Theme: Gently down the stream

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Stationsplein 1
Zwolle, Overijssel, 8011 CW
Netherlands

David Saddington

David Saddington, a 22 year old Climate Change Communicator, Environmental Consultant, Geographer and Gardener from Durham in the United Kingdom. He studied Geography including the science of climate change at Durham University for 3 years and led a groundbreaking glacier survey expedition to Vatnajökull, Iceland. When he was just 13 he decided to take action on climate change, after he was being involved in one of the worst floods on record to hit Northern England. For the past nine years he communicated the importance of tackling this important issue. Over this time he has influenced UK Government Policy, established his own social enterprise, and fronted a media campaign that has reached over 3 million people. From a meeting with the Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street he discussed the implementation of climate change onto the national curriculum. He is now a regular commentator on contemporary climate issues within academic arenas and international media outlets.

Isabel Hoffman

Isabel Hoffmann is an entrepreneur who has successfully founded eight companies over the last 26 years in the fields of preventative medicine, health care, technology, mobile health and education. Her natural ability to lead and inspire has resulted in numerous awards and honors throughout her career. As CEO and Founder of TellSpec, the company behind the world’s first food scanner for consumers, she leads a team of researchers, mathematicians, software developers and designers towards their mission to build a healthier world by empowering people to make informed choices about what they eat. Isabel Hoffmann started developing technology that reveals exactly what’s in our food. Her purpose is to help educate others about clean healthy food.

Jan Jonker

Jan Jonker is a man with a mission, and so in quite a hurry. According to Jan, we are too slow on our way to a sustainable society. As a professor of sustainable enterpreneurship he is primarily engaged with business models that enable sustainable development. Jan Jonker can be seen as an academic entrepreneur. All of his books, projects, lectures and encounters comprise the common goal of driving progress in sustainable development in and between organisations and people. Her firmly believes that our society and the people within hold the power to make changes. In 2013 Jonker published the book “WEconomy” and in November 2014 his book on New Business Models is launched. Professor Dr. Jan Jonker is employed as a professor at the Nijmegen School of Management (NSM) at the Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands) where he holds the chair of ‘Sustainable Entrepreneurship’.

Jasper Kremers

In the Netherlands we worry about our climate becoming less moderate. At the same time, military engineers build bases in remote areas with extreme climate conditions, like the sweltering heat in Mali. Major Jasper Kremers (1978) believes this experience can also be useful at home. Combining civilian engineering and military approaches may generate new ideas for making our cities more resilient. Major Jasper Kremers is a company commander by the Dutch engineering battalion, based at Prinses Margriet military barracks, nearby Wezep. Jasper also commanded the first Royal Netherlands Army's unit that deployed in Mali last year to prepare and construct a base for the other units that were to follow. Jasper holds a degree in civil engineering and has military experience from missions in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and the 2013 flooding of the German river Elbe.

Joost van Velzen

Melvin lives a small village called De Krim. For the past couple of years he was an electrical engineering student at Windesheim High School in Zwolle. Last summer he graduated at Salland Electronics where he worked with three of his fellow student on the development of 8Rlicht. Currently he still works at Salland Electronics where he continued the development of the 8Rlicht and many other products. Melvin and his colleagues have not been idle and they continue to work on the 8Rlicht and other projects.

Karst Klein

Karst Klein lives in Hasselt, a small township next to Zwolle. He always has been interested in trees, forest and wood. That’s why he studied forestry in Zwolle and Velp, with a major in International Timber Trade. After working 5 years in the Dutch timber trading he wanted to create impact with the local trees. That’s why he started Binthout in 2013. The products they make are always made from a tree at the region. They have a great passion for people, wood and design. This enterprise is highly socially involved and guaranteed durable. That’s why Karst wants to share his story and ideas on TEDxZwolle.

Melvin Egberts

Some people are creative with brushes, some use clay and others craft beautiful things out of wood. Joost van Velzen is creative with bits and bytes, chips and leds. His strength is that he can apply his creativity to software that can run on the tiniest of processors and at the minimal expense of energy. You might call him an inventor. He wrote computergames when he was 12, hacked his train to become a TGV and got an award for coming up with a “Sweep panorama” function for phones in the first year he worked for Philips. Later he starts developing embedded software at Salland Electronics in Zwolle. Currently he spends all his time on research and innovation. Joost is also a guest teacher at Windesheim High School, he wrote a graduation assignment for his students to make a bicycle taillight with a search function in it and called the project ‘8Rlicht’. The 8Rlicht takes technology and uses it in a different application. It presented some great challenges.

Pat Crowley

Pat Crowley comes to Zwolle from the desert environment of Utah, USA. His diverse background has taken him from an international adventure guide, to hydrologist, and now insect-eating entrepreneur. All driven for his passion to ensure a more sustainable water future. After working for water-planning agencies, Pat decided to address global water over-consumption from the consumer level when he co-founded Chapul in 2012. His mission now is to introduce insects into Western cuisine as more water-resource efficient form of food. He comes across the pond to share his experiences in the changing psychology of eating insects in the past several years.

Pat Crowley

Pat Crowley comes to Zwolle from the desert environment of Utah, USA. His diverse background has taken him from an international adventure guide, to hydrologist, and now insect-eating entrepreneur. All driven for his passion to ensure a more sustainable water future. After working for water-planning agencies, Pat decided to address global water over-consumption from the consumer level when he co-founded Chapul in 2012. His mission now is to introduce insects into Western cuisine as more water-resource efficient form of food. He comes across the pond to share his experiences in the changing psychology of eating insects in the past several years.

Tom Kortbeek

Tom Kortbeek (1987) is founder of KunstLAB Arnhem, together with Stefanie Hesseling. Tom is a musician and theatre maker. He has a special interest in building communities through art. With KunstLAB Tom is working on the concept of the Ninth Art; interdisciplinary art with a strong connection to the society. He’s at TEDxZwolle to tell about this concept and to emphasize the importance of art for society and to emphasize the importance of society for the arts.