Theme: What if...?

12 talks and 2 music performances to describe what can happen if an idea is realized or what could happen if an idea was realized or if a successful experience was applied to a different context. Scientists, technology experts, entrepreneurs, social activists, humorists etc on stage for TEDxLakeComo 2017 ( 9th edition ) at the prestigious International Congress Centre Villa Erba, Cernobbio (CO)

Centro Espositivo Villa Erba
Largo Luchino Visconti 4
Cernobbio CO, Lombardia, 22012
Italy

Andrea Bartoli

Dreamer and Mentor

Notary and consultant in strategic planning, feasibility and management of public and private cultural organizations. For years he is an enthusiast of contemporary languages with particular interest in architecture, design, urban, art and urban regeneration. Along with Florinda, a life partner and supporter of all of his initiatives, in 2010 has founded at Favara ( Agrigento, Italy ) the Farm Cultural Park, a new generation culture center invited to the Venice Architecture Biennial Exhibition and described in major international media including The Guardian and Vogue.

Anna Fiscale

Social Entrepreneur

Founder of QUID Project, a social enterprise that works for the reintegration of people, with a past of fragility, in the production of clothing and accessories, starting from remains and left overs. QUID counts today 80 employees, 5 stores and collaborations with fashion industry companies. After a master's degree in Economics of Public Administration and International Institutions at Bocconi University and a Master in Political Science at the University Sciences-Po in Paris she has collaborated with the European Commission (Europe Aid) and with NGOs for international cooperation and development projects in India and Haiti.

Federico Alberghini

Band Director

The Banda Rulli Frulli was born from an idea by Federico Alberghini within the School of Music Andreoli at Mirandola (MO). By playing and making together its own instruments, it becomes possible to enhance one's uniqueness and go beyond any distinction. There are no solos. Everyone is equal and each one gives its own contribution with the utmost of its commitment. The number of the Band components is steadily growing, achieving today 70 members among girls, children, teenagers and young people, skilled and disabled. Federico Alberghini is director of this heterogeneous group together with three collaborators, Marco Golinelli, Sara Setti and Federico Bocchi.

Floraleda Sacchi

Contemporary Harpist

Recognized by critics as one of the most interesting harpists on the international scene, Floraleda Sacchi has performed on four continents and has recorded more than 20 records for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Amadeus Arte. Her last work #Darklight (2017) has climbed the charts. Through her compositions and the music that she carefully selects for her concerts with such an unusual and versatile instrument as the harp, she creates an intense, unusual and exciting sound experience.

Frank Raes

Extended Climatologist

Born in Belgium, until 2015 he heads the Climate Change Risk Unit at the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) in Ispra. After graduating from the University of California, he specializes in atmosphere chemistry and climatology. The research of his Group contributes to the development of European policies in the field of climate change and sustainability. For some years he also devotes himself to education and art, performing a lesson-show "The Time of Our Time: the Antropocene" for schools, universities and companies. He is curator of the "Resonaces: Science-Art-Politics", a Festival organized by the JRC for EXPO2015. Since 2015, he is consultant to the JRC for the "SciArt - Science and Art" project. He is founder of the Museum of Anthropocene Technology.

Gianluca Nicoletti

Journalist, writer and Radio/TV Host

Born in Perugia in the mid-1950s where he remains prisoner, stuck in medieval alleyways and dreams of glory, until the 1980s, when he finally emigrates to Rome with a fake letter of recommendation granted by an archbishop who had never existed. He flaunts skills and begins to work at RAI. In the early years of the new millennium he has a surprising career until he leaves the job as Director. Then he starts writing about everything, especially emotional prostheses, home leaks and of his autistic son Tommy, who becomes his shadow. Now he reflects on what to do when he will have to leave him as orphan.

Giovanni Vecchi

Welfare Analyst

Professor of Economics and History of Economics at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata". He deals with theory, measurement and history of the well-being and is author of many articles on major international journals and the essays "In ricchezza e povertà" (Il Mulino, 2011) and "Measuring Wellbeing" (Oxford University Press, 2017). Consultant to the World Bank, FAO and other international agencies on poverty and economic inequality, he is regularly called on duty in developing countries which require technical support and assistance.

