Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2022

Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversation with Erik Bakkers and Elham Fadaly

Erik Bakkers

Engineering & Technology Physical Sciences

Bakkers and Fadaly have made a revolutionary breakthrough by creating a silicon-based material that proved to be capable of emitting light efficiently and can thus be used for laser devices and high-speed communication. At Falling Walls, they were focussing on how changing the molecular structure of silicon allows data to be transferred through light, at the speed of light and without generating heat.

Erik Bakkers

Eindhoven University of Technology

After obtaining his PhD at the University of Utrecht, Erik Bakkers started working at Philips Research in Eindhoven in 2000. In 2010, Erik joined the Technical University of Eindhoven as well as Delft Technical University. His group has three main focus areas all based on semiconducting nanowires. The first area is on developing new quantum materials which should enable to find topological states. The second area is on light emission from silicon. By changing the crystalline properties of silicon, it can be made to emit light. The third area is the application of nanowires in solar cells.

Elham Fadaly

Eindhoven University of Technology

Elham Fadaly is currently a guest researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. She obtained her Ph.D. in Applied Physics with Cum Laude from the same university in April 2021. Her doctoral research focused on the epitaxy of hexagonal silicon-germanium alloys for the realization of direct band gap emission for optoelectronic applications. Fadaly holds a joint M.Sc. degree in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from KU Leuven, Belgium, and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. She obtained her B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Naveed Syed

ENHANCE

Naveed Syed is the Secretary General of the ENHANCE Alliance, an association of seven European Universities of Technology. ENHANCE aspires to drive responsible societal transformation and the development and utilisation of science and technology, for the benefit of society – turning global challenges into meaningful opportunities. Previously he was working as the Head of Global Networks for the Falling Walls Foundation, developing networks of visionaries, decision-makers and emerging talents from academia, industry and policy-making. He was part of the organising team of the internationally acclaimed Falling Walls Conference and developed the Foundation’s youth programme called the Falling Walls Lab. Beyond his current commitment at the ENHANCE Alliance Naveed gives talks on science communication. He is also a Member of the Advisory Board of the Pakistan Science Club and a passionate collaboration catalyst.
Further Activities to have a look at