TEDxChange 2013

TEDxChange 2013 took place on April 3, 2013 at The Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle, Washington. The event, themed “Positive Disruption,” invited speakers to discuss and explore fresh perspectives on global health, development and education.

TED.com provided a free livestream of the event in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Mandarin, Korean and Arabic, so that communities across the globe could tune in. View participating events

Theme: Positive Disruption

Convened by Melinda French Gates

Disruption is usually unwelcome. It represents conflict, chaos, and potential danger. We discourage disruptive behavior in our homes and our societies, often favoring passivity and compliance instead.

But disruption can be a positive — sometimes vital — catalyst for change. It can challenge old assumptions, ignite conversations, activate authorities and expose new possibilities. Disruption can shed a unique light on difficult issues, giving a fresh urgency and perspective to the challenges of our global community.

To solve the most intractable challenges in health and development, we need positive disruption. It is the path to true progress.

Watch the TEDxChange 2013 webcast

Speakers

Melinda Gates: Host
Melinda Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Along with Bill Gates, she shapes and approves the foundation’s strategies, reviews results, and sets the overall direction of the organization. Melinda will host TEDxChange from the Gates Foundation campus in Seattle, Washington.

Cathleen Kaveny: Religion, tradition, and modernity
Cathleen Kaveny is an American legal scholar and theologian. She is a John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Theology at Notre Dame Law School, and is currently a visiting professor at Princeton University.

Halimatou Hima: Investing in girls
Halimatou Hima is a Masters in Public Policy candidate at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Following an internship in the Women & Population Division at the United Nations Foundation, she worked in the Child Protection Division at the United Nations in her home country of Niger (UNICEF).

Roger Thurow: Shifts in agriculture
Roger Thurow joined the Chicago Council in January 2010 after three decades at the Wall Street Journal. For 20 years, he was a foreign correspondent based in Europe and Africa.

Julie Dixon: Social change
Julie Dixon is the Deputy Director of Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact Communication (CSIC), an academic initiative that examines the critical role of communication in fostering engagement in social change.

David Fasanya: Youth poet
David Fasanya is a Nigerian-American performance artist and award-winning youth poet residing in Brooklyn, NY.

Salim Shekh and Sikha Patra: Vaccine advocates
Salim and Sikha are two children featured prominently in the film Revolutionary Optimists, which documents children who are saving lives in the slums of Calcutta.