BMW i teams up with TED in search of mobility NextVisionaries

With a dedication not only in building electric vehicles but in establishing grounds for the future of mobility, BMW i teams up with TED in search of mobility NextVisionaries.

TED is a non-profit organization dedicated to Ideas Worth Spreading and their conferences have earned a global following. The partnership was announced during the annual TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada. BMW i sees the collaboration with TED as presenting a unique opportunity to help bring visionary ideas for personal mobility to the world’s attention. With BMW i Ventures, the brand already helps selected initiatives and start-ups to develop and implement trailblazing ideas in the organisation of personal transport.

“Ever since the founding of project i ten years ago, BMW i has been a visionary pioneer. This spirit of visionary thinking and pioneering action unites BMW i and the TED community. For all pre-thinkers of inspiring and iconic visions around the mobility of tomorrow, we offer a great stage with this unique cooperation,” explains Hildegard Wortmann, Senior Vice President Brand BMW. Lisa Choi Owens, Head of Global Partnerships at TED, adds: “TED Talks give the most creative minds and their most fascinating ideas a way to reach curious audiences around the world. The collaboration with BMW i gives us the chance to unearth some of the most exciting new thinking in the field of mobility.”

The NextVisionaries ideas competition is aimed at a creative community engaged with various aspects of future mobility. The competition theme of “Visionary Mobility” has been formulated to attract the broadest possible spread of pioneering ideas and concepts. Entrants are asked to propose vehicle and technological concepts, hardware and software solutions, and ideas for products and services that have the potential to shape the face of personal transport in tomorrow’s world. Visions can likewise be based around environment-friendly mobility-related processes that conserve resources, or on strategies for creating a society geared towards personal mobility requirements.

Thanks to its alliance with TED, BMW i will help to ensure the winning NextVisionaries idea reaches an audience that extends far beyond the company and even the car industry as a whole: the victorious vision will be presented at a TED event in New York in November 2017. First, though, the competition winner will undergo a comprehensive public speaking coaching.