2006 Winners
2006 TED Prize winners, from left: Dr. Larry Brilliant; filmmaker Jehane Noujaim; architect Cameron Sinclair
Dr. Lawrence Brilliant
Medical doctor, epidemiologist, technologist, activist, author who is healing the world
Board-certified in preventive medicine and public health, Larry lived in India for ten years, first at a Himalayan monastery studying with Neem Keroli Baba, and later as a diplomat working for the United Nations. He was one of the leaders of the successful World Health Organization smallpox eradication program. When he came back to the United States, he became a professor of international health at the University of Michigan and later co-founded, with Stewart Brand, The Well, a legendary online community. Time and WIRED magazines call him a “technology visionary.” Larry was also the founder and is chair of the international health nonprofit the Seva Foundation. Brilliant, a technology patent holder, has been CEO of two public companies and other venture-backed startups. As his nominator sums it up, “Dr. Brilliant is a name to live up to, and he has.”
Larry Brilliant’s Wish
I wish that you would help build a global system to detect each new disease or disaster as quickly as it emerges or occurs.
One Year Later
Where We Are Now
InSTEDD was established with support from Google.org in October 2007 as an innovation lab for technologies designed to improve community resilience and save lives through early disease detection and rapid disaster response. This past November in the San Francisco Bay Area, Golden Shadow was InSTEDD’s first field test of technologies and procedures selected to overcome some of the shortcomings of our current public health and disaster response systems. The project used text messaging and web mapping technologies to better connect community members and emergency first responders. Launched in December 2007, Mekong Collaboration Program (MCP) is on ongoing project to help nations in Southeast Asia predict, prevent and respond to emerging and resurgent infectious diseases.
Jehane Noujaim
Filmmaker documenting her search for truth
Two weeks before the US invasion in Iraq, Jehane went to Qatar, gained access to both Al Jazeera and the US military’s Central Command offices, and caught the onset and outbreak of the Iraqi war on film. The result: Control Room, her controversial, gutsy documentary that lays out the divergent ways the war was reported by the Arabs and the West. Being raised between Egypt and the US, the exploration of culture is one of Jehane’s driving forces. Before Control Room, Jehane produced and directed Startup.com in association with Pennebaker Hegedus Films. The acclaimed feature-length documentary follows two New Yorkers on the dotcom roller coaster as they attempt to start up Govworks, a website linking citizens and their local governments. Before culture even begins to shift, Jehane is there with her camera, trusting that the story to unfold is one that will change us.
Jehane Noujaim’s Wish
I wish to bring the world together for one day a year through the power of film.
One Year Later
Where We Are Now
On May 10, millions gathered to watch Pangea Day, a 4-hour program of short films from around the world interspersed with inspirational talks and global music. Public events were hosted in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro and was watched by thousands in self organized events across 105 countries. The program aired live in 180 countries with broadcast partners including BSkyB, Current TV, Star World, Multichoice, and MGM Latin America. The program also streamed live on the Pangea Day site and MSN carried the program on 22 of its international sites. So far over 1 million viewers have watched the first 20 minutes of Pangea Day on YouTube and total YouTube Pangea Day video views is approaching 8 million.
Cameron Sinclair
Architect solving global, social, and humanitarian crises with design
Cameron’s mantra: Design like you give a damn. He is the cofounder of Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit that seeks architecture solutions to humanitarian crises and brings design services to communities in need. For the past six years his team has initiated and implemented programs including housing ideas for returning refugees in Kosovo; mobile health clinics to combat HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa; mine clearance programs and playground building in the Balkans; and disaster recovery assistance in Grenada, India, Iran and Sri Lanka. In his words, his challenge is “to encourage the design profession to respond to the 98% of the world that do not benefit from our services and to foster public appreciation for the many ways that architecture and design can improve lives.” Cameron and co-founder Kate Stohr fund the projects through individual donations and design contest entry fees. Working as a two-person team, they raised $120,000 for Kosovo relief and $500,000 for Sri Lanka. After the tsunami, it became clear how much Sinclair was needed when he received 4,000 e-mails in a week from people seeking to help.
Cameron Sinclair’s Wish
I wish to create a community that actively embraces open-source design to generate innovative and sustainable living standards for all.
One Year Later
Where We Are Now
Since it’s inception in 2006, the Open Architecture Network has built a community of over 13,000 professionals and has been utilized to develop over 1,200 projects throughout the world. In 2007, the AMD Open Architecture Challenge invited the global community to help address the digital divide. It challenged design professionals and others to develop not one but many solutions for building sustainable, multi-purpose, low-cost technology facilities for those who need them most. Three winners were chosen for projects in three regions including a media lab and library in Nairobi, Kenya.
