- The Falling Walls Foundation announces the shortlist for the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2022.
- The high-level jury reviewed over 1.000 entries from 105 countries. The shortlisted projects include research on cell biology, black hole imaging, sustainable plastic degradation, green and on-demand solar fuels, postcolonial environmental history, education in vulnerable communities and other topics.
- The Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2022 will be announced on Tuesday, 13 September. The laureates will present their groundbreaking research at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin on 9 November.
- The shortlist in the categories Science Start-Ups (Falling Walls Venture) and Science Engagement (Falling Walls Engage) will be announced in the separate press release later today.
- Find all shortlisted projects below and online: Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2022 shortlist.
Berlin, Germany, 16 August 2022 – What are the next walls to fall in science and society? Led by this question, the brightest minds from the international scientific community submitted their groundbreaking projects for the prestigious Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2022. The juries selected the work from Charité, Imperial College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Yale University, University of Oxford, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, University of Vienna, Central Saint Martins, and others.
“The Falling Walls Jury continues to look for solutions from science that will serve humanity. Many of this year’s contributions address the urgency of the sustainability crisis, from accelerating the energy transition to cloud storage solutions and recycling. The call for greater interdisciplinarity is also evident in art installations and ranges across the entire spectrum of the sciences, including the social sciences and humanities – highlighting the sciences as agents of change. “, says Helga Nowotny, Chair of Jury Chairs and President emerita of the European Research Council.
The category Life Sciences included research on cancer and cystic fibrosis treatment, breakthrough research in cell biology and stem cell transplantation for corals cell-therapy.
Space and atom imaging, deep decarbonization, carbon-based quantum technologies and groundbreaking discovery in spectroscopy informed the winning research in Physical Sciences.
The winners in Engineering and Technology presented projects on green energy, plastic degradation, wearable diagnostics, and CO2 recycling to tackle food crisis.
Among the topics in Social Sciences and Humanities were social defeat and oppression, postcolonial take on modern environmental history, refugee crisis and vaccine hesitancy.
The dichotomy of natural and digital world permeated the research in Art and Science with topics ranging from plant-based data clouds and electronic textiles to futuristic eco-friendly architecture.
The winning projects in Future Learning focused on accessibility of SEL (social emotional learning), education and mental health programmes for underrepresented and physically challenged students.
In Science and Innovation Management the submitted projects included open-source solutions to transform the R&S industry and ideas improve and accelerate knowledge transfer across scientific disciplines and other industries.
See below for the complete list of winners.
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About the Falling Walls Science Summit
Falling Walls Science Summit is a leading international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral forum for scientific breakthroughs and science dialogue between global science leaders and society. The event takes place every year from 7–9 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 is the leading forum for global science leaders from academia, business, politics, the 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