The Falling Walls Global Call is an international competition format that brings together science enthusiasts from diverse backgrounds. We are looking for the most recent and innovative Breakthroughs of the Year! We encourage and invite nominations and applications from all over the world. To help make the Falling Walls Science Summit 2023 the celebration that excellent science deserves, we launch the Falling Walls Global Call each year.

Nominations open 1 March and close 15 May 2023 (extended from 1 May).

Every scientific breakthrough owes a part of its success to institutional structures and political frameworks that enable and support outstanding research. At Falling Walls Science and Innovation Management we celebrate people and projects who enable scientific breakthroughs and who catalyze innovation processes; we host open conversations on how the full potential of science to yield innovations is unleashed; and we break the wall between the enablers of innovation in science and business.

Nominations for the Science Breakthrough of the Year may be initiated by leading academics and academic institutions, universities, research organizations, companies, private and public research centres, academies, research funders, foundations, and individuals to nominate the latest breakthroughs in Science & Innovation Management. Self-nominations are accepted. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email. We are happy to help.

In the Science & Innovation Management category, we are looking for novel and game changing approaches to science and innovation management (concepts, tools, structures, projects), both in the realms of academia and research-driven companies, but particularly at the interface between the two. We pay special attention to the impact that the nominated projects potentially generate. In doing so, we strive for a coverage across all levels of impact, but particularly recognize initiatives that fundamentally redefine the way we manage research and innovation processes. We are looking for:

• Impact: Innovations should clearly demonstrate identification of the problem the idea solves, for whom the solution applies and the levels of expected and real impact.

• Scalability and likelihood of replication: Innovations should clearly demonstrate the (perhaps first) insights into the initiative’s potential to scale and the likelihood of replication. Does it have a high degree of transferability to new contexts for others to adopt?

• Accessibility & Efficacy: Innovations should clearly demonstrate how the initiative contributes to increased effectiveness, ease of access and inclusion (e.g. in terms of openness of activities, resources, technology and infrastructure used) and for whom.

• Novelty: Innovations successfully crafted or implemented a new approach, method or platform that is enriching innovation environments.

Nominations will be considered and evaluated within the category, but their potential for interdisciplinary problem-solving will also be assessed.

Self-nominations are accepted. To submit your own project, please run through the nomination process on our online platform. You will receive an email to confirm your nomination in order to give detailed information on your project.

Please note that submissions must be completed in English.

• Your work will be presented to a distinguished Jury and will get international visibility.

• Be a part of the Falling Walls network and interact with a wide range of decision-makers, innovators and emerging talents from all over the world. Join an interdisciplinary community that is committed to bringing down barriers to address common challenges.

• Take your chance to become the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year in Science & Innovation Management and present your breakthrough work to a global audience on 9 November 2023 on our stage at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin.

• As Science Breakthrough of the Year you will get the opportunity to enjoy the Falling Walls Science Summit 2023, a three-day conference with inspiring keynotes, discussions, and exciting pitches. Be part of a community of the most important researchers and thinkers of our time and discuss breakthroughs with global leaders in science, politics, business, and the media.

We will use our expertise and years of experience in science communication to help make your research accessible and engaging to a wide audience, and to highlight its impact on society.

STEP 1 – NOMINATION

Leading actors in science and academia worldwide nominate individual scientists or research groups by submitting a nomination form via our online platform by 15 May 2023. Nominated candidates will be contacted directly and asked to submit further details. Self-nomination is accepted.

STEP 2 – 30 FINALISTS

Submissions that meet the standard requirements will be evaluated by a shortlisting jury and the jury chair using our selection criteria (see below) to agree on a list of 30 finalists, who will be officially announced on our website in mid-June. 

STEP 3 – 10 WINNERS

Our distinguished jury for Science & Innovation Management, chaired by Pascal Finette, will evaluate all finalist applications based on the selection criteria and choose ten winners. The ten winners will be released in mid-August.

STEP 4  THE FALLING WALLS SCIENCE BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR

The respective juries will select the Science Breakthroughs of the Year from the winners of each category. On 9 November, the anniversary of the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall, the Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2023 will take up the stage at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin.

We are specifically looking for projects that address global challenges and represent scientific knowledge in an innovative way. Falling Walls always encourages interdisciplinary approaches to science and seeks outstanding scientists as well as research groups. The four selection criteria are:

• Scope of Impact: What problem does this idea solve? What is the level of real or expected impact?

• Scalability & Transferability: Can the initiative be translated to other challenges? Does the solution hold the potential to be adopted to other disciplines or initiatives? 

• Societal Relevance & Accessibility: Can the initiative be translated to other challenges? Does the solution hold the potential to be adopted to other disciplines or initiatives?

• Novelty: How innovative and new is the idea?

Each evaluation criterion is considered proportionally. Nominations and Self-nominations will be considered and evaluated within the category, but their potential for interdisciplinary problem-solving will also be assessed.

What do we mean by “Innovation”?

Innovations are responses to the great challenges of our times, to build a better future. Innovations can be disruptive when they have the potential to entirely change our ways of life, or they can be incremental developments in outstanding research and its application. At Falling Walls, we want to embrace both of these perspectives on innovation and curate the most visionary initiatives in Science and Innovation Management.

The Falling Walls Science Summit takes place in Berlin.

Save the date: 7 – 9 November 2023.

7 November

FALLING WALLS PITCHES

A day of live pitches in the following categories: 

• Emerging Talents (Falling Walls Lab) for the next generation of outstanding innovators; 
• Science Engagement (Falling Walls Engage) for inspiring science engagers; Science Start-Ups (Falling Walls Venture) for the science start-up community.

8 November

FALLING WALLS CIRCLE

Our format to connect science and society. Researchers, policymakers, business leaders, and society discuss the biggest challenges we face and the foresight that scientific breakthroughs can offer.

9 November 

BREAKTHROUGH DAY

On 9 November, the anniversary of the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall, the Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2023 will take up the stage at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin.

If you have any questions about the Nomination and the Self-nomination process, please contact us via email.