INK is an annual conference held in association with TED

TED (conference)

TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....

. It brings together influential thinkers and doers from around the world and in a variety of disciplines, including art, architecture, dance, design, music, science, social entrepreneurship, sports, and technology. What originated as TEDIndia in 2009 is now continued as the INK conference.

Background

TEDIndia was co-hosted by Lakshmi Pratury

Lakshmi Pratury

Lakshmi Pratury is the co-host of TEDIndia 2009, host and curator of The INK Conference and founder of Ixoraa Media, whose mission is to strengthen the ties between United States and India through sponsored corporate, cultural, and media events. She was featured in the list of the 100 Most Powerful...

 and Chris Anderson, the Curator of the TED Conference. The event drew almost 1000 attendees from 46 countries, and was held in Mysore, India in November 2009. The INK Conference was founded by Lakshmi after the initial success of TEDIndia, and is designed to continue the momentum created by TEDIndia.

Inaugural Conference

The inaugural INK Conference took place at Lavasa Hill City near Mumbai, in December 2010. It's theme was "Untold Stories", and spanned over three days. It was named Mumbai's Best Conference of 2010 by CNNGo.

Speakers at the first INK conference featured science writer Anil Ananthaswamy, founder of Wired

Wired (magazine)

Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...

magazine Kevin Kelly, the youngest headmaster of a school Babar Ali, filmmaker James Cameron

James Cameron

James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...

, creator of The Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

and Futurama

Futurama

Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...

Matt Groening

Matt Groening

Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....

, design guru Philippe Starck, Lego

Lego

Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...

 innovator John-Henry Harris, anti-trafficking activist Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of Emotiv Nam Do, techno-artist Alexander Tsiaras, founder of Super 30

Super 30

Super 30 is an Indian educational program that started in Patna, Bihar, India under the banner of 'Ramanujan School of Mathematics', by Anand Kumar. Established in 2002, the program selects 30 meritorious and talented candidates each year from economically backward sections of society and trains...

Anand Kumar, among many others.

2011 Conference

The second INK Conference is to be held in Jaipur

Jaipur

Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....

at Jaipur Marriott Hotel in December 2011. INK 2011 will feature the theme of "Power of the Journey".

Fellows Program

The INK Conference of 2010 hosted 20 promising young innovators from around the world to showcase their work. The INK Fellows program aims to work with a select few of these innovators to support their project. Every year, INK picks 20 young minds to showcase on the INK stage.

INKTalks

Besides the annual conference, INK includes INKTalks. On INKTalks, the best talks and performances from INK are available to the world for free. These videos are released under a Creative Commons License, so they can be freely shared and reposted.