Theme: Never Stop

This year’s TEDxHongKongED theme is “Never Stop”. With the world increasingly interconnected and changing faster than ever, the TED community fully embraces the reality that learning is a lifelong journey. We will share the day with 16 inspirational and brilliant educators, innovators and thought leaders from around the world as they explore the manifold ways in which emerging technologies are impacting learning and understanding across age, profession, culture and uniqueness of situation helping us establish lasting bridges as well as celebrating individual discovery.

The Hong Kong Cyberport
The Arcade Cyberport
100 Telegraph Bay
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Hong Kong

The Grace Notes

The Grace Notes, a subdivision of The Hong Kong Women’s Choir, is a renowned all women a capella group in Hong Kong, where the ladies all share a common passion of singing and delivering beautiful music using only their voice. The Grace Notes also supports a variety of charities via vocal performances to all kinds of audiences.

Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith is an internationally acclaimed balloon specialist artist, entertainer, author and public speaker. Dubbed 'the funniest balloon man in the world', His impressive list of former appearances include Performing a variety of internationally at events, such as film premiere parties for Disney’s Pixar, Warner Brothers, and Paramount Pictures, and numerous many celebrity and royalty private events entertaining royalty and celebrity from birthdays, family events and weddings.As a former sales and marketing professional, Andrew has combined his passion for magic with his expertise and lives a successful career working with clients to create outstanding marketing.

Anthony Willoughby

Raised in Africa and schooled in the UK and the U.S., Anthony Willoughby was 22 when he bought a one-way ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express to Japan in search of inspiration, adventure and opportunities. Over the past decade he has developed a visualizing process called “Territory Mapping”, which is inspired by his conversations with tribal chiefs of remote villages in Papua New Guinea and Kenya. The Independent recently described it as a method “that enables you to crash through civilization and see where you are and where you are going with new clarity.”

Benjamin Grubbs

Benjamin Grubbs is the YouTube Asia Pacific Head of Family Entertainment & Learning, where he oversees the regional strategy and development for producing & distributing content on the video platform. He is also the creator of YouTube FanFest, and prior to joining YouTube, Benjamin has worked at Turner Broadcasting, Yahoo! and eBay.

David Gething

Hong Kong based Australian David Gething is a world champion marathon runner. The new winner of World Marathon Challenge 2015 completed 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days, and set two new world records during the process.

David Goldsmith

David Goldsmith is Co-founder and President of NY, Hong Kong based Goldsmith Organization, and Buzd, LLC a San Francisco based patent development company, award-winning author of Paid to THINK, engaging keynote speaker, patent holding inventor, former 12-year professor at New York University, serial entrepreneur, and groundbreaking business thought leader.

David Goldsmith

David Goldsmith is Co-founder and President of NY, Hong Kong based Goldsmith Organization, and Buzd, LLC a San Francisco based patent development company, award-winning author of Paid to THINK, engaging keynote speaker, patent holding inventor, former 12-year professor at New York University, serial entrepreneur, and groundbreaking business thought leader.

Jami Gong

From New York City, he has performed all over the USA and has appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”. After two years of research, he took the leap of faith and moved to HK to open The TakeOut Comedy Club HK, The FIRST Fulltime Comedy Club in Asia, where there are regular English and Chinese standup comedy shows, Improv shows with Peoples Liberation Improv (HK’s ONLY regular performing Improv Troupe), and regularly flies in professional American comedians.

Julie Borth

A primary school teacher by occupation, Julie Borth spends her off-hours as a dedicated advocate for Sons and Daughters, a team of like-minded volunteers who reach out to women and Mama Sans working in the red-light districts of Hong Kong.

Kenneth Lau

Kenneth began his martial arts training by learning Tae Kwon Do from the age of 5, receiving his black belt in a few years. He went on to explore a variety of martial arts styles, such as Kung Fu, Wrestling, and Muay Thai. Since starting his university studies, Kenneth has expanded his artistic form of expression by immersing himself in breakdancing and hip-hop.

Kessay Chan

Chan Kwan-Ming is a Form 5 student studying at the Yuen Long Lutheran Secondary School. He is the team leader, tenor, beat-box, sound man, and the founder of his school’s a cappella team, Infiniter. He plays an essential role infusing the group with upbeat sprites. Kwan Ming has been the School Choir Leader for the past two years and has won titles from the World Contemporary A Cappella Competition, Hong Kong International A Cappella Contests, and the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. Kwan Ming is keen to initiate and participate in activities,concerts, and and any other opportunity which allows him to grow and broaden his horizons. In recognition of his impressive achievements, he was the receiver of the 2014 Student of the Year Award in the Performing Arts category.

Marco Koeder

Co-author of “Six Immutable Laws of Mobile Business”, Marco Koeder spent the past 13 years in Japan specialising digital strategy. Marco is currently the Digital Business Director of JWT, one of the oldest existing brand agencies in the world.

Mariko Sanchanta

Mariko Sanchanta leads the media practice for Burson­ Marsteller in Asia. In her role, she is responsible for advising clients across Asia on all aspects of media strategy, including digital and social media strategy, crisis communications and branding.

Mui Thomas

Piotr Grzywacz

Piotr Grzywacz is a Tokyo based entrepreneur and leadership development expert. Piotr held several senior global and regional positions at Google and Morgan Stanley, where he advised executives on how to build their teams, and drive high performance in their organizations. Piotr is especially passionate about helping people become agile learners, sparking innovation, and handling complex challenges which have no easy answers. Piotr is an avid learner, he has two Master degrees in linguistics, and three post graduate business degrees. He is also pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration, focusing on complexity science and leadership. Piotr’s hobbies include learning languages, social sciences and shark diving.

Rog Thomas

Tina and Rog Thomas are the loving parents of their adopted daughter, Mui, who suffers from a life threatening skin disorder Harlequin Ichthyosis. When they were told Mui would die, not only did the couple refuse to give up hope, they stood by their daughter Mui as she overcame every challenge and obstacles, and embraced every beautiful moment in life together.

Ronald Li

Professor Ronald Li is the Founding Director of the Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Consortium (SCRMC) and a receiver of the S Y and H Y Cheng Professorship in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicines at the University of Hong Kong. As an international pioneer in stem cells, Professor Li’s accolades include Best Study of 2005 and Ground-breaking Study of 2006 by the American Heart Association (AHA), Young Investigator Award of 2002 by the Heart Rhythm Society, and the Career Development Award of 2001 by the Cardiac Arrhythmias Research & Education Foundation.

Tina Thomas

Xyza Cruz Bacani

Xyza Cruz Bacani is a Filipino Street and Documentary Photographer who has been featured in New York Times Lens Blog, and CNN. Working as a Domestic Worker in Hong Kong as her day job, she aspires to be a photojournalist and documents the life of her fellow workers who are abused in Hong Kong. She covered Occupy Hong Kong, and shoots street photography for her soul. She has also been awarded as one of the Magnum Fellows for the 2015 Magnum Foundation Fellowship for Human Rights in New York.