The first TEDx talks at the University of the West of England (UWE) are being staged tomorrow by the Student Union with 10 guest speakers sharing their ideas on the topic of The Innovative Attitude.
The speakers – who range from academics conducting ground-breaking research at UWE to those impacting local and business communities with their innovation – will share in a celebration of the work and innovative ideas that are pushing Bristol, and the world, forward. 
The event, which takes place between 11am and 4pm, is already sold out.
Speakers include James Brown, registered blind Paralympian in training for Rio; Lindsay West co-presenting with James, founder of Values Coach UK; Mike Crooks, head of innovation at Bristol app developer Mubaloo; Tony Parraman, head of sponsor liaison at the Bloodhound supersonic car project; Kath Cockshaw of Better Bristol crowd fund and an expert in economic and environmental sustainability; Dr Jonathan Winfield, senior researcher at the Bristol Bioenergy Centre, part of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory; Jim Duffy, CEO of Entrepreneurial Spark; Poku Osei, founder of Babbasa Youth Empowerment Project; Joe Ryan, founder and CEO of Virtual Reality firm VRgo; Ze Nunes, founder of MACH Acoustics consultancy and Dr Sanja Dogramadzi, designer of smart medical robotics.
The event has been organised by Bristol Business School graduate Adrian Pang. He said: “The inspiration to curate the first TEDx at UWE Bristol stemmed from attending a series of exceptional talks held on the TED platform.
“My own experience of TED talks and TEDx highlighted the wide variety of topics that could be tapped into, and the potential for global reach the talks had. It is my greatest intention to share my exciting TEDx experience, with the hope to inspire others to think differently.
“During my final year of my Business Management degree I attended TEDx Teen in London, which motivated me to bring TEDx to my university. I hope to develop a TEDx platform that foregrounds UWE Bristol students, in order to engage other students, staff, communities in Bristol and the South West, as well as the global TEDx network, to create further awareness of important ideas.
“The journey leading up to this weekend has been extremely demanding but incredible, and has included pitching for the TEDx license, gaining funding, building relationships with partners and securing sponsors, whilst simultaneously attracting speakers, building a core TEDx UWE Bristol Team, and resurrecting the UWE Entrepreneurs Society around TEDx UWE.”
Anyone interested in future events should visit www.tedxuwe.org, or the TEDx UWE Bristol Facebook page, where any announcements regarding ticket cancellations and future talks will be made.
