Ayah Bdeir

The Ayah Bdier keynotes unveil the potential of an accessible circuit building kit to teach kids about technology and give non-engineers the ability to build something without comprehensive technical knowledge.

Bdier received undergraduate degrees in computer engineering and sociology from the American University of Beirut. She then went on to study her master's in the MIT Media Lab. A variety of her projects have been exhibited in MoMa, the Ars Electronica and the Roayl College of Art. With a fellowship at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, she taught graduate class at NYU and Parsons in 2008. She was also awarded with a fellowship from Creative Commons in 2010. That same year, she co-chaired the Open Hardware Summit at the New York Hall of Science. She was also awarded the TED Fellowship, and is prepared to speak at its 2012 conference.

Her work has been exhibited at MoMA and is part of the museum's permanent collection. Other exhibits include her first solo show 'Identities in Motion' at the Peacock Visual Arts gallery (Aberdeen), the New Museum (New York), Ars Electronica (Linz), Badcuyp and the Royal College of Art (London). Bdeir was featured in the New York Times Magazine (2011), Inc Magazine (2011), BBC (2011), Elle Oriental (2010), Art Asia Pacific (2009), among others.

She founded littleBits, an open source pre-assmebled circuit manufacturer, as well as karaj, the experimental art institute of Beirut.

The Ayah Bdeir keynotes present an intuitive concept of easy-to-use, magnetic electronic parts, citing the need to make simple circuit technology accessible to all the creatives in the world.