TEDxChapelHill - Jonathan Kuniholm - "We have the technology, right?" June 8, 2011

Favorite:

Openprosthetics.org--Using open collaboration to help us overcome the multiple market failure that has stagnated innovation in prosthetic arms for more than a century. How open architecture, open hardware, and open source software can help lower the marginal cost of innovation and secure a culture of improvement for orphan medical device communities.

Kuniholm is an engineer and founder of The Open Prosthetics Project, a non-profit organization that posts its research on prosthetic hardware designs on the internet, allowing individuals and companies to access the information free-of-charge. A Marine officer, he was sent to Iraq in 2004. On New Year's Day in 2005, Kuniholm's patrol was ambushed by Iraqi insurgents near the Euphrates River. The Iraqi insurgents detonated a device packed with shrapnel and explosives, then started firing; Kuniholm's platoon took cover and returned fire. Kuniholm was wounded in the initial explosion and his right arm was later amputated below the elbow.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxChapelHill, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxChapelHill event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, and is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. At TEDx events, a screening of TEDTalks videos—or a combination of live presenters and TEDTalks videos—sparks deep conversation and connections. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.