Cesar Harada believes that ocean currents, the wind and other naturally occuring phenomenon can provide unique inspiration and novel solutions to mankind’s worst disasters, like oil spills and radioactive leaks. A French-Japanese inventor and TED senior fellow, he is the creator of Protei, a revolutionary sailing technology -- featuring a front rudder, flexible hull and open-soure hardware -- that allows for efficient clean up of both oil and plastics from the sea. Currently based in London, Harada recently traveled to Japan and is designing Protei to measure radioactivity along the country's coast.

The general coordinator of the future International Ocean Station, Harada teaches at Goldsmiths University London. A former project leader at MIT, he graduated form the Royal College of Arts Design Interactions in London and worked at the Southampton University Hydrodynamics laboratory on wave energy. Harada has also studied animantion, and his films and installations have been seen at festivals and events across the world, from the United States to Japan.