on the popular TV show "Guten Morgen Österreich". Backed by this overwhelming positive feedback she is currently working on the release of her first EP.

Wolfgang Wagner

University Lecturer Geoinformation Expert

Wolfgang Wagner is the head of the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation at TU Wien. His research enabled him to work at the German Aerospace Agency, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He is a co-founder and head of science of the Earth Observation Data Centre for Water Resources Monitoring (EODC) at the TU Wien. He always lived the culture of sharing knowledge and research data. In the end, this mindset contributed significantly to his success in Geoscience. His research focuses on the work with satellite data to study how the Earth is changing. This has led to several free and open data services. Wolfgang Wagner will show us how the sharing of data, software, and hardware will advance earth observation science and its applications. This talk will motivate scientists around the world to pursue the pathway of sharing to achieve groundbreaking success in future science. Let us remind ourselves, that „Sharing is caring!“