Aspiring scientists and young professionals from around the world compete at more than 65 international preliminary events to qualify for the Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin
In its seventh edition, the Falling Walls Lab is looking to crown the next Falling Walls Young Innovator of the Year. Talented emerging scientists and researchers as well as young professionals can pitch exceptional research or business ideas to apply for international Falling Walls Labs until mid-September.
Berlin, 22 June 2017. Since 2011, the Falling Walls Lab has been bringing together 100 creative thinkers from across the globe to Berlin for an annual gathering on 8 November. Each participant has just 3 minutes to present their research and convince a distinguished jury of scientists and entrepreneurs that their idea has the greatest breakthrough potential of all.
The 100 participants in the Finale are selected from international qualifying events organised by research institutions and universities in over 53 countries this year. Bachelor and master students, PhD candidates, post-docs and young professionals from all disciplines are invited to apply. “The goal of the Falling Walls Lab is to break down the walls between disciplines and connect international talents from around the world who are working on solutions to the great challenges of our time. We are very pleased to be able to work with numerous partner organisations to organise Falling Walls Labs at many different locations this year, including Iran, Palestine and Israel as well as Australia, France and Canada,” says Professor Jürgen Mlynek, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Falling Walls Foundation and former president of the Helmholtz Association.
At the Berlin Finale, the top three will be named Falling Walls Young Innovators of the Year 2017, selected by an international jury headed by astronaut and former French research minister Dr. Claudie Haigneré. The winners receive a cash prize and will be given the opportunity to present their ideas the next day – 9 November – at the Falling Walls Conference, in front of some 700 people attending the world-renowned science event. Among the leading international researchers speaking at this year’s Conference are Nobel Laureate in Chemistry William E. Moerner, the Chinese quantum physicist Jian-Wei Pan and the corruption researcher Sarah Chayes.
The Falling Walls Lab aims to advance scientific and entrepreneurial visions and to initiate and support exchange between aspiring scientists and researchers and young professionals across disciplines. This year, prior to the Lab Finale in Berlin, 67 qualifying events will be held in 53 countries, at institutions such as ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia) and Chimie ParisTech (France). The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), with support from the German Federal Foreign Office, supports the participation of emerging scientists and researchers who are selected at international qualifying events at 28 DAAD Regional Offices and German Houses of Research and Innovation.
A list of this year’s event locations can be found at: https://falling-walls.com/lab/locations.
Applications can be submitted online at: http://www.falling-walls.com/lab/apply. For further information on Falling Walls Lab, including a short video clip from last year’s Lab, visit: http://www.falling-walls.com/lab.
About the Falling Walls Foundation
The Falling Walls Foundation is a non-profit organisation that fosters discussion on research and innovation and promotes the latest scientific findings among a broad audience from all parts of society. It organises the Falling Walls Conference, a unique international gathering of leaders from science, business, politics and the arts. Each year on 9 November, 20 of the world’s leading scientists present their current breakthrough research in 15 minutes each. The expanded programme includes Falling Walls Venture, an international competition for science based start-ups. The Falling Walls Foundation also coordinates the Berlin Science Week, which brings scientists and their institutions from all over the world to Berlin. The second annual gathering will take place this year from 1 to 10 November (www.berlinscienceweek.com/). The Falling Walls Foundation is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Berlin Senate, as well as by numerous scientific institutions, foundations and companies. More information can be found at www.falling-walls.com.
Press contact
Lucie Menz
Falling Walls Foundation gGmbH
Chausseestraße 8e
10115 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 60 988 39 74
Fax: +49 30 60 988 39 79
press@falling-walls.com