View TEDxEindhoven talks

TEDxEindhoven 2023

What's your drive? | Louise de Laat

Louise de Laat join the student team called TU/ecomotive. As the twenty-four year old project leader, she and her team developed the ZEM car that captures CO2 while driving. In this TEDx talk, the car is a medium of a beautiful story about passion, innovation, and a lot of determination. In addition to her studies in Industrial Design at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Louise de Laat join the student team called TU/ecomotive. As the twenty-four year old project leader, she and her team developed the ZEM car that captures CO2 while driving.

Building schools in Sierra Leone | Sander de Kramer

Sander is a journalist, writer, TV host, and social activist from Rotterdam who has travelled to many far-flung places. He is known for his work as a foreign correspondent and his humanitarian efforts in Africa, including shining a light on the exploitation of children working in the diamond mines in Sierra Leone. His TEDx talk may make you laugh, it may make you cry but it will certainly inspire you. Sander is a journalist, writer, TV host, and social activist from Rotterdam who has travelled to many far-flung places. He is known for his work as a foreign correspondent and his humanitarian efforts in Africa, including shining a light on the exploitation of children working in the diamond mines in Sierra Leone.

Are cities living organisms? | Robbe Nagel

Robbe believes that by looking closely and attentively at the world around us, we can gain insight and inspiration for our daily lives. During his talk, he will share a new perspective on cities – to understand the environment that is now home to more than half of the human population. Industrial Designer and co-founder of Spaces Experiences, specializing in the art of observation.

Why BS goes viral | Maarten Schenk

In his talk, Maarten will share ideas about why social media recommendation algorithms make us vulnerable to false information and what we can do about it. Instead of letting ourselves be manipulated by algorithms, let’s just manipulate them back! The co-founder of fact-checking website leadstories.com and the inventor of the online virality-tracking tool Trendolizer. Maarten is endlessly fascinated by the many ways people keep fooling each other on the Internet for reasons of money, politics, or even through simple misunderstandings.

What’s cooking in the Dutch melting pot? | Jonneke de Zeeuw

Jonneke will be exploring the richness of the Dutch culinary landscape – a delicious celebration of unity and diversity in the Netherlands. Jonneke is a food culture connoisseur, author and serial eater. On her platform Mooncake she tells you where to eat before you leave the planet. In her work she pays special attention to the culinary influences from abroad.

Mastering the art of one millimeter positive impact a day | Mike Weerts

Small Steps, Big Impact: Mastering the Art of One Millimeter positive impact a Day. Mike will give some examples in daily life how to improve yourself and the world around you. Mike Weerts graduated from the School of Drama in Eindhoven in 2005. He has worked in theatre, appeared in several award-winning feature films, and secured a number of regular roles in popular television series. In 2022, he decided to put acting on the back burner and started working as a chairman and presenter for various organizations. Since January 2023 he has been the Director of a local broadcaster Studio040.

How work can set you free | Alex Malone

Alex Malone has been studying the way we work and based on her findings she promises a solution for every problem we experience in the workplace. In her talk, Alex will give away the scoop of a whole different way of working and introduce us to the HOLIWORK method. How work can set you free – A Shift in Work Culture for a Healthier Organization For the last 10 years, Alex Malone has been studying the way we work and based on her findings she promises a solution for every problem we experience in the workplace.

How I can reduce consumption for a sustainable future | Ana Poças Ribeiro

Ana is a researcher and activist from Portugal, based in the Netherlands. For her PhD Ana studied what influences consumption and how we can change it Ana has been also involved in activism for climate, degrowth, cities for people, and sustainable mobility. In her TEDx talk, she’ll share her research results and ideas on how we can build a sustainable future by reducing consumption. Ana is a researcher and activist from Portugal, based in the Netherlands. For her PhD Ana studied what influences consumption and how we can change it Ana has been also involved in activism for climate, degrowth, cities for people, and sustainable mobility. In her TEDx talk, she’ll share her research results and ideas on how we can build a sustainable future by reducing consumption.

Why you should give a nerd a hug | Eksteen de Waal

While coaching leaders in diverse cultures, countries, and industries, and as a fellow nerd, he realized that “Nerds” hold the key ideas to safeguard our world’s future. For these amazing ideas to reach the right audience, they need to skip like skipping stones over the surface of our networks, leaving ripples of influence wherever they go. Eksteen talks about what Nerds need to do and find, in order for their ideas to skip as far and wide as possible. Eksteen De Waal is an international leadership consultant, speaker, writer, and coach. While coaching leaders in diverse cultures, countries, and industries, and as a fellow nerd, he realized that “Nerds” hold the key ideas to safeguard our world’s future.

