Campus and Community

Third edition of TEDxISTAlameda

"Discover and keep focused" was the challenge of this year’s edition that brought hundreds of participants to Técnico.

On April 8, Instituto Superior Técnico hosted for the third time the conference TEDxISTAlameda, where more than 200 participants had the opportunity to share ideas and experiences.

A concert by “Les crazy coconuts” opened the 2017 edition. The pop rhythms that mixed with a frenzied tap dance cheered the audience and created high expectations.

Daniela Ribeiro, one of the guest speakers, shared her experience: “I became an artist because I couldn’t fit into the system. This was the way of freeing myself”. She started to paint everything that inspired her and when she discovered the Hubble Space Telescope she realised that she wanted to portray the Universe. From there to scientific humanism, it only took her several conversations with researchers of this area. “Scientific humanism is a combination of two realities that seem distant to us”, explains Daniela.

Artificial intelligence and yoga were some of the topics approached before an audience composed of students, professionals, groups of friends and families.

Mistah Isaac was one of the most anticipated speakers: DJ, producer, poet and composer. He spoke about what inspires and motivates him and where he finds his focus. “Future is my focus”, he said.

According to Beatriz Moreira, from the organising team, the essence of this event lies “in the diversity of topics approached, which are fascinating”.

Inspired by this diversity, Vera Silva, a former student of Environmental Engineering, returned to Técnico after 6 years. “I want to be on the lookout for new ideas and to get inspired by such events”, said the engineer. “After all, this event is all about inspiration”, she summed up.