Falling Walls Lab: 100 aspiring scientists and researchers present their research ideas
Falling Walls Venture: 26 science based start-ups pitch their business ideas
When: Wednesday, 8 November 2017, from 9am to 6pm
Where: Falling Walls Lab: Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Falling Walls Venture: Britische Botschaft, Wilhelmstraße 70-71, 10117 Berlin
Berlin, 24 October 2017. We cordially invite you to join us on 8 November to watch as the year’s best science based start-up is named at Falling Walls Venture and the most innovative research idea is chosen at the Falling Walls Lab. At the Falling Walls Lab, 100 aspiring scientists, researchers and innovators from more than 50 countries will compete to become the Falling Walls Young Innovator of the Year 2017. At Falling Walls Venture, 26 start-ups will present their business ideas in a bid for the title of Science Start-up of the Year 2017. Both events will take place within walking distance of Pariser Platz.
The 100 Falling Walls Lab participants qualified for the Finale in Berlin at 69 events in more than 50 countries – from China, India, and Myanmar to Kenya, Ghana, and Sudan to Brazil and Hawaii. In Berlin, each participant will have 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 jury will be headed by the astronaut and former French research minister Dr Claudie Haigneré. This year’s research ideas include a bio-sensor which can “smell” diseases, the production of viruses that can attack multiresistant bacteria and thus replace antibiotics, and a way to convert urine into plant fertilizer.
The top three participants will be named the Falling Walls Young Innovators of the Year 2017 and will be invited to present their ideas again on the following day – in front of an audience of 700 guests at the Falling Walls Conference.
The full programme of the Falling Walls Lab: http://www.falling-walls.com/lab.
A list of all jury members: http://www.falling-walls.com/lab/jury2017
The 26 finalists at Falling Walls Venture have been nominated by leading universities and venture capital firms: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Technion Haifa, the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Engineering, London, among others, have sent their best science based start-ups to compete for the title of Falling Walls Science Start-Up 2017. In 2017, both New York University and Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, held preliminary competitions and have sent their winners to Berlin. Presentations at this year’s Finale include an environmentally-friendly and biodegradable ink, a sensor technology that makes the surfaces of devices and machines sensitive to touch, and a transgenic mouse that can be used to investigate new immunotherapies against cancer.
The jury, led by Dr Stefan von Holtzbrinck, CEO of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, will select the start-up with the greatest breakthrough potential for innovation. The winner will have the opportunity to present their idea once again on the next day, to the distinguished audience of the Falling Walls Conference.
The full programme and all start-ups for Falling Walls Venture: www.falling-walls.com/venture.
A list of all jury members: https://falling-walls.com/venture/jury-2017.
Free live stream: www.falling-walls.com/livestream.
Online accreditation is available at http://www.falling-walls.com/press/accreditation.
Group photo “Stand united against alternative facts“: Wednesday, 8 November 2017, at 12pm in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz, 10115 Berlin
Press Lunch with the winners: Thursday, 9 November 2017, at 1pm in the Press Lounge, Falling Walls Conference, Radialsystem, Holzmarktstraße 33, 10243 Berlin
Falling Walls Lab and Falling Walls Venture are part of the Berlin Science Week. The complete programme can be found at www.berlinscienceweek.com
About the Falling Walls Foundation
The Falling Walls Foundation is a non-profit organisation in Berlin which holds the international Falling Walls Conference each year on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the Conference, around 20 leading scientists from around the world are each given 15 minutes to present their breakthroughs in the natural and social sciences, business and technology. The Falling Walls Foundation also coordinates the Berlin Science Week. For the second year in a row, the event will bring scientists from institutions all over the world to Berlin from 1 to 10 November. 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