Unlocking the full potential of people and buildings | Alexander Suma

Alexander is an inventor, developer, and visionary leader with a passion for design, technology and clean energy. He became a resilient and determined individual through a challenging upbringing which later became the foundation of his groundbreaking renewable energy solution PowerNEST. This modular energy rooftop combines wind and solar power creating the ability to make medium and high-rise buildings Net Zero Energy, contributing to a sustainable and empowering future for all. Alexander is an inventor, developer, and visionary leader with a passion for design, technology and clean energy. He became a resilient and determined individual through a challenging upbringing which later became the foundation of his groundbreaking renewable energy solution PowerNEST. This modular energy rooftop combines wind and solar power creating the ability to make medium and high-rise buildings Net Zero Energy, contributing to a sustainable and empowering future for all.

TEDxEindhoven 2021

Can dogs terminate litter waste? | Alex van Eck

Picking up a single piece makes a difference, can save a life, can stop another piece entering the sea. If we all do a little, every day on a walk, it really does add up to a huge impact. Join the movement! After a diving vacation in Curacao, Alex decided that something had to change in the world. All the images in the media of pollution destroying our amazing planet disgusted him. He decided that the message of stopping this pollution wasn’t getting through so he decided to tell the story in a different way.

How to stop politics from dividing us | Rudy van Belkom

Today’s society seems more divided than ever. We can’t seem to agree on the best approach to fight inequality, climate change or the coronavirus. In fact, not everyone believes that these problems exist at all. But without a shared reality, coexistence is almost impossible. In the current political system, the differences are only magnified. Because in a world where everything revolves around attention, the extremes have the greatest effect. I believe that these problems are not caused by bad people, but by bad systems.

How to get Big Oil to end the climate crisis | Mark van Baal

“To end the climate crisis, we need to make sure that fossil fuel companies stop drilling for even more oil and gas and start investing heavily in renewable energy. This talk is about changing what cannot be changed at first sight, and will convince you that we ordinary citizens can have influence on the course of Shell and other oil majors. We are only powerless when we accept being powerless.” Founder at Follow This. 

The power of encounters | H.J. Hunter

“In my work as a documentary photographer I often tell stories about people whose voices are seldom heard. Listening to people that think differently confronts me with my own beliefs, my own prejudgements and my own ignorance. In my talk I illustrate how encounters with strangers can help us to better understand the complex world we live in. And they can even reinforce solidarity in our strongly divided society.”

What's your monkey? How to deal with false pleasure. | Nieky van Vlerken

In this personal and inspiring talk, you will hear Nieky’s struggle through different stages in becoming addicted and her inspiring journey back to regaining her life as an independent woman. You will be challenged to consider what Monkey you may be nurturing (one of the modern addictions like Social media?) and learn how to deal with it. Nieky wants people to be aware that true happiness is found in the heart instead of in external factors

Why and how shall we restore the water cycle today? | Catarina Esteves

Catarina believes that we are misusing water and disrupting the water cycle, which regulates the equilibrium of our planet. She would like each of us to take local action to restore the water cycle and make a fair and sustainable use of water. “”Our local actions will reduce the chance that we blindly run into a water crisis but instead contribute to an abundant life on earth.””

TEDxEindhovenSalon 2021

Caring engineering | Lúcia Fonseca​

What is the role of empathy when innovating for medical technologies, where technical solutions interconnect with some of the most fragile moments in our lives, and become more embedded in the everyday tasks of our care professionals? Can technology actually help us to be even more humane?

Home hospitalization is the future | Ed de Kluiver

De Kluiver talks about a strange paradox in healthcare. Much more is possible than we implement. What obstacles are in the way here? How can you develop major innovations and bring them to the world? Ed de Kluiver will explain why he thinks it is necessary to critically examine which treatments should take place in the hospital and which can be implemented in the patient’s living environment.

TEDxEindhovenSalon 2019

Saving lives together | Susanne Baars

Susanne Baars introduces the SocialGenomics MOONSHOT initiative to create access to lifesaving information for everyone and her personal motivation. She is sharing details about her visionary venture, which include a global network to build the world’s largest community to connect rare disease and cancer patients, loved ones and passionate scientists to find cures and accelerate medical breakthroughs.

