Emmie Chiyindiko - 2021 SCIENCE BREAKTHROUGH
Emmie Chiyindiko is an award-winning science communicator and researcher passionate about driving innovation in healthcare and sustainability.
She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry, with a focus on green chemistry and clean energy. In 2021, her groundbreaking work on catalytic reactions earned second place at the Global Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin. As the founder of Falling Walls Lab Zimbabwe, Emmie continues to actively promote inclusion and collaboration in science. She currently works at Boehringer Ingelheim, bridging the gap between research, impact, and community empowerment.
Falling Walls Lab: Can you share a memorable moment from your Falling Walls Lab experience in 2021?
Emmie: The Lab experience was unlike any other – from the time I first engaged with this community at my “local” lab in Cape Town to the moment I stood in an auditorium in Berlin at the global final. I will always remember the moment when the moderator announced my name for the Breakthrough of the Year award!
But a moment that is ingrained in my brain even more happened during one of the coffee breaks at the Science Summit, when I was engaged in a lively conversation with other local Falling Walls Lab winners from all over the globe. Standing in a room bustling with ideas how we can make the world a better place, creating an atmosphere so thick with possibilities and contagious ambition.
I remember having a quiet moment to take it all in. It gave me so much hope in the ability of humanity to change the world's circumstances. That was also the moment I decided to host a Falling Walls Lab in Zimbabwe in the following year.
Falling Walls Lab: How would you describe your Falling Walls Lab experience in general?
Emmie: The most important asset of the experience is not the venue, but the invited people. Everyone was forthcoming, open and ready to engage with one another.
Beyond that, the Falling Walls Lab experience is the most straightforward and organized experience I’ve had to date. That structure inspired how I now run our own Zimbabwe Lab. It makes so much difference when your time is honored and respected.
Falling Walls Lab: What were your expectations for the Falling Walls Science Summit?
Emmie: It was my first time at the Science Summit – and also my first time in Berlin – so I had no preconceived expectations of the place. All I know is that I was open, and this openness resulted in one of the most pivotal experiences in my life.
It is very important that young innovators from the Global South are invited and supported to attend these kinds of events. The experience of being in a different country and environment can already be life changing – and when you are surrounded by some of the brightest minds in the world, your future is highly likely to be bright.
Opportunities like this don’t come around every day for a Zimbabwean girl, so when I attended the Falling Walls Science Summit - I made the most of it. Attending the Science Summit is a big deal, if you treat it that way.
Falling Walls Lab: How has your participation at the Falling Walls Science Summit and Falling Walls Lab Competition influenced your plans and opportunities in the years that followed?
Emmie: I can draw a straight line from my participation in the Falling Walls Lab Capetown in 2021, to launching Falling Walls Lab Zimbabwe in 2022, to being selected from 5000+ applicants as one of the 58 ‘Afrika Kommt’ fellows in 2023 by the GIZ, and now to my current Management Trainee position at Boehringer Ingelheim - one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies.
Falling Walls Lab: What were your main takeaways from participating in the Falling Walls Science Summit?
Emmie: It’s very easy to drown in the collective online despair of the many challenges of the world today – every other week, there is a climate related disaster or disease mutation and a lot of geographic, political and racial disagreements.
But at the Falling Walls Science Summit, people gather based on ideas and innovation to change the world first and foremost. That space alone helps restore your hope in humanity’s shared future, at least a little.
This is why I am such a strong advocate for bringing different voices into one room. That's where the magic happens – of connection, community, and collaboration.
For more information, follow Emmie Chiyindiko on LinkedIn.
