Theme: Emerging Cultures and Ideas

Cultures are complex aggregations of the social behaviours, ideas, and customs that define a group of people or society. It’s the variety and diversity of cultures within London that makes this city such a rich and exciting place to be. And nowhere is that more evident than here, in Tower Hamlets. While some of these cultures have existed and evolved hundreds of years, the breathtaking speed at which the world is changing has activated major new movements that are shaping our future.
From the way robotics are influencing modern society to the impact of digital currency on how we buy and sell; from the ‘people power’ transforming the face of consumerism to the innovative new models for social care – the range of emerging cultures and ideas coming to the fore is incredible. At TEDxCanaryWharf, we’ve curated some of the most intriguing and inspiring new cultures impacting our city and the wider world – a day designed for you, the curious Londoner.
Taking the stage are authorities from science, social enterprise, technology, business, retail, sports, finance and beyond. We hope their ideas will empower our audience of local communities, businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals – and inspire you to initiate change and progress in your own respective environments. And we invite you to explore the questions: What does ‘emerging cultures’ mean to you?
Which game-changing new ideas will you take forward, to inspire positive change in this city?

Level39
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf, London, City of, E14 5AB
United Kingdom

Barry Mapp

Life Explorer & Personal Development Coach At the NHS, Barry Mapp spent 20 years as a clinical scientist and two as a quality consultant, before changing direction in 1996 and setting up a personal development training company. His main interest is learning and the brain, and his present focus is on creating innovative e-learning courses.

Carl Clement

Founder, Emotion Robotics Carl has been involved in robotics since the late 1980s. He is particularly interested in the social impact robots will have as they emerge from research and development into homes, schools and workplaces. Emotion Robotics provides consultancy, development and full supply services to those wishing to utilise robots.

Charlie Dark

Founder, Run Dem Crew Charlie Dark’s career started as one third of Attica Blues. He’s been behind seminal musical explorations ever since, as an accomplished producer and remixer. Charlie is also an acclaimed performance poet, mentor, educator and runner – setting up the Nike-backed ‘Run Dem Crew’ in 2008, and in doing so creating a global running movement and community.

Chris Sheldrick

Founder & CEO, what3words Chris is the Founder and CEO of what3words, a global grid of 57 trillion 3mx3m squares. Each square has a unique, fixed 3-word address. It’s giving everyone and everywhere an address.

Dave Trott

Creative Director & Author Dave studied advertising at the Pratt Institute in New York, before returning to London to work at ad agency BMP, becoming joint Creative Director. He left to found his own agency Gold Greenlees Trott, which was voted ‘Agency of the Year’ by Campaign, and ‘Most Creative Agency in the World’ by Ad Age. He also founded Bainsfair Sharkey Trott, and Walsh Trott Chick Smith which later merged with The Gate – of which Dave became Chairman and Executive Creative Director. Dave received the D&AD President’s Award for lifetime achievement, has written three books on creativity, and has trained hundreds of young advertising creatives.

Frances Kinloch

Head of Onshore Corporate Investments, Barclays Alongside her role at Barclays Personal and Corporate Bank, Frances sits on the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Advisory Council, and is co-founder of digital fashion sales network myfavouritesale.com. She’s also been Head of Business Development and an Executive Committee member in Global Dealing & Sales Trading at Barclays Wealth, and Head of European Capital Introduction at Scotia Capital Europe, the investment banking and broker dealer arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia.

Jenny Radcliffe

Expert in Negotiations, Non-Verbal Communications and Deception Jenny Radcliffe can diffuse a crisis situation, talk her way into a secure building and spot a psychopath at a hundred paces. She’s been called a ‘human lie detector’ and likened to a Jedi Knight. In reality, she’s an expert in negotiations, non-verbal communications and deception, helping clients from corporations and the security industry to law enforcement and poker players.

Maggie de Pree

Co-founder, The League of Intrapreneurs Maggie De Pree believes in the power of human agency – the ability for people to choose to make a difference in the world. She is co-founder of The League of Intrapreneurs, a global movement for corporate change agents.

Mark Lowdell

Director of Cellular Therapy & Biobanking, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust Dr Mark Lowdell has been involved in the use of human cells as medicines to treat cancer since the 1980s. Recently, he has expanded into the field of regenerative medicines. He led the technology transfer of his own adoptive cell therapy for cancer into a company in the US and has helped produce and distribute the only embryonic stem cell derived product for a commercial clinical trial in the UK.

Mervyn Eastman

Co-founder, Change AGEnts UK Mervyn has worked in all fields of social care, specialising in issues related to ageing. He co-founded and is president of PASA, and was UK director of Better Government for Older People. He considers himself an “oldie” and relishes opportunities to add older people to his list of those who contribute to stereotyped ageist assumptions that underpin public policy and services. The Change AGEnts cooperative seeks to change how we think about older people and ageing.

NICOLAS CARY

Co-founder, Blockchain Winner of the 2015 European Digital Leader award for his inspiring and innovative contribution to initiate progress in the digital world, Nicolas loves the outdoors and traveling. A lifelong technologist and serial entrepreneur, he’s trilingual, and has a deep passion for positive digital disruption. His company Blockchain is the world’s leading Bitcoin software company.

NIKOLAJ BELZER

Film Director Nikolaj’s work focuses on characters and the stories people tell about themselves. He studied at École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris and Humboldt University Berlin, where he graduated with an MA in Philosophy. After a short stint in journalism he returned to study at the London Film School. Nikolaj has worked for MINI Cooper, Lexus, Villeroy & Boch, Nowness, the New York Times and the Venice Biennale. His shorts and documentaries have played at festivals throughout Europe, Asia and the US. Nikolaj is also Creative Director at post-production house Okay Studio in London.

Paula Reid

Adventurer & Round-the-World Yachtswoman Paula Reid is an adventurer at heart; pushing herself to the limit and living life to the max. In 2001, she paddled 600 miles down the Mekong River in a dugout canoe, which she had bought off a tribal chief in rural Cambodia. She hit rocks and rapids, capsized, cooked all her meals on a fire and got arrested at gunpoint. She has also paddled down the San Juan River in Nicaragua and kayaked the Thames from source to sea. Paula has been to 58 countries and achieved 110 things on her Bucket List, including: fire walking, glacier trekking, Hadrian’s Wall, the London Marathon, trekking in West Papua, great white shark diving... and many more.

Sarah Buxton

Co-founder, The Observer Effect Sarah Buxton is questioning the role of invention in innovation. Over the last ten years she has started, scaled, failed, acquired, supported, promoted and driven forward businesses in both B2B and B2C environments.

Sarah Gold

Designer and Co-founder WikiHouse Foundation Sarah is a designer operating at the focal point of emerging technologies, digital infrastructures and civic frameworks. She is well known on the UK tech scene for her pioneering work on the Alternet, a proposal for a civic network. Her work extends from the Alternet to imagine, build and test future web infrastructure and digital tools for a more democratic society. Sarah is Co-founder of the WikiHouse Foundation, an organisation that supports and promotes the open source project WikiHouse. Alongside her design projects, Sarah speaks on technology futures, data ownership and citizenship.

Simon Constantine

Head of Perfumes & Ethical Buying Lush Cosmetics Simon is responsible for buying and sourcing the ingredients and raw materials used across all Lush’s product ranges. He travels the world setting up cooperatives with local people, ensuring consistent quality, quantity and fair trade. In 2010, the company’s SLush Fund was established to move beyond just purchasing fairly traded ingredients and, instead, develop supportive partnerships and start sustainable farming and community projects.