Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2022

Current batteries suffer high costs, short cycling lifetimes, low energy density, etc. A new battery design is needed. Building cooperative interfaces that enable anode-free batteries is the solution.

How Exoplanet Research is Scouting for Earth 2.0 More than 2000 years ago, the question whether we are alone in the universe was first asked. Today, we live in a time, when for the first time in history, we have the tools to answer it. Lisa Kaltenegger’s multi-awarded research focuses…

The nominating institution Leuphana University on the breakthrough: The Volkswagen foundation has developed a new selection procedure due to the impossibility of absolute objectiveness: In the funding initiative “Experiment!”, part of the funded projects are selected by an independent jury. Additionally, further projects are drawn from those applications that are…

IBM’s invention of nanosheet technology has demonstrated scaling to the 2 nanometer node, with a world-record gate length just 2 dozen atoms long. This breakthrough enables 45% faster speed or 75% less power as compared to the best available 7 nm transistors, extending the semiconductor roadmap for the coming decade.…

In this Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversation with Londa Schiebinger, digital participants had the chance to discuss and ask questions. The interview series provided an intense personal atmosphere, in which high-level guests, speakers and panelists of the Falling Walls Science Summit 2021 focused on their individual research, career paths and experiences.…

Cindy Ow transforms cancer signalling pathways into otherworldly musical opuses, highlighting cancer mutations with auditory distortions.

The digital coach goes far beyond traditional reactive ‘FAQ-bot’ approaches by pro-actively engaging with students and starting conversations to ensure they settle into university life with the best support possible; making personalised recommendations for societies to join, asking how students are feeling and nudging students towards activities that can help…

Labor reflects upon our changing understanding of what we are. Microbes in and on the human body outnumber human cells and complicate any simplistic sense of (an indivisible) self. The smell of the perspiring body is not just a human scent, unless we are willing to redefine what we mean…

haMSter offers patients an opportunity to report underrepresented symptoms in MS that would normally go unaddressed. It is a convenient tool to use for quality of life research.   Tags: Digital Health, Digitalisation, Med-Tech, Mobile Health, Science Communication.

Sherwood Lollar brings together hydrogeology and isotope geochemistry to challenge understandings of the role of water in planetary subsurfaces. Her work explores the physical and chemical controls on subsurface architecture by tracking the fate of carbon-bearing fluids and gases in ancient fracture waters in the Earth’s crust. Her project on…

The nominating institution CNRS on the breakthrough: JEDI seeks to bring Europe in a leadership position in breakthrough technologies. It is powered by 3.900 leaders of Europe’s deeptech ecosystem in 25 countries. JEDI is launching GrandChallenges to push the frontiers of innovation with a radical method based on excellence, speed,…

By telling stories of women affected by the Zika epidemic, Debora Diniz has shown how the lack of a gender perspective in health emergency response leads to growing gender-based violence, loss of livelihoods, excessive unpaid care work and adverse mental, sexual and reproductive health outcomes for women and girls. As…

My work revolves around the biological, chemical, political, cultural realities of aquatic environments. It explores humankind’s impact on other species and on the rights of non-human entities, while calling for strategies emphatic towards other species to be adopted. In my analysis of the theoretical framework of the Anthropocene, I use…

How Humanitarian Action Urges World Leaders to Prepare for the Next Epidemic At the end of 2013, two-year old toddler Emile was the first patient to die from a mysterious disease in a small village in south-eastern Guinea. A few months later, hospital workers reported similar cases to Guinea’s Ministry…

Understand and study the protein corona on our nanoparticle system, and come with methods to control both the formation and the content of the corona = turn the problem into our advantage! Tags: Bio-Tech, Med-Tech.

In this Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversation with Anne Lamp, digital participants had the chance to discuss and ask questions. The interview series provided an intense personal atmosphere, in which high-level guests, speakers and panelists of the Falling Walls Science Summit 2021 focused on their individual research, career paths and experiences.…

The nominating institution Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin on the breakthrough: Open Innovation (OI) offers a different way of doing research to address urgent global challenges. We developed an unique training strategy that empowers early-stage researchers to apply OI concepts into their projects. To embed our training into Berlin’s neuroscience…

The nominating institution HU Berlin on the breakthrough: In his groundbreaking social theory of late-modern society, Andreas Reckwitz works out the causes, structures and conflict-ridden consequences of the transformation from industrial modernity to a late-modern society of singularities. How do the practices and norms of uniqueness mould cognitive-cultural capitalism, digital…

This Winners Session features the Top 10 Breakthroughs in the Science Start-Ups category. During this session, the entrepreneurs, who are dedicating their careers to create sustainable business to fight climate change and its myriad consequences, will introduce viewers to various topics, including how solar power could provide energy to heat-intense…

PRESENTED BY Laura Bücheler NOMINATED BY Profund Innovation – Freie Universität Berlin Tags: Haptics, Future of Mobility, Feel it

PRESENTED BY Adan Ramirez Sanchez NOMINATED BY AXEL – The Energy accelerator by Fokus.energie e.V. Tags: Solar Panels, Microalgae, Sustainability, Clean Tech, Space Technology

Adam won 2nd place at the Falling Walls Lab Finale 2018. His reading glove converts printed text into braille in realtime, making printed text accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

The nominating institution University of Manitoba on the breakthrough: Environmental DNA is a non-invasive way to sample organisms. It’s revolutionizing biodiversity monitoring in the Canadian Arctic. The Stetefeld lab, in partnership with the Kivalliq Inuit Association, extracts eDNA from environmental samples without having to isolate the target organisms. Tags: Artificial…

To develop synthesis of new skeletally diverse compounds based on 1,4-benzothiazine, synthesize libraries of new compounds and screen for anti-TB activity to identify new classes of anti-TB compounds. Tags: Covid-19, Med-Tech, New materials.

  Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Global Cooperation, Robotic, Science Policy, Trust in science.

The nominating institution KIT on the breakthrough: Electronic signal processing suffers from limited bandwidth. This wall can be teared down by combining electronics with photonic circuits and with optical frequency combs as ultra-precise clocks. This approach unlocks a wealth of applications – from ultra-fast data communications to material analysis via…

The nominating institute German Center for Research and Innovation on the breakthrough: Since 2015, Sabino has participated in international efforts to establish a rapid research response to emerging threats. When the COVID-19 epidemic started, her group was able to publish the complete genome sequence of the virus. This was only…

Kai-Wen Yang has developed an innovative medical device that can perform minimal open reduction and internal fixation to unite the vertebral compression fracture.

PRESENTED BY Vincenzo Cerullo NOMINATED BY University of Helsinki Tags: Cancer, Immuno Therapy

Voice of nature art installation uses a living tree to uncover the impact of climate change in real time. In collaboration with the scientific partner Stefano Mancuso of the LIVN lab of the University of Florance and the sensor department of the Technical University of delft Artist Thijs Biersteker Developed…

The nominating institution Lawrence Berkeley National Lab on the breakthrough: The Molecular Foundry provides visiting researchers (“users”) with access to leading-edge scientific instruments. In an innovative twist on the traditional user facility model, users also gain access to world-renowned scientists who devote their expertise to the users’ research goals in…

In our first MAKERTHON OWL- OPEN.PUBLIC.PLACES from 5-7 June 2020, 4 institutions from science, economy, policy making and society invited 60 scientists and creative minds from all generations and backgrounds to design and prototype innovative ideas for streets and squares, churches and museums, parks and playgrounds in times of Corona…

How Astronomy Explores the Past, Present and Future of the Universe The universe is a mysterious place – we know it is some 13.8 billion years old with the part we can observe being about 90 billion light years in diameter, which means that the most distant edges we can…

Tapping into the power of art as a conduit for change, artists around the world are to an ever-greater extent using their work to weigh in on some of the most pressing political and social issues of our times – be it extremism, the refugee crisis or the effects of…

ImBlaze enables schools to offer equitable access to social capital & real world learning at scale. ImBlaze is an EdTech platform built by Big Picture Learning, with the mission of disrupting traditional secondary education to allow for the adoption of real world learning as a core part of school. ImBlaze…

Whilst conventional recycling as we know it – converting waste materials into new materials – brings many environmental benefits, it is still severely limited when it comes to more complex products such as electronic devices. Our increasing and insatiable dependence on these devices, however, makes it even more urgent to…

PRESENTED BY Jerri Ann Thatcher NOMINATED BY University of Pennsylvania Tags: Blood Biology, Diagnostics, Clotting Status,Personalized Treatment, Critical Care

Shane McCracken was selected for the hard-to-engage special award 2018 for the project I Am A Scientist, Get Me Out From Here!. This student-led online outreach activity giving students more chances to personally engage with a scientist.

The Children Math-Art Exhibits were started by Experience Workshop and Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. The goal is that children themselves actively explore new sources of maths and art education through transdisciplinary artworks, which express various connections between mathematics and arts. Any child could submit artworks for the open…

Founded in 2016, Plastic Odyssey is a floating laboratory/recycling centre powered entirely by plastics. Their three-year mission will deliver and support low tech solutions in communities across three continents.

Algorithmic prediction is disrupting how society manages an uncertain future. Whereas traditional forecasts distribute risk over a population, algorithmic systems predict the riskiness of particular individuals. I explore this transformation in the fields of insurance, medicine, and policing. Giving up the principle of shared uncertainty may come with a heavy…

Teamwork coordinated by Justyna Olko breaks down walls between academia and local communities, combining multidisciplinary, decolonising research with participatory activities that promote language revitalization and ethnic minority empowerment. These endeavours have shown that the use of local heritage languages improves health and well-being and protects against historical trauma, fostering ‘communities…

The project aims at investigating indigenous strains of rhizobacteria that could be used for rhizobia inoculant for use as biofertilizers.   Tags: Bio-Tech, Climate change, Environment & Nature, Food & Agriculture.

The nominating institute German Center for Research and Innovation in São Paulo on the breakthrough: With Nanox, Simões develops and markets nanostructured inorganic composite antimicrobial materials. He has already proven the efficiency of two products against COVID-19. The US-patented Ag+Fresh was the first to have this property certified, according to…

How Computational Neuroscience Can Decode Thoughts and Actions When we look at a landscape, listen to a song or recall a memory, what is the exact choreography taking place across the various areas of the brain? – One of the most challenging aspects about the human brain is the question…

How the Study of Ancient DNA Traces Human Origins In the early years of his career as a scientist, Svante Pääbo changed the course of his studies from molecular biology to evolutionary genetics – and at the same time the course of the latter scientific field itself. By drying a…

Manufacture of subcutaneous implant made with Polytetrafluoroethylene, tolerated by human body, releasing continuously the required hypotensive substance at a flow equal to the recommended daily dose. Tag: Med-Tech.

How Robotics and Digital Data Will Change the Future of Agriculture The history of agriculture is one of constant evolution and a fair share of ground-breaking revolutions. Domesticated animals, employed to do some of the back-breaking work formerly done by farmers themselves, were replaced by tractors about a hundred years…

How fast-charging batteries work and why they matter In order for the European Union to achieve its goal of zero net emissions by 2050, the speed at which devices can be charged needs to increase significantly. Clare Grey, Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge University, sees her work as an important…

Theo Issitt’s project investigates gases released by cells in different ‘stress’ conditions to model diseases such as cancer. Changes in these gases can then be investigated in the breath to look for disease.