With its all-embracing approach to sustainability extending far beyond electric vehicles alone, the BMW i brand has established itself as a pioneering influence in the future face of mobility. And now BMW i is teaming up with TED, the non-profit organization dedicated to Ideas Worth Spreading whose conferences have earned a worldwide following. The alliance was announced yesterday during the annual TED Conference in the Canadian city of Vancouver. BMW i is launching a unique, global search for ideas with TED entitled “NextVisionaries”. Here, pioneers, strategists and creatives from around the world are invited to outline their ideas for mobility. Applications can be submitted now at the www.nextvisionaries.com microsite. During a multi-phase selection process over the next four months, a panel of mentors will choose the most impressive, most promising and most groundbreaking proposals. The winning entrant will be given the opportunity to present their visionary idea from the TED stage in New York in November 2017.
BMW i and “NextVisionaries”: aiming to completely rethink personal mobility.
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. And now, “NextVisionaries” is providing a platform that is open to everyone and has been designed to enable free exchange of ideas. “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.”
Wanted: visions that will move tomorrow’s world.
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.
Information on the conditions for participation can be found on the www.nextvisionaries.com microsite set up jointly by BMW i and TED, as well as on social media channels such as Twitter and YouTube. The microsite also serves as a platform for exchanging ideas about new forms of personal mobility. The entries submitted will first be edited for composition and content, before being narrowed down to a smaller selection. The resultant short-list of six visionaries will then have the opportunity to refine their concepts and ideas with the help of experts from BMW i and TED. The best visions will be presented in public for the first time at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in September 2017, and a panel of experts will subsequently choose the overall winner of the competition.
From visionary to TED speaker.
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.
About TED
Founded in 1984, the first TED conferences were held in Monterey, California. In 2006, TED experimented with putting TED Talk videos online for free – a decision that opened the doors to a radically new model for sharing ideas: today there are more than 2,400 TED Talks available for free on TED.com, which are viewed about a billion times a year. Thanks to the support of thousands of volunteer translators, there are close to 100,000 published translations of TED Talks in over 110 languages. TEDx, the licensing program that allows communities to produce independently organized TED events, has seen 21,500 events held worldwide.
About BMW i
BMW i is a BMW Group brand focusing on visionary vehicle concepts, connected mobility services and a new understanding of premium strongly defined by sustainability. BMW i is represented in 54 countries with the BMW i3 electric car for metropolitan areas, BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car and plug-in hybrid BMW iPerformance Automobiles. BMW i opens up new target groups for the company and serves as an incubator for innovations. Technologies which have debuted successfully in BMW i cars are carried over to parent brand BMW’s other models. BMW i is also associated with enterprises including DriveNow (car sharing in Europe), ReachNow (car sharing in the US), ChargeNow (easy access to the world’s largest network of charging points), ParkNow (straightforward location, reservation and payment of parking spaces), BMW i Ventures (investment in start-up companies), BMW Energy Services and the Centre of Competence for Urban Mobility (consultancy for cities).
Contact:
Wieland Brúch,
Spokesman BMW i and Electric Mobility
Phone: +49-89-382-72652
Email: [email protected]
Media Website: www.press.bmwgroup.com
The BMW Group
With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.
In 2016, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.367 million cars and 145,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax was approximately € 9.67 billion on revenues amounting to € 94.16 billion. As of 31 December 2016, the BMW Group had a workforce of 124,729 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.