TEDx talks: Event proves great source of inspiration for participants

Engineering driven by compassion helps create secure, stable communities, says US engineer.

ISLAMABAD: Ideas and inspiration were aplenty on Sunday at the federal capital’s first TEDx event of 2013.

The event, with the tagline “Globally Knit TED”, was organised by the TEDx RawalLake at the National Library auditorium.

TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to “Ideas worth spreading” which started in the US state of California 25 years ago. It has since become a global phenomenon, with two annual TED conferences and numerous self-organised TEDx events around the world.

The highlight of the event was a presentation by Bernard Amadei, a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado and founder of Engineers Without Borders.

Amadei talked about engineering driven by compassion that helps create secure and stable communities.

“Most of the engineering has been done for the richest 10 per cent in the world, but we need engineering solutions to help the other 90 per cent,” Amadei said.

He said 1.26 billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water and another one billion do not have electricity. This is not normal and needs to be changed through sustainable and affordable technologies.



“Science and technology have an obligation to address the needs of the poor, it is no longer an option,” he said.

Amadei told the young audience at the TEDx event they could all be agents of change by exploring and utilising their natural talents.

“Find your gift, because each of you has a gift,” Amadei said. “And when you find it, share it with others.”

Another speaker, Rehmatullah Kundi, an engineer with 20 years of professional and academic experience, talked about an efficient water pump solution he had devised and tested in Khyber Agency.

Hurmatul Ain, an artist who is also a lecturer at the National University of Sciences and Technology School of Art, Design and Architecture, spoke about her own art projects which deal with reenactment as a means of revisiting and understanding familiar structures.

TEDx RawalLake curator Salman Saeed asked the audience to use the event as a networking opportunity.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2013.