Stress, emotion and cancer | David Khayat

Professor David Khayat, former president of the french national cancer institut, describes the relationship between sadness, uncontrolled stress and the risk to developp a malignant disease. He tells us what could be the mechanisms at the basis of that relationship.

Involving the patient as expert on quality of life | Art Vreugdenhil

Art Vreugdenhil is an MD working at the Maxima Oncological Centre in Veldhoven. In his work he stresses the importance of the personal preferences in cancer treatments. What he proposes in his talk is an increased involvement of the patient in the choices that are made during treatment.

Doctors are not immune for the diseases they treat | Warner Prevoo

Warner Prevoo is in daily life an interventional radiologist treating cancer patients. And then out of the blue he becomes a cancer patient himself. He struggles how to be a real patient and at the same time stay the doctor he was before. He tells about his new insights of the relationship between doctors and patients. They should team up. Doctors should not be empathetic in an artificial manner. Patients should ask their doctor how they will life.

TEDxEindhoven 2019

Building on intuition | Aukje Kuypers

In a powerful talk Aukje Kuypers, CEO of Kuijpers and Dutch Businesswoman of the year 2018, shares how she was encouraged already at a young age to do the things that makes her happy. In the family business the longer-term view for technical developments and social balance are the horizon instead of short term financial gains.

The intangible effects of walls | Alexandra Auer

Walls have been our direct response to threat for centuries and over the last 20 years the global desire for walls has been growing. We have more border barriers now, in the age of internet and globalisation, than at the end of the second world war. But the effects of walls on societies go far beyond protection.

The power of staff engagement | Jos de Jong

Living in a world where the job market is in turmoil, how do we create engagement with our staff? The lack of people with specific skills acts as a serious brake on further growth of our economy, not only in hospitality, but any other industry. This talk gives insights how to make the connection with your team, to get them onboard, and make sure you are prepared for the long-term future.

Why it's expensive to be poor | Don Ceder

If there’s one thing thing Don Ceder has realized working as a lawyer for people who struggle with debts and poverty it’s this: it’s really expensive to be poor. In this talk, he shares some of his personal experiences and points out that a lot of money is being made from people who basically don’t have it through additional costs.

Why people should govern surveillance technology | Marietje Schaake

The market in surveillance technologies is assisting repression of human rights worldwide. At the same time, the business models of social media and search platforms are eroding the public debate in democracies, while oversight over algorithms is lacking. To turn the tables, and for people to govern technologies and not the other way around, engineers, business developers, politicians and internet users need to rise, now.

Targeting health by treating ageing | Andrea Maier

Life expectancy is rapidly increasing, predominantly due to the success of modern medicine, which targets single diseases. As a result, we are growing older with multiple diseases, which eventually decrease the quality of life. Ageing is the most important risk factor for diseases at old age; in the past two decades researchers heavily invested in unraveling the ageing process.

Let’s make humanity great again | Babah Tarawally

“Let’s make humanity great again” was the focus for Babah Tarawally, Journalist and Writer. He was open-minded as he shared his story “packed like sardines at age 4, fleeing from home”. He shared his painful past, with “black and white thinking” over growing up at asylum centers, and challenges that he faced integrating into the western world, especially without the right-papers.

Choosing trust over fear takes us into the co-creation paradigm | Stefanie Jansen

Stefanie Jansen came into this world scared. Scared of new things, and scared of new people. As an adolescent, she saw her future self participating in, as well as leading “think and do tanks”, consisting of diverse people, working together to create out-of-the-box solutions for the complex challenges our world is facing.

How to prepare for the infocalypse of fakenews | Peter Vandermeersch

As editor-in-chief of NRC, a major dutch newspaper, Peter Vandermeersch knows how influential media can be. We know most of our world only through media. This places an enormous responsibility in the hands of journalists to provide us with accurate information. 

TEDxEindhovenSalon 2018

(Un)learning to read the body | Olle Lundin

The queerification of something allows to understand that thing in a way we usually don’t come across in our daily lives. The term queer alludes to the opposition between heteronormative or “normal” culture and queer or “LGBT” culture.

My psychosis, a different reality | Jeroen Zwaal

We asked Jeroen Zwaal to share his ideas on the relation between physical and mental well-being and how we can use technology to better our care and understanding. In his talk he shares his own experiences and story, starting from initially being the subject of a news article about a ‘confused person’ to becoming a person helping countless other people in making sense of their lives and experiences.

