TEDxGateway Conference successfully concludes its 5th edition in Mumbai

Mumbai: TEDxGateway, an independently organized TED Conference, successfully concluded its fifth edition of the prestigious event at the National Centre Performing Arts (N.C.P.A) in Mumbai on 02 November 2014. The annual event saw an eclectic mix of speakers giving inspiring speeches and presenting their world-changing innovations leaving the large audience mesmerized.

Expanding on the spirit of TED's mission, "Ideas Worth Spreading” the TEDxGateway 2014 conference focused on “Ideas Worth Doing” brought together 25+ brilliant and dynamic speakers from across India as well as around the world. The speaker panel comprised of eminent explorers, storytellers, photographers, scientific pioneers, roboticist, social activist, artist, visionaries and provocateurs from across the globe. For the first time, the mega event was simulcasted live to 20 locations.

The event saw 21 year old Joe Landolina, Medical product inventor speaking about the effectiveness of VETI-GEL, a gel that can instantly stop traumatic bleeding without the need to apply pressure, while Jerry Sanders, Futurist, Chairman & CEO, SkyTran Inc spoke about the troubles of modern day traffic congestion and how SkyTran’s cute little rocket-like vehicle “The Jetsons” can take you anywhere, without stopping at any station but your own, all this at 150 miles an hour.

Jeremy Heimans spoke about unlocking the power of people in movement building in the 21st century while Anuradha Koirala, a Social Activist captured audience attention with the horrors of human trafficking and how her NGO Maiti Nepal is providing better life for both children and women who have endured untold pain and suffering, often in silence. 14 year old Innovator, Speaker and Founder of ReThink, Trisha Prabhu spoke about long-term effective ways to stop Cyberbullying.

Nirmalya Kumar a passionate voice for new entrepreneurs in India spoke about the need for Indian brands to be globally competitive. Deepak Ramola, Entrepreneur and actor spoke about his Project FUEL which deals with collecting and sharing people’s life’s lessons by explaining them through doable activities.

Regarded as one of the finest minds in Indian advertising Ram Subramanian, Filmmaker, Writer, and Founder & Director of Handloom Picture Company spoke about his unhappiness with the state of this country and how he channelized his frustration into two powerful films ‘Mute’ and ‘Unmute’, to create positive awareness that resonated with a lot of people and raised valid questions in their minds.

The highlight of the conference was the talk by Roboticist Dr. Vijay Kumar speaking about small robots wherein he gave audience an amazing demonstration of his flying robots. Between the speaker sessions, the audience was also entertained by India’s First All-Vocal Orchestra, VOCTRONICA.

Adding to the excitement of the day, was a session with Jay Herratti, the newly appointed director of the TEDx Program. Speaking on the occasion, Jay Herratti, Executive Director, TEDx said, “TEDxGateway is oriented at developing a community of likeminded highly informed and engaged innovators, designers, thinkers, technologists, environmentally and socially concerned individuals in India. We are delighted with the response TedxGateway has received in India. Over the last five years, the TEDxGateway has emerged as Asia’s largest events attracting innovative and imaginary speakers who are game changers in their respective domains chartering different paths.”

Speaking about the event Yashraj Akashi, Curator of TEDxGateway said “We are ecstatic with the response we have received this year at TEDxGateway 2014. Organised at larger scale with special editions and new initiatives such as Master Classes, the platform saw a convergence of powerful ideas, inspirational thinkers and a community of enthusiastic followers engaging with each other. We are thankful to all our eminent speakers who have played a pivotal role in the success of the event.”

The fifth edition of the TEDxGateway 2014 saw a host of new initiatives including “The Hive” zone, which saw inspiring leaders like Jerry Sanders, Ramesh Raskar, Dr. Vijay Kumar and Sudha Kheterpal engaging in an interactive discussion to spark new ideas. In addition, TEDxGateway hosted the “Better India” lounge to discuss and debate new ideas to accelerate progress in the country. This lounge was chaired by dynamic speakers including Joe Madiath, Zania Tata, Ramanan Laxhminarayn, Dr.Aparna Hegde, Hemani Kalucha, Sudha Kheterpal amongst others. Both initiatives were well received by the participants.

On November 1st TEDxGateway also organised “Master Classes” with a relevant curated audience and some of the finest inspirational thinkers and speakers of TEDxGateway 2014. Some of the sessions held during the master classes were, Unlocking the potential of women in India supported by Abbott, during this session prominent Indian thought leaders interacted and discussed the levers of empowering and inspiring women in India.

This session was followed by Acumen India’s creative Design Thinking Master Class to transform ideas into reality. These two sessions were followed by one on one with Dr Vijay Kumar, Graham Hill, Toby Shapshak and Jerry Sanders, during this session participants got a chance to innovate and learn from TEDxGateway speakers as they shared their revolutionary ideas, expertise and experiences that can fuel and empower our country. The last session during the day was Creative Storytelling with Capgemini ASE, it was an interactive master class to express creative ideas through the art of storytelling.

TEDxGateway is a knowledge-sharing platform - a place where collaboration is the glue that binds people together. This year’s TEDxGateway conference was presented by JSW, UTI mutual fund and Abbott. Co-sponsors of the event were Louis Philippe and Jet Privilege. Associate partners include Lavasa, Rustomjee, Capgemini and Vodafone. The fifth edition of TEDxGateway2014 was partnered by Rolls Royce, SAP, Mindshare, Genesis Burson-Marsteller, april, rubberbands, mini, IAA, BSE, One, Ascend International School, GOQII, DDB Mudragroup and 94.3 Radio.

Complete list of speakers who attended TEDxGateway 2014 include:

• Piyush Goyal, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy in the Government of India
• Voctronica
• Trisha Prabhu, 14 year old Innovator, Speaker and Founder of ReThink
• Deepak Ramola, Actor, Scriptwriter and Lyricist
• Hemani Kalucha, 17 year old Roboticist
• Joe Landolina, 21 year old Medical product inventor
• Sonam Kalra, Creator of The Sufi-Gospel Project & Vocalist
• Graham Hill, Journalist, founder of TreeHugger.com and LifeEdited
• Ramesh Raskar, Associate Professor and head of the MIT Media Lab’s Camera Culture
• Sudha Kheterpal, International Percussionist & Entrepreneur
• Naresh Narsimhan, Architect, Urbanist, Activist and Creative Entrepreneur
• Ramanan Laxminarayan, Drug Resistance Economist
• Vijay Kumar, Roboticist& Professor at University of Pennsylvania
• Ram Subramanian, Film Maker, Founder, Handloom Pictures
• Toby Shapshak, Strategist & Technology Writer
• Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing, London Business School
• Jeremy Hiemans, Political Movement Maker
• Aparna Hegde, Social Entrepreneur
• Stuart Sender, Film Director
• Jerry Sanders, Futurist, Chairman & CEO, SkyTran Inc
• Anuradha Koirala, Social Activist, Founder and Director of MaitiNepal
• Erica Hagen, Journalist & Development Practitioner, Co-founder of Map Kibera
• Joe Madiath, Social Activist
• Swapnil Chaturvedi, Innovator & Social Activist
• Madan Padaki, Co-founder, CEO & Managing Director of Head Held High Services
• Adam Magyar, Artist & Photographer
• Zenia Tata, Director, Global Development & International Expansion at X Prize Foundation