Nominated by: TU Darmstadt Presented by: Markus Hessinger

Young Tinker Academy is a tinker space where school students collaborate and learn hands-on skills of the future. We work with indigenous communities to build tinker spaces for students and youths with content in the vernacular Indian languages. We have impacted the lives of 1,50,000+ students and youths in rural…

Improving Global Health is a fundamental challenge, in which science and technology play important roles. Whether it is ultra-fast sequencing of whole genomes, mRNA vaccines or gene editing: Recent innovations could change and improve the life of millions of people around the world. But only if science can make it…

In third place was the Israeli Shani Elitzur from Technion for her innovative renewable energy concept. Her research focuses on safer and more demand-based hydrogen production, which offers potential for storing electrical energy from aluminium-water reactions.

We have developed a novel therapeutic for SARS-CoV-2 that relies on nanobodies – antibody fragments from alpacas and llamas. Combining protein engineering, structural biology, and virology, we found that multi-component molecules binding the virus on two surfaces lead to robust neutralization of wildtype virus and newly emerging variants. Unlike most…

The nominating institution Deakin University on the breakthrough: Macreadie and Blue Carbon Lab are taking urgent action to combat climate change. They use innovative nature-based solutions as long-term carbon storage to reduce atmospheric CO2. Mangroves, seagrass, and saltmarsh, collectively known as Blue Carbon ecosystems, are globally highly degraded, but offer…

The nominating institution Nanyang Technological University on the breakthrough: Significant progress has been made in developing bioinspired sensors and actuators based on synthetic materials, although there remains a critical need to incorporate cost-effective and ecofriendly materials. Naturally abundant pollen grains were used as a material template to produce a paper-like…

José L. Flores-Guerrero proposes using Raman spectroscopy directly over the skin of patients as a painless and low-cost method that allows the identification of the substances needed for the diagnosis and prediction of diabetes.

Tina Taskovic argues that Li-ion batteries will be the devices that decarbonize our energy infrastructure, but they need to last longer for them to be affordable for the present and sustainable for the future. New electrolyte formulations and using tactics to avoid known issues in cells are key for long-lived…

Kletskoppen (‘Chatterboxes’) allows children from diverse backgrounds to discover the science behind language, so that they increase their enjoyment of language, broaden their view of science, and appreciate their own (multilingual) knowledge. Our activities include festivals in libraries and community centres, and lessons in schools about ‘being a scientist’ using…