Senior NASA Advisor Joins TEDxAuckland 2017 Lineup
A senior NASA economist will tell thousands of Kiwis about the future of space exploration at this year’s TEDxAuckland
event.
US-based Alexander MacDonald advises private space exploration companies and has used satellites to monitor earthquakes
and environmental issues.
He comes at an exciting time for the New Zealand space industry, with the recent founding of the New Zealand Space
Agency and the successful launch of Rocket Lab’s Electron earlier this year.
MacDonald will join 20 other local and international experts, innovators, and entrepreneurs to speak to a 2,000-strong
crowd when TEDxAuckland hits the Aotea Centre on December 1st and 2nd.
TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks in more than 100 different
languages, and across a vast range of subjects.
Independently run TEDx events are designed to help communities, organisations and individuals spark conversations and
connections through local TED-like experiences.
TEDxAuckland licenser and producer Elliott Blade says this year's event is going to bring a diverse and vibrant range of
ideas to the audience.
“We spread innovative, creative ideas from the TEDxAuckland stage to the rest of the world. Experiencing TEDx Talks can
and does make an impact in everyone, and our dream is that this impact leads to new ideas and social growth in our
society.”
The speaker lineup includes another intergalactic expert, space entrepreneur Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom who recently moved
to New Zealand from Silicon Valley to co-found SpaceBase - a space tourism company.
Also speaking is Shaveer Mirpuri who formed GOAT Ventures which pairs radically opposite Fortune 500 companies to
co-create new business opportunities; conservation activist Pete Bethune, paralympian Liam Malone, and child poverty
campaigner and Eat My Lunch co-founder, Lisa King.
The 2017 TEDxAuckland event is sponsored by nib New Zealand, and chief executive Rob Hennin says it aligned with the
company’s ethos of continuous innovation and challenging the status quo.
“We understand the value of informed, intelligent discussion about the future of life here in New Zealand and want to
make it easier for Kiwis to hear, share and discuss these ideas.
“We can’t think of a better way to bring new, exciting and even some cautionary ideas here.”
ENDS