2007 TED prize winner Bill Clinton
April 5th, 2007 by Mollie
TED (Technology Entertainment Design) is a conference that brings together leaders and innovators in technology, entertainment and science.
The TED prize is used
[e]ach year [to] honor a maximum of three individuals who have shown that they can, in some way, positively impact life on this planet.
We are looking for inventors and entrepreneurs, designers and artists, visionaries and mavericks, protectors and persuaders. Our goal is to honor and empower these people by connecting them to the formidable resources of the TED community. Our prize-winners may be very different, but they will have this in common: They will be doing something that has extraordinary potential. Something whose positive influence could spread, transcending borders. Something that can contribute to the future of life on earth.
(Read more about what the TED prize is and how they make it happen.)
This year Bill Clinton won the TED prize and gave a great talk on his acceptance.
It is 25 minutes long. There were a couple of times where I nearly stopped it because I didn’t think I had the time, but I am so glad that I watched the whole thing and I would highly recommend that you do the same (you can skip the BMW ad at the end). This video gave me hope, chills, and made me teary. There is a lot that needs to be done in this world and a lot that we can do about it.
This is a very short summary of what Clinton says and does not come close to capturing all that he says or the spirit in which he says it.
Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, Bill Clinton says he’s trying to build a better world to hand to his daughter. Unequal, unstable and unsustainable, our world must correct its course, and private citizens (“like me”) can be powerful forces for change. His Clinton Foundation, fresh from its success negotiating down pharmaceutical prices in the developing world, is now running a pilot health care system in Rwanda, based on the work of Dr. Paul Farmer in Haiti. In 18 months, it has shown potential as a model for the entire developing world. Clinton’s TED wish: Help him build this system in Rwanda, to bring world-class health care to a people who have overcome deadly hatred to rebuild their nation.