TED comes to Jamaica

Backed by entrepreneur Chris Blackwell, Jamaica will this weekend host its first TED conference, a gathering of innovators, thinkers and academics to explore game-changing ideas and spark debate around science and technology.

TEDxJamaica is an independently organised event mirrored on the annual TED conference that had its beginnings 25 years ago in California, United States, and has become an annual event for thought-provoking discussion on technological and other areas of advancement by world leaders, corporate leaders, and intellectuals.

Its participants have included the likes of Bill Gates, and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Speakers booked for the Jamaican event include Professor Robert Trivers - an influential evolutionary biologist at Rutgers University and a distinguished fellow at UWI; Professor Orlando Patterson - cultural and historical sociologist at Harvard; Bruce James - co-founder and president of MVP Track & Field Club, which started in 1999; and Marvin Hall - a Jamaican innovative educator and a TED fellow trained in mathematics and technology.

In the spirit of "ideas worth spreading", TED has created TEDx, a programme of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience, the TEDxJamaica organisers said.

The annual TED conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with a simulcast in Palm Springs. TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, United Kingdom.

TED's media initiatives include www.TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts, as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organised events around the world; and the TED Fellows programme, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their projects and activities, said the Jamaican statement.

The local event is being sponsored by Island Outpost, Productive Business Solutions, PanCaribbeanBank, Sagicor, and Cannon Ball Café.

Visit: http://www.tedxjamaica.com/index.html for more information.