Neil Harbisson

There are many innovation speakers who stand out through their technological achievements, but few have embraced their craft quite like Neil Harbisson. The world's first cyborg, Neil is legally recognised as a half-man, half-robot hybrid. His eye-catching antenna allows Neil to feel and hear colour vibrations inside of his head, allowing him to experience infrared and ultraviolet colours formerly invisible to the human eye. This incredibly engaging TED Talk speaker will keep audiences hooked on his every word, as they revel in a story straight from a science fiction novel.

Born with Achromatopsia, otherwise known as total colour blindness, Neil decided to adapt through technology rather than miss out on a world of colour. Though he doesn't know what colour looks like, he has been able to hear colour from 2004. Since fitting a colour sensor to his head, he can distinguish one colour from another through specific frequencies, then apply those frequencies to objects like grass or the sky. Ahead of his field, Neil even started to dream in colours - the software had perfectly fused with his brain, making him a cyborg.

For Neil, a supermarket is a concert hall, an art gallery is a dance floor of pounding colours. He dresses by sounds, using tonal influences to dictate the colours he chooses. Niel himself explained that if he were to attend a funeral then he would dress in B Minor; turquoise, purple and orange. Not the usual attire, but this is no ordinary man. When Neil meets people, he hears their face as well as sees them. For example, Nicole Kidman sounds like a sombre, haunting melody, somewhat similar to Prince Charles.

Thanks to his electronic eye, Neil can see infrared and ultraviolet sounds. If someone were to point a remote control at him, he would hear it. He can tell whether the sun is too strong to sunbathe in, by how it sounds. Noticing the benefits of such an ability, he founded the Cyborg Foundation to help people extend their senses. In addition, he also founded the Transpecies Foundation, to protect the rights of non-human identities who were formerly unrecognised by governments.

An event featuring Neil will stay with your guests long after they leave. A booking like this one is an opportunity to glimpse into the future, to witness technology and art in unison with each other. He has given talks at top-level technology events all over the world, including TEDGlobal, London Fashion Week and the British Science Festival.