How does innovation happen? Economic and organizational sociologist Marc Ventresca approaches the world as a series of ethnographic encounters, seeing the microdynamics in big institutional arrangements and recognizing the structural sources of local and immediate interaction. Innovation is as much 'unbuilding' legacy systems as it is envisioning new ones; this duality is the source of much mischief, some glee, and sometimes despair. This is a key lesson of great historians, great sleuths, and great Moms. Coupled with an early reading of Foucault and dear friends who study social networks, and after a stint as a public policy analyst where error terms were USD $millions and 000s of children, his research and teaching build up this view of 'inhabited institutions'.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)