TED conference leaving Vancouver after next year’s event

After more than a decade, the annual TED conference is leaving Vancouver and moving south of the border.

The annual TED conference in Vancouver is coming to an end.

TED2025 wrapped up on Friday, its 11th year in the city, but organizers say next year will be the last.

Monique Ruff-Bell, the chief program and strategy officer for TED, explained that the conference will return to its roots in California in 2027 as the organization looks to “refresh” the event.

“We have been under this planning for about two years now,” said Ruff-Bell. “Contracts expire with venues and you kind of have to think about where your next home is going to be.”

Throughout the last week, TED25 has welcomed dozens of the world’s biggest and brightest minds in tech, entertainment, and science.

The conference’s theme was Humanity Reimagined, which focused on AI and its impacts.

On Friday, several of this year’s speakers told CTV News that the Vancouver event provided an opportunity to gather different perspectives and skills and brainstorm ways to make the world a better place.

“TED this week has been really powerful and profound because I think many people enter this conference with a real healthy skepticism about where the world is going,” said Julienne Oyler.

Oyler co-founded Inkomoko, an organization described by TED as Africa’s largest investor in refugee entrepreneurs. It provides capital and resources to help them build their pathway out of poverty. To date, she says, her team has provided more than $30 million to over 100,000 businesses across five countries.

She was joined by fellow American Scott Loarie, who also spoke at this year’s conference and agreed that the event is critical for the free flow of ideas.

“You have really smart people coming together, and they’re able to learn from one another, and hopefully that cross-pollination happens,” said Loarie.

Loarie is currently the executive director of iNaturalist, a non-profit that bills itself as “an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature.”

Now that all the speeches have been given for this year, organizers are preparing for next year’s conference, which will be held from April 13 to 17, 2026, at the Vancouver Convention Centre.