Looking for the Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2024

  • On 1 March 2024 the non-profit Falling Walls Foundation opens the Global Call for the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2024
  • Until 1 May scientists and academics, research institutions, universities and NGOs can submit their projects in the categories Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Social Sciences and Humanities, Art & Science, Women’s Impact Award, Emerging Talents, Science Start-Ups, and Science Engagement
  • The Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year laureates will present their groundbreaking research at the Falling Walls Science Summit on 9 November 2024 in Berlin
  • For information on the submission process and selection criteria visit falling-walls.com/global-call/
  • The platform for applications and nominations can be found here globalcall.falling-walls.com/

Berlin, 1 March 2024. Breakthrough research has been, and continues to be, the key to understanding and solving the greatest challenges of our time. It is Falling Walls mission to assemble the pioneering visionaries responsible for the most impactful scientific breakthroughs of the year in Berlin on 9 November, the day the Wall fell. We invite all colleagues and institutions worldwide to nominate outstanding scientific achievements that have the power to change the world via our Global Call. All applications will be evaluated by scientific juries and advisory boards for the categories named below.

The Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2024 laureates in the six categories Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Social Sciences & Humanities, Art & Science and Women’s Impact will take the stage on 9 November 2024. Shortlisted participants in the categories Emerging Talents, Science Start-Ups and Science Engagement will be invited to present their projects live at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin on 7 November 2024. The winners in these categories will be awarded the three additional titles of Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2024.

The 16th Falling Walls Science Summit will take place from 7-10 November 2024 in Berlin. The Summit programme includes pitches by upcoming scientists, science communicators and science start-ups during the Pitch Day on 7 November, debates between experts from politics, science, business, and media during the Circle Day on 8 November and keynotes by all Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2024 laureates on the Breakthrough Day on 9 November. The fourth day of the Science Summit on 10 November will take place for the second time: "Unexpected, Universal, Unconference".

Awardees in the year 2023 include Chuan He (University of Chicago; Breaking the Wall to a New Green Revolution), Cao Thang Dinh (Queen’s University; Breaking the Wall of Decarbonisation), Libor Šmejkal (Johannes Gutenberg University; Breaking the Wall to Quantum Magnets), sustainability start-ups Aignostics and Reverion, and others.

Learn more about the past laureates, participants, and speakers here: falling-walls.com/people/.

The names of the shortlisted projects for the main title will be published on the homepage of the Falling Walls Foundation on 16 August. This year’s Falling Walls Science Summit programme will be available online at the end of September 2024.

 

About the Falling Walls Science Summit
Since its inception in 2009, Falling Walls Science Summit (formerly the Falling Walls Conference) has become a leading international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral forum for scientific breakthroughs and dialogue between science and society. The event takes place every year from 7-10 November in Berlin, commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. With formats Falling Walls Pitches (7 November), Falling Walls Circle (8 November) and Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year (9 November), the Falling Walls Science Summit brings together global leaders from academia, business, politics, media, and civil society to debate the potential of scientific breakthroughs to solve grand challenges and shape a sustainable future. The Falling Walls Science Summit is organised by the non-profit Falling Walls Foundation. More: www.falling-walls.com

 

About Falling Walls Foundation
The Falling Walls Foundation gGmbH is a non-profit organization based in Berlin, Germany, with the goal to communicate outstanding science and research to society. Through numerous projects, the organisation brings together an international network of science, society, and policy to promote breakthrough thinking and find solutions to the greatest challenges of our time. Every year in November around the day of the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall the Falling Walls Foundation hosts international scientific events Berlin Science Week and the Falling Walls Science Summit. Other projects include Falling Walls Lab for emerging science talents, Falling Walls Engage for innovative science communication, Falling Walls Venture for science start-ups, Young Entrepreneurs in Science for PhD students and postdocs, and Female Science Talents, which promotes inclusive excellence and leadership in science and business. Since 2020, the Foundation has organised the Creative Bureaucracy Festival, an international event for innovative public administration and public service. The Foundation is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Berlin Senate, the Hannover Re Foundation, the Berlin Museum of Natural History (Museum für Naturkunde) and PD – public sector advisory, as well as numerous renowned academic institutions, foundations, companies, and NGOs. More: falling-walls.com/foundation

 

PRESS CONTACT

Dino Trescher
Press Officer Falling Walls Foundation
[email protected]