Science Summit 2022

Combating the Pandemic: How a novel approach helps combat the COVID-19 pandemic With almost five million suspected deaths worldwide and counting, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the deadliest disasters in human history. Once its global spread and destructive force became clear at the beginning of 2020, scientists…

How the use of optogenetics can restore vision to the visually impaired Seeing is not, as the proverb goes, merely believing, rather it is a literal window to the world. Losing our eye-sight means a major loss of personal freedom and, in most cases, implies an irreversible condition. While there…

How tiny wireless robots can be used for non-invasive, precise, and safe medical diagnosis and treatment Robot technology is already abundant in the medical domain, ranging from assistance in surgery to complex prosthetics. However, using tiny robots inside the body is still a fairly novel thing to do. Inspired by…

How chirped pulse amplification helped to revolutionize the science of lasers Lasers are cool – this is a fact that both children and scientists can confirm. Laser physics has become an increasingly important area, with a plethora of applications in both basic and applied research ranging from space exploration to…

How a new Technology in the field of Optoelectronics is changing the Future of Data The ever-increasing amount of data raises an important question: How can information be transmitted at high speed yet at low cost? The current technology, based on copper wires, is reaching its ceiling due to the…

How fast-charging batteries work and why they matter In order for the European Union to achieve its goal of zero net emissions by 2050, the speed at which devices can be charged needs to increase significantly. Clare Grey, Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge University, sees her work as an important…

Destigmatization: How marginalized groups can achieve greater inclusivity In our post-Covid age of extreme inequality, dreams of upward mobility are more unrealistic than ever. Many people ask where to turn for new sources of hope. Agents of change and the non-profit sector are promoting new narratives of diversity, sustainability, and…

Computer-Generated Decision Making: How new drug candidates can be identified faster through automated molecular design The discovery of new drugs and their development as medicines is a long, arduous, costly, and to some extent serendipitous process. Up to 90% of drug candidates fail during clinical development because they lack efficacy…

Distance Learning: How low-tech solutions help to make education accessible for everyone Education is key for economic advancement as well as social stability. However, providing quality education is especially challenging in countries that lack infrastructure, learning materials and trained teachers. UNESCO estimates that 617 million school-age children around the world…

Power Asymmetries: How big platforms change the organization of society Our society is increasingly defined by big platforms and their algorithms. Google is already an integral part of education and the workspace, while Facebook, Amazon and Spotify heavily influence how we communicate, what we buy and what music we listen…

Rewriting Social Sciences: How humanity’s destiny can be framed by shared heritages through oceanic connections How can we think of the world as composed of categories derived from particular spaces and lifeworlds, rather than a space with categories seen as universal? How do we move beyond contingent formations, like nations…

How an artificial intelligence can become a truly musical companion Music has long been hailed as one of the last frontiers of human creativity; and music is not just composition, but also, and equally important, expressive performance. It is the performers and the musicians who bring a piece to life,…

Semiconductor Technology: How nanosheets can help humanity keep up with Moore’s law Ever since its inception, Moore’s law has been an integral part of technological advancement. In the past five decades, the semiconductor industry has been following Moore’s trend line to approximately double the number of transistors on a chip…

Neuroprosthetics: How electronics can be used to mimic the biology in our brain The human brain is made up of anything between 80 and 100 billion neurons. How exactly these basic working units communicate with each other and transmit information through electrical impulses at the synapses, is a crucial matter…

Astrophysics: How space exploration can answer one of the most pressing questions of all time There is no planet in our solar system quite as fascinating as Mars. For centuries, the red planet has fascinated scientists and the public alike, ultimately leading to one question: Has there ever been life…

We used to plan cities according to a master plan, building separate areas with different functions and reconnecting them by car. This approach shapes our cities until today, even though our ways of life and needs for the city have changed. The panelists at this Falling Walls Circle Plenary Table discuss which shifts are needed…

There is no science without collaboration, and in a world that is not only facing a global pandemic, but also a global climate crisis, international cooperation is needed more than ever. But how can a unifying vision be forged? How can barriers between nations be resolved to support global big…

Promotion of gender equality drives innovation both in science and in industrial organisations. However, we often fail to put scientific knowledge into practice. This Falling Walls Circle Plenary Table explores the following questions: How to implement gender equality to increase the quality of innovation? And who needs to change: decision…

In the 1930s, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a “New Deal” policy to overcome the Great Depression. Less than 100 years later, the world is facing an even more global challenge: the climate crisis. In this Falling Walls Plenary Table, our international panelists ask whether this requires an equally…

Whether we’re analysing a pandemic, calculating people’s life expectancy, organizing health insurance, collecting patient responses to new therapies or whether we’re just making an appointment in a doctor’s office: Our health is closely connected to data. But how can we properly use this trove of data in order to develop…

Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. In this regard it is almost the exact opposite of fossil fuels, which are incredibly rare and hard to extract. So wouldn’t it be great if we could swap fossil fuels for renewable sources such as hydrogen? This Falling Walls…

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…

Isaac Newton is credited with the famous saying: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” But how did he know which shoulders to stand on? This Falling Walls Circle Round Table examines scientific credibility in two ways: first, by looking at how public…

Batteries have been around for a long time, but it is only in the last decade that they have become a key tool in global energy transition and the fight against climate change. An increasingly electrified world needs more efficient and more sustainable batteries. In this Falling Walls Round Table,…

Agriculture accounts for roughly 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The d4agrotech research and innovation initiative launched by the province of Lower Austria and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology aims to make food production more climate-friendly and efficient through digitalisation. In this Falling Walls Round Table, experts…

Quantum Computing arguably presents the biggest shift in computer science since its inception. After 25 years of fundamental theoretical and experimental research, the top leaders in the field worldwide have committed themselves to the development of quantum computers as a real technology, solving real computational problems. The panelists of this…

The constant growth of our population, finite resources, and a linear flow of materials as we know it, are no longer compatible. Looking ahead, the human approach of take, make, and dispose must be replaced by a circular one, and science and entrepreneurship can help. In this Falling Walls Circle,…

Public trust and involvement in science plays a central role in addressing global challenges, achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and contributing to the overall wellbeing of society. This Falling Walls Circle Round Table debates how we can use Co-Creative Approaches to foster Science Engagement initiatives that aim to…

In cooperation with Stiftung Charité and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Falling Walls was hosting this unique format to connect researchers in the life sciences from all over the world. The symposium gathered the 2021 Winners in the Life Sciences category as well as partners from academia and business to discuss…

In cooperation with the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation, Falling Walls was hosting this unique format to connect researchers in the physical sciences from all over the world. The symposium gathered the 2021 Winners in the Physical Sciences category as well as partners from academia and business to discuss the…

In cooperation with the VolkswagenStiftung and WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Falling Walls was hosting this unique format to connect researchers in the social sciences and humanities from all over the world. The symposium gathered the 2021 Winners in the Social Sciences and Humanities category as well as partners from…