TED x: 169 to 1
“425 Voices can share their stories with TED x one city at a time.”
- David Hudson
Photo By Aykut Kılıç
Your Target. Your Voice. Your Legacy.
One target. One ripple. One global platform to share your story.
TEDx: 169to1® is coming. From January 2026, your institution can be part of it.
1 Story
Coming Soon…
The Vision
TEDx: 169to1® is the storytelling arm of our global ecosystem.
For the next five years, we will visit 85 cities across the world, to provide a platform 425 voices.
Effectively one voice for every Sustainable Development Goal and its Targets, every year leading to the close of 2030.
The framework is live. The systems are being finalised.
And from January 2026, institutions across the world can join.
How It Works
The Structure is simple… 17 SDGs, 85 Cities, 5 Years, and 1 Global Story Grid.
Each year, seventeen cities will host one TEDx: 169to1® event, each spotlighting a different Sustainable Goal.
Over five years, every goal and their targets will be told through five distinct, local perspectives.
Speakers will include youth, educators, SMEs, NGOs, and frontline leaders. And their stories will be recorded, subtitled and shared to a global audiences.
What You Can Do
For Cities: Apply to host a TEDx: 169to1® event. Represent your target. Share your story.
For Institutions: From January 2026, activate one SDG target. Track your progress. Put forward a speaker.
For Youth: Join the Born in 2015 storyteller stream. Share your vision. Shape the future.
For Everyone: Watch the story unfold. Follow the ripple. Be part of the next wave of voices.
The Commitment
Each host city must have at least one institution activating a verified SDG target
Host partners can include schools, universities, SMEs, NGOs, or local governments
169to1® will provide a full Event-in-a-Box toolkit: branding, speaker guides, coaching materials, and templates
Every event is local. Every voice is real. Every story is proof that change is already happening.
TEDx Making Local Action Visible
Turning commitments into evidence, and evidence into change.
169to1® makes that work visible. It brings local action into the global record, shifting the focus from what was promised to what was delivered.
This is not about performance, it is about proof. It ensures that the work of schools, clinics, councils, cooperatives, and youth groups is seen, shared, and remembered.
Because in the end, the real measure of the SDGs will be how they were implemented, one voice, one ripple, one target at a time.
The Role of Storytelling
Storytelling is not an afterthought, it is the thread that connects trust, evidence, and impact.
It shows how change happens, and how individual actions become part of a larger story.
Behind every activated target lies a person, a place, and a decision. When these stories are told clearly and honestly, they give others the confidence to act. Communities define their progress in their own words, making the results authentic and relatable.
This is how 169to1® moves from idea to impact.
Why It Matters
With just 0.01% of the world’s institutions formally acting on the SDGs, the issue isn’t ambition. It’s visibility.
All over the world, institutions are stepping up; often without recognition, to act on one target. These efforts may not make headlines, but they are real, measurable, and already in motion.
Join Us
This is your global invitation to speak from where you stand, and show the world what action really looks like.
The first cycle begins January 2026.
If you're ready to share your story, and your impact, we want to hear from you.
