International and regional innovators will gather in Tijuana for a 10-day conference, which aims to improve the city’s image.

The events start today and ends on Oct. 21.

Tijuana Innovadora (Innovative Tijuana) will comprise keynote speakers, high-tech firm exhibits, workshops in fields such as health care, education, fashion design, wine tasting, and a 12-mile bike tour around the city and a closing concert by the electronic group Nortec Collective.

“San Diego has long believed it has been living with a toad called Tijuana, but in reality Tijuana is a prince waiting to be discovered,” President of Tijuana Innovadora Jose Galicot Behar told La Prensa San Diego in 2010. “In the midst (sic) of the deep financial crisis in the U.S. they would benefit from joining forces with Tijuana when it comes to medical services, cultural life, real state, creating a win-win situation for the region.”

Confirmed speakers include Co-founder of Apple Inc. Steve Wozniak, 2009 Nobel Prize winner Ada Yonath in chemistry, TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie and Wired Magazine editor in chief Chris Anderson. Al Gore, Larry King and Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone were among the 2010 speakers drawing more than 700,000 attendees the first conference.

The multi-elemental event is geared for young people, said media coordinator of Tijuana Innovadora Aida Garcia. Ticket prices are $35-$45 per single event, but each conference includes several speeches, Garcia said. Some events, such as the conclusive concert, will be free. “I’m convinced 99 percent of us living in Tijuana are honest, interesting, hard-working people,” Behar said. “It is only a small group that insists in terrorizing us.”

Sessions will be in English and Spanish simultaneously. For more information on event dates, visit the conference’s website Tijuana2012.com.