Shaun Rein
Bestselling Author of The Split | Founder & Managing Director, China Market Research Group | Leading Authority on China's Economy
Neil Harbisson
The World's First Government-Recognized Cyborg | Contemporary Artist | Cyborg Foundation & Transpecies Society Co-Founder | Sensory Extension & Transhumanism Speaker
Neil Harbisson is the world's first government-recognized cyborg. An antenna implanted in his skull lets him hear color, sense infrared and ultraviolet, and receive satellite signals directly into his head. As a contemporary artist and co-founder of the Cyborg Foundation, he turns the question of what it means to be human into an unforgettable live experience for audiences exploring innovation, technology, and the future of the species.
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Neil Harbisson biography
Speaker Neil Harbisson is the world’s first government-recognized cyborg and a pioneering contemporary artist whose work probes the borderlands of biology, technology, and identity. Born with achromatopsia, a rare form of total color blindness, he developed a revolutionary solution: an antenna osseointegrated into his skull that translates color frequencies into audible vibrations through bone conduction, allowing him to perceive infrared, ultraviolet, and other wavelengths invisible to the unmodified human eye. The UK government recognized the antenna as part of his body when it approved its inclusion in his passport photo in 2004.
Harbisson’s antenna has since evolved into a multi-sensory implant that lets him receive phone calls, images, music, and live transmissions from satellites directly into his head via Bluetooth. He no longer identifies as fully human but as a cyborg, a fusion of biology and cybernetics whose work invites audiences to question the limits of perception, species, and self-design.
From Personal Experiment to Global Movement
In 2010, alongside lifelong collaborator Moon Ribas, Harbisson co-founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international organization that defends cyborg rights, supports sensory extension, and promotes cyborg art. In 2017 the two expanded their advocacy by co-founding the Transpecies Society, which gives voice to people with non-human identities and champions the right to self-design new senses and organs.
His art and music have been featured at TED, Sónar, the British Science Festival, London Fashion Week, and major museums and galleries worldwide. Recent projects include the Solar Crown, a heat-based implant that lets him feel solar time around his skull, and an ongoing exploration of transdental communication. He has appeared in documentaries on transhumanism and is a recurring figure in international media coverage of cybernetic art.
As a speaker, Neil Harbisson delivers one of the most original keynote experiences in the world: part performance, part philosophy, part live demonstration. His talks invite leaders in innovation, technology, and design to imagine a future where humans actively author their own evolution.
Neil Harbisson Speaking Videos
'I hear colour' says colour blind artist with antenna attached to his skull
Neil Harbisson - I listen to color
Neil Harbisson Keynote Topics
Cyborg artist Neil Harbisson takes audiences inside his own body to explore what happens when we stop using technology and start becoming it. Drawing on more than two decades of life with an antenna integrated into his skull, he reframes human evolution as a design problem we now have the tools to solve.
In this talk, leaders learn how extended senses, artificial perception, and self-designed organs are reshaping art, science, and identity, and what that shift means for organizations preparing their teams for a post-biological future.
Neil Harbisson does not play music, he plays color. In this signature live performance, the world's first government-recognized cyborg transforms members of the audience, paintings, brand assets, or the room itself into sound, layering notes derived from hair, skin, fabric, and pigment into an original composition created in real time.
The piece is part keynote, part installation, part shared sensory experiment. It offers a memorable closing or interlude for events focused on creativity, technology, branding, and innovation.
Through the Cyborg Foundation and the Transpecies Society, Neil Harbisson has spent years advocating for a future in which people can design new senses, new organs, and new identities. In this talk he walks audiences through the philosophical, legal, and ethical frontier of human enhancement.
Harbisson explores what it means to live as a non-human, why the right to modify our own bodies is the next civil rights frontier, and how leaders can prepare for a world where the line between human and machine is something we author rather than inherit.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Neil Harbisson
Why Neil Harbisson?
Neil Harbisson is unlike any other speaker an organization can book: he is literally a cyborg, with technology osseointegrated into his skull that has been recognized by a government as part of his body. That singular life experience gives him an authority on innovation, perception, and the future of humanity that no panelist or futurist can replicate. He turns abstract conversations about AI, transhumanism, and human augmentation into something audiences can see, hear, and feel through live demonstrations onstage. Book Neil Harbisson through Aurum Speakers Bureau for your next event to give your audience a keynote experience they will be talking about for years.
Who is Neil Harbisson and how did he become a cyborg?
Neil Harbisson is a Catalan-raised British-Irish artist born with achromatopsia, a rare form of total color blindness that allows him to see only in grayscale. To overcome the condition, in 2004 he had an antenna surgically implanted into his skull that converts color frequencies into audible vibrations through bone conduction. The device has since evolved into a multi-sensor implant capable of receiving infrared and ultraviolet light, phone calls, and even transmissions from satellites. He is widely recognized as the world's first legally acknowledged cyborg and the first cyborg artist.
What is the Cyborg Foundation?
The Cyborg Foundation is an international organization co-founded by Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas in 2010 that defends cyborg rights, supports sensory extension, and promotes cyborg art. The foundation helps people who want to become cyborgs, develops new sensory implants, and works to ensure that legal systems recognize cybernetic body parts as a legitimate extension of human identity. Harbisson and Ribas later co-founded the Transpecies Society in 2017 to give voice to people who do not identify as fully human.
What kind of audiences book Neil Harbisson?
Neil Harbisson is booked by Fortune 500 companies, technology and innovation events, design conferences, sustainability summits, and academic institutions exploring the future of humanity. Industries that find his perspective most valuable include AI, biotech, healthcare, design, advertising, and futurism, but his message resonates with any leadership audience preparing for a world reshaped by human-machine fusion. Contact Aurum Speakers Bureau to bring Neil Harbisson to your stage as a one-of-a-kind keynote experience.
How to book Neil Harbisson as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Neil Harbisson as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Neil Harbisson's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for Neil Harbisson or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Neil Harbisson speaking fee?
Neil Harbisson speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire Neil Harbisson to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book Neil Harbisson.
How can I contact Neil Harbisson?
We only work with Neil Harbisson on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Neil Harbisson and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Neil Harbisson speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact Neil Harbisson for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book Neil Harbisson for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Neil Harbisson is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Neil Harbisson for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
