First TEDxFulbrightDublin Focuses on Creativity and Innovation

The first ever TEDxFulbrightDublin took place in Smock Alley Theatre on Saturday and took the theme ‘Creativity and Innovation’ ahead of World Creativity and Innovation Week, which begins on 15 April.

Hosted by the Fulbright Commission, the event attracted speakers and performers from around the world, including Sweden, the US, and the UK.

TED, which started in 1984 as a conference on technology, entertainment, and design, seeks to share good ideas on all topics through short, but contagious, talks. TEDx is the platform for local organizers to create their own TED-style event.TEDxFulbrightDublin was conceived by Dr. Lorcan Walsh, a Fulbright alumnus who went to Harvard University, to reconnect with the broader Fulbright community and to reach out to others to share and spread creative new ideas.

“Although TED Talks have just celebrated their 20th birthday, TEDxFulbright events are a relatively new phenomenon,” he said. “Just two have taken place in the past, and this is the first to ever occur in Ireland. I am delighted to bring this incredible event to Dublin and to showcase the brilliant ‘ideas worth spreading’ to Ireland and further afield.”

“As a designer, TEDx is a brilliant way to showcase new ideas. Not only can one share them with the guests in the room, but soon after these ideas will be streamed to thousands, if not millions, of viewers online,” said Kevin Owens, a Fulbright alumnus, design principal for the London Olympics, and one of the speakers at Saturday’s event. “TEDx truly is an innovative way for all of us to learn, collaborate, and grow in the new digital age.”

The full schedule of talks and performances, which will soon be online, was:

– Charlotte Blease: Hypocritical Oaths – Medicine’s Dirty Secrets
– Ciaran Cuffe: Less is More – How Walkable Cities Save Lives and Make Us Happier
– Julie Doyle: Empowering Healthy Aging with Good Design
– Daniel Forde: Sound Travels Under Water (performance of original composition with visual accompaniment by Aaron Heffernan, lyrics by Lily Akerman*, lighting by  Zia Holly, and vocals by Georgia Cusack, Sallay Garnett, Tom Lane, Patrick O’Laoghaire, Sorcha Pollak, and Siobhra Quinlan)
– Patrick Groenland & Paul Roe: Warp, Weft, and Weave (performance)
– Breandán Mac Ardghail: Gaelscoilis – An Error-laden Pidgin or a Deviously Creative Creole?
– Catarina Marvao: Dancing as a Source of Success and Happiness (performance with Azael Salazar included)
– Kevin Owens: Designed to Inspire: Lessons from 2012
– Paul Roe: Creative Collaboration – A 21st Century Imperative (includes performance)
– Peter Tuite: The Key, The Kinsmen, and the Hogshead – Measuring Artistic Success
– Sheryl Sorby: Retaining Women in STEM
– Moynagh Sullivan: Creativity and Play as Social Transformers in Emma Donoghue’s Room
– Patricia Werhane and Tom Cunningham: Hamlet and the Irish Banking Crisis

TEDxFulbrightDublin was supported by the US Embassy in Dublin, the Irish Research Council, and Dublin Institute of Technology.