Sociopolitical

TEDxTaipei spotlights ideas for a better world

The 2012 TEDxTaipei conference explores co-creation, co-living, education, and the relationship between land and people. (Courtesy of TEDxTaipei)

• Publication Date：10/28/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Rachel Chan

The fourth TEDxTaipei annual conference was held Sept. 29-30 in Taipei City. A lineup of 36 speakers from all sectors of society at home and abroad shared their extraordinary views in 18-minute talks.

“This year’s event emphasized how in the face of many uncertainties we can employ the power of ideas to change our attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world,” TEDxTaipei founder Jason Hsu said. Offering inspiration and knowledge from some of the world’s greatest thinkers is exactly what TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, is about, he added.

Operated by the private nonprofit Sapling Foundation, TED holds three yearly conferences in California’s Long Beach and Palm Springs, and Edinburgh, Scotland. More than 900 TED talks have also been made available online for free viewing, sharing and reposting. TEDx events are organized at the local level independently of the parent foundation under an open licensing program.

Themed “The Future is Now,” the conference saw a record audience of 700, more than 30 percent of whom were under 20 years old. Over 50 representatives from other TEDx branches such as Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore also attended to learn about Taiwan’s most touching and inspiring stories.

Stan Shih, co-founder of computer giant Acer Inc. and chairman of the National Culture and Arts Foundation, highlighted the role of national leaders and corporate managers as one of balancing interests, creating values and carrying out sustainable development to make society a better place for all.

“The ultimate egoism is altruism,” Shih said.

Acer co-founder Stan Shih believes political and business leaders should work for sustainable development.

Ada Wong, founder of the nonprofit Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture, said she launched the Make A Difference project to inspire and empower youth aged 16 to 30 all over Asia to create positive personal, economic, social and environmental change.

The MaD Good Lab is another of the institute’s initiatives to cultivate creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation among young people by adopting the “co-working” model that has prevailed in Europe and the U.S., according to Wong.

“In the Good Lab work-at-home professionals, entrepreneurs and the self-employed can gather together and work in the same place,” she said. “It offers a solution to the problem of isolation that many freelancers experience while working at home, and allows cross-sector creativity to flourish and good ideas to be realized with the help from talented people from different fields.”

Jack Sim, founder of the Singapore-based nonprofit World Toilet Organization, began his address by asking the audience to “talk about shit!”

“What we don’t discuss, we can’t improve,” he said.

Sim founded the WTO in 2001 to break the global taboo on the subject and improve sanitation conditions worldwide, especially access to toilets. Toilets are as important as clean water for improving public health in underdeveloped areas , he said, but have received much less attention and far fewer resources.

Jack Sim uses humor to spotlight the need to provide toilets for the poor.

“Sustainable sanitation is the key to health and well-being, but 40 percent of the world’s population does not have access to toilets and basic hygienic measures,” he said.

With his unique mix of humor and serious facts, Sim has brought global attention to the issue while relying completely on self-initiated activities and a zero budget.

Last year, the organization’s campaign reached over one billion people through media coverage, according to Sim. World Toilet Day, Nov. 19, is celebrated in more than 19 countries with events hosted by water and sanitation advocates to raise awareness of the issue. Sim encouraged the Taiwan audience to get involved in the movement to help those in need.

“Everything is possible if you can get others to do it with you,” he said.

Sharing this ambition to help the less fortunate is Yu Zhihai, who initiated the 1KG More campaign in 2004. This program urges travelers to carry an extra kilogram of books or stationary in their backpacks when they journey to rural villages in mainland China to help improve the quality of education.

“It takes every individual to make a difference, so we established an online network with detailed information on the locations of more than 1,600 rural schools and things the students need,” Yu said.

Yu Zhihai explains how his 1 KG Reading and Art Boxes campaign works to better education in rural areas of mainland China.

In 2011, Yu launched the 1 KG Reading and Art Boxes project after realizing that in addition to supplies, country schools need more software like diversified curriculums and well-trained teachers.

Under the new plan, volunteer backpackers or teachers can register online to receive free boxes containing teaching materials and instructions for art, handicraft, reading and theater classes, according to Yu.

“These boxes break down the wall of authority in class—instead of having a teacher as the only source of knowledge, students can take charge while teachers assist in creating a fun class,” he said. “Learning can be completely collaborative and spontaneous.”

Yu Chih-wei and his business partner Hung Chen-yu also see traveling as a way of changing the world. Their Mini Trip Revolution encourages people to travel to small communities and villages to appreciate Taiwan’s most characteristic cultural heritage and natural beauty.

“What one sees and experiences during a trip unconsciously triggers a type of revolution of the mind and as a result changes the way one perceives things,” Yu Chih-wei said. “This is the first step to changing a society and world that one finds dissatisfactory because no one can solve problems by continuing to use the same kind of thinking.”

Taipei is the second Asian city after Tokyo to have a TEDx event as a platform for local voices.

A glimpse of Taiwan’s future was presented when Chang Liang-yi, Kelsey Lauren Cho, Huang Wei-chia, Lu Tzu-chun, Wang Ching-hung and Wu Cheng-ju, all under the age of 25, took the stage to share their accomplishments and ambitions in education, science and social services. Their talks showed how, as the TEDxTaipei conference program says, “the new generation goes beyond textbook learning to redefine the meaning of excellence.” (THN)

Write to Rachel Chan at ccchan@mofa.gov.tw