Jürgen Schmidhuber

Artificial Intelligence Scientist

Scientific Director of the Swiss AI Lab, IDSIA, DTI, SUPSI; Prof. of AI, Faculty of Informatics, USI, Lugano; Co-founder & Chief Scientist, NNAISENSE, Switzerland. Prof. Jürgen Schmidhuber has been called the father of modern Artificial Intelligence. His lab's deep learning methods have revolutionized machine learning, are now available on 3 billion smartphones, and used billions of times per day, e.g. for Facebook's automatic translation, Google's speech recognition, Apple's Siri & QuickType, Amazon's Alexa, etc. His research group also established the field of mathematically rigorous universal AI and optimal universal problem solvers. His formal theory of creativity & curiosity & fun explains art, science, music, and humor. He is recipient of numerous awards including the 2016 IEEE Neural Networks Pioneer Award "for pioneering contributions to deep learning and neural networks".

Michele Spagnuolo

Blockchain Expert

Engineer at Google's Information Security Department ( Zurich ), with a focus on Web security and Web platform (W3C) mitigation. He is advisor to several startups operating in the world of cryptovalutes. Co-author of a part of the Content Protection Policy (CSP) 3 specification, he is the creator of the famous Rosetta Flash exploit and the first open source tool for bitcoin blockchain analysis, BitIodine.

Pascal Cagni

Senior Digital Economy Observer

Founder & CEO at C4 Ventures c4v.com, a leading European venture fund investing in startups in the fields of smart hardware, future of ecommerce and digital media. In September 2017, President Macron appointed Pascal Cagni as France Ambassador at large for international investment and Chairman of the board of Business France . He is a non-executive director at Kingfisher plc and until recently Vivendi SA and Style.com, the former Conde Nast owned ecommerce platform. In 2000, Steve Jobs appointed Pascal as General Manager, VP for Apple EMEIA. Under his leadership, EMEIA was consistently Apple’s fastest growing region, with revenue booming from $1B to $40B. Previously, Pascal led Packard-Bell NEC to become the leading European home computer company.

Pat Carra

Cartoonist and Humorist

Pat lives in Milan where she draws comics that talk about politics, work, feminism, sexuality, war. Among her latest exhibitions: "Punto e a capo" at the Victorian of Rome and " Donne e primedonne " at La Fenice Theater in Venice. Among her books " La Bella Addormentata fa il turno di notte", “Cassandra che ride," "Sex of humor." She is one of the animators of ”Aspirina", the satiric magazine published by the Women's Bookstore in Milan. (www.patcarra.it)

Simona Ghizzoni

Photographer

Photographer and video maker. Since 2005, she documented the female condition in situations of extreme fragility. Her photographs taken in so many parts of the world tell about eating disorders, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, adolescence. Her works have been awarded the World Press Photo, the POYI and the Sony World Photography Award.

Stefano Vella

Global Health Scientist & Advocate

University Professor with specialization in infectious diseases and internal medicine. In 2017, he was appointed Director of the Global Health Center of the Italian Istituto Superiore di Sanità and President of the Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco (AIFA), where he continued with his commitment to promoting access to medical care by the South of the World. He has been part of the WHO's International Antiretroviral Therapy Committee and he is part of the Italian Delegation to the UN General Assembly in the special session on AIDS. It has been included by Science magazine among the ten most important researchers in the world on AIDS / HIV.

Walter Veltroni

Statesman, writer and filmmaker

Vice President and Minister for Cultural Heritage of the Italian Government leaded by Romano Prodi ( 1996-1998 ). Mayor of the City of Rome in 2001 and reconfirmed in 2006. First Secretary of the Democratic Party. He left active politics in 2013. Author of a number of books and essays he cultivates his great passion for cinema and literature. His last movies are "I bambini sanno", "Milano 2015" and the recent "Indizi di felicità".