A call for Humane Technology | Michel Decre

We’ve Invited Michel Decre to provide his perspective as both innovator and critical thinker to share his thoughts on the developments and future visions of the technological utopia often presented in the popular tech-media, surprising us with his call to action for humane technology.

Why we should be using science to design better hospital buildings | Milee Herweijer

In her talk Milee presents her story on how she started to work on healing environments and how she developed the connecting language between architects and healthcare professionals to put the concept into practice in the design of hospital environments.

TEDxEindhoven 2017

The beauty of surrender | Kirsten Swensen

Most of the time we project a persona to the world, a persona in which we feel comfortable. After a decade of picture perfect display we are left with shattered empty shells. It is by pushing the boundaries towards the uncomfortable that initiates growth. With her photography, Kirsten pushes inwards into her subjects, looking to strengthen the unique hidden core of our personalities.

Teaching the next generation to think for themselves | Jasper Rijpma

Big thinkers in the 18th century kicked off the age of enlightenment, starting revolutions in science, philosophy, politics and art. Their ideas have shaped the world all the way up to the 21st century. But in the century of 140 characters, do we still dare to think so big? Jasper teaches the course ‘Great Thinkers’, challenging students to critically and creatively engage with societal themes by reflecting on the philosophers of the past.

Are we significant in the universe | Clement Vidal

Based on our current scientific understanding of the universe as we know it, it is about 13.8 billion years old, give or take a couple of million. Over those 13 or so billion years, all kinds of fascinating, mesmerising, beautiful and terrifying phenomena have emerged. Our human capability to have thoughts, ideas or lightbulb moments is, as far as we know, unique in the universe.

Is it my responsibility to change the world? | Mpanzu Bamenga

Current society and politics seem to have a tendency for the extremes. Mpanzu has been on all different sides of these discussions. He has seen and experienced societies in all shapes and sizes, humankind at its best and its worst. This gives him an unique vantage point to answer questions like, “How can we live up to our full potential; and how can we deal with a globalising and polarising world?”

Why I chose to be an ethical hacker | Ruben van Vreeland

Botnets, hackers, data leaks, cybercrime; we hear about them almost every day in the information age. With data leaks arguably tipping elections, no one seems to be more mysteriously powerful than the hackers that know how to navigate the back-roads of our shared cyberspace. Ruben van Vreeland is a veteran ethical hacker with already a decade of experience, hacking the likes of Marktplaats, Linkedin, Indigogo and more.

In touch with the thoughts of a computer | Frank van Valkenhoef

New ideas come with new views of the world and new ways to experience the world. Our world is more and more digital but we as humans are not yet equipped to live a life as digital beings. To start building the future we need to lay the right foundation. This is the task Frank has committed himself to.

Reflecting my community through photography | Diewke van den Heuvel

Diewke has been exploring photography as a weapon to show people a different perspective of themselves and their surroundings. Her work shows the fragile dividing line between what is real and what is not real, and that sometimes, reality is a matter of perspective.

Design, a question of creative and collective leadership | Steven Kyffin

How do our designed objects embody the ideas that we put into them? What can we achieve as a society through the power of design and industry? These are big questions that stand at the center of technology, education and design. From his decades of experience in both academia and industry, Steven Kyffin will shares his lessons learned and answers with us.

Intellectual property kills creativity | Joost Smiers

As Newton said, he stood on the shoulders of giants. Is our current system and philosophy on intellectual property imposing unnecessary restrictions and holding back our collective creativity? With decades of research into the politics of the arts, Joost takes the stand that we should abolish copyright.

Learning from the brain for the technologies of the future | Bart ter Haar Romeny

Professor Bart ter Haar Romeny is an expert in medical imaging technology, the brain and the human visual system. We are fascinated by the way ideas and thoughts enter our brain so we’ve invited Bart ter Haar Romeny to give us a crash course on how the brain works.

Challenging medical paradigms through art and design | Kuang Yi Ku

Kuang-Yi’s background in both dentistry and art/design helps him connect the Eindhoven dichotomy of scientific high-tech(nology) and it’s creative design community. Through his projects, Kuang-Yi challenges dogmas in medical practice, opening up our mental pathways and letting us imagine new possibilities in medical technology.

Possibilities of hyper personalised transmedia storytelling | Eefje op den Buysch

Calling something fake news might already be old news. Then again, how we make sense of our reality through media, such as news, is ever changing. New forms of media allow us to tell us our stories in new ways and potentially reach millions or even billions of people. The way we convey our ideas through media technologies is becoming non-linear, interactive, multi-channel and (to use the latest term) transmedia.

