TEDx Danubia is the first independently organized official conference in Hungary held in the spirit and under the umbrella of the famous international TED. It aims to bring the remarkable and unique TED experience to Budapest. We would like innovative, exciting and inspiring thinkers and doers from all aspects of life to gather and share their thoughts and experiences to gain new insights, value and understanding.

And why Danubia? In July 2009 at TEDGlobal in Oxford, Parag Khanna was revealing his theories about the geopolitical map and challenges of the globe. His research led him to a conclusion that we could build a better, more effective world for ourselves should we focus less on the lines that signify borders on the map and more on lines of infrastructure and geography that go across these borders and connect people. This very same principle may be applied just as well - as for our geopolitcal realities - to the borders of disciplines, areas of experties and channels of communications crossing their comfortable borders... This is the reason why the conference has been named Danubia and why it intends to create the cross-border and interdisciplinary infrastructure of conversation, exploration and thinking together.

We are expecting and inviting those interesting people who are also curious, who have ideas to share, those who care and dare to make change that matters

TEDx Danubia is inviting people who

are curious, who strive to have a better, deeper understanding of themselves and our world, who enjoy and see the value in looking beyond the borders of their immediate area of experties, even more, know that this curiousity is the ticket to success in the 21st century

think ’possible’, who focus on how we can do it as opposed to why it cannot be done, who – despite the current state of affairs – believe that it is worth the effort and it is possible to create a better world based on common sense and sensible cooperation

know the joy to be derived from design and creation, who understand that creating value through our work and personal life is a vital part of our quality of life and happiness, who understand and mind the difference between living and „just” making a living

feel the need and the urgency for change and real solutions, who know that we are facing structural problems that cannot be solved by simply putting bandaids over them, who dare facing the challenges of real transformation and new paradigms, who see that we need a deeper understanding and new ways to cooperate to get out of the mess we have created.

TEDxDanubia is a non-profit initiative based on the principles of social entrepreneurship by which we simply mean that we place a good and inspiring cause at the centre of our efforts and activities, and apart from the direct costs associated with the conferences and organizing we use all income to foster that cause and help a community forming around it. We plan to do this (in case there are enough of us who share this view) by creating an open system that builds on common effort and shared energy to create new value for all of us

We define our good and inspiring cause as follows:

We aim to create a platform for free-spirited and joyful interdisciplinary exploration, conversation and cooperation in our region. A platform that helps us in bridging chasms and crossing borders both in terms of geography and fields of expertise. All across the world and various scientific fields there is a major and common trend behind shifting paradigms: it is the common sense of life itself arising from interdisciplinary thinking and conversations finding its way back to fertilize knowledge gained through centuries of ever more intense specialization. We need a platform to promote and facilitate this process to create a better life for ourselves and to be an integral and valuable part of this changing world.

We aim to create an environment and atmosphere in which visions of a better, more effective, yet human faced and sustainable future are possible. Where having such visions (and having faith in them) is not stifled instantly by cynicism. Where such ideas and visions may be nurtured, developed and shared. Where curious people from all walks of life sharing this attitude may gather to find knowledge, wonder and inspiration, and from which joint efforts may arise to make some (or all) of these visions a reality. We believe the existence of such an environment is vital to our renewal, development and success.

Both of these aims point us in a direction where we see cooperation with like-minded people and causes is the natural way to go forward. We believe that instead of the largely parallel efforts, organizations with essentially similar goals (i.e. in the spirit of working towards a better, more effective, yet human faced and sustainable future) could be linked up in a loose, not institutionalized, but easily accessible, flexible and synergic network. Therefore we plan to support, catalyze and build on the emergence of such a network of causes.