Falling Walls Lab

3 MINUTES IS ALL IT TAKES

Falling Walls Lab is a world-class pitch competition that brings together a diverse and interdiciplinary pool of students and early-career professionals by providing a stage for their breakthrough ideas both globally and locally.

Each year, renowned academic institutions around the world organise their own Falling Walls Labs to showcase the quality, diversity, and passion of their region’s most innovative minds. In three minutes each, participants try to convince a high-calibre jury of their solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

The breakthrough factor and potential impact of the presented work help determine the winner, who qualifies for the global finale in Berlin on 7 November and wins a ticket to attend the Falling Walls Science Summit, where they get to interact with the world’s movers and shakers of science, business, and policymaking.

During their multi-day stay in Berlin, the international Lab winners take part in a broad extended programme that includes a coaching session, expert workshops on a broad range of topics such as career development, entrepreneurial skills, and academic publishing, a tour of local academic institutions and events hosted by our partners, including the German Research Foundation, Springer Nature and various embassies.

At the global finale, the international Lab winners compete to become the Breakthrough Winner in the Emerging Talents category of Falling Walls Science Summit. They take home the title and prize money, and receive the opportunity to pitch their idea once again two days later on the Falling Walls Breakthroughs of the Year stage, with leading experts, changemakers, and luminaries, including Nobel laureates and Leibniz Prize winners.