Making plastic walk through shadow and light | Anne Hélène Gelebart

Over centuries of hard work, scientists have built an incredible understanding of the world. Using all of that understanding, scientists keep on developing new techniques and applying their creative minds to play with matter and discover new possibilities within the physical world. Anne Hélène is one of such scientists, who has recently published work in Nature on making pieces of plastic crawl and walk solely by shining light on them.

TEDxEindhovenSalon 2017

Think in opportunities | Arjan Westerhoff

Four top speakers on Circular Economy Datacenter manager.

We need to take action | Selma Seddik

Four top speakers on Circular Economy Datacenter manager.

This is my contribution, what's yours? | Sabine Oberhuber

Four top speakers on Circular Economy Datacenter manager.

This is my contribution, what's yours? | Martje Fraaije

Four top speakers on Circular Economy Datacenter manager.

TEDxEindhoven 2016

Trading robots | Albert J. Menkveld

The fully automated stock exchange has been a vision of traders and economists since the seventies. Before the High Frequency Trading algorithms joined in the markets, it was human beings judging the (future) value of stocks and companies. Now that the algorithms are joining the trading-game, computer agents are also contributing to this assessment of value.

If not me, then someone else; But if not us, then no one | Daniël Lakens

We are biased to see patterns where there are none, and do not appreciate or reward randomness. We like to think remarkable things were meant to happen, but is this really true? We would love to be able to predict when remarkable things will happen, but we can’t.

The city that creates the future | Rob van Gijzel

Being inspired by Benjamin Barber’s vision for a future from the book “If mayors ruled the world”, Rob van Gijzel has initiated the experiment to put the theories around a city-centric society into practice. An experiment because making and discovering the future is a trial and error process.

The power of your space station | Vera de Pont

Vera de Pont takes you on her personal journey to a place far away, no, lightyears away, but at the same time very close. A place of crossroads within us, a place of new perspectives. By traversing these crossroads she aims to trigger your imagination to grow, to show itself, to explore and to inspire.

A new local for global citizens | Kavitha Varathan

There are currently approximately 69000 internationals in Eindhoven. Many of them talented international knowledge-workers. Every one of these people stood at a crossroad. From wildly different cultural backgrounds they all made the difficult choice to move to another place.

Sound Lab | Arvid Jense & Marie Caye

Arvid Jense gives a musical performance with a variety of the experimental instruments created at the Sound Lab while Marie Caye narrates the back-story of the sometimes strange origins of these instruments.

'Teaching' kids democracy and freedom | Jacqueline van Ewijk

In the complex modern society, learning never stops. As a democratic society we need to learn together and make decisions together. How to teach kids to embrace their freedom and participate in a democratic society? That’s the question Jacqueline aims to answer.

The power of collaboration: what to learn from an arctic camp? | Tom Huizer

Motivated to make a real impact against climate change Tom joined a glacier expedition to Greenland in the summer of 2014, together with Artek and the Technical University of Denmark. A journey that offered great insight into the climate challenge that we face today.

Life and the electric car | Bert Maas

Comparing the ignition sequences of a Tesla Model S to that of the Austin Healey 3000 Mark III is maybe not something you do everyday but for Bert Maas it is a prime example of the lack of emotion in the contemporary electric car. With his research he tries to navigate us to our future as drivers, whether you love the roar of a large V8 engine or enjoy the subtlety of the electric car.

Emphatic devices | Julia Kiseleva

Smartphones took a huge territory in the world of humans. But do you always have a mutual understanding with your phone? Julia believes that the haptic feedback we give to our phones is being wasted. Julia highlights how we can benefit more from the rich interactions we have with our phones, and make our phones not only smart, but also empathic.

Food for thought, thought for food | André Amaro

Culture is made when mind and hand work in sync making physical things. Ugly office buildings don’t bring us joy and beauty. It is when we as people make our own place, our own kitchen, our own food that creates meaningful value for ourselves. Nice words but you actually have to take action.

How to present to keep your audience’s attention | Mark Robinson

The city of Eindhoven is full of engineers giving technical presentations every day. Being an engineer himself, Mark has experienced a few too many boring presentations. Presentation skills are learnable, Mark himself is proof of that. In this talk Mark explains his journey, shares his best tips, shows how not to present and tells us why it is so important to captivate your audience.