30 June 2022

Last Thursday, 23 June 2022, the Falling Walls Lab took place at the Marsilius-Kolleg. It was hosted collaboratively by Heidelberg University and Wissensfabrik e.V. and was supported by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg Karlsruhe Strategic Partnership (HEiKA). Up-and-coming talents, innovators, and creative minds had the opportunity to present their research, initiative, or business models to peers, a jury and the public.

Leading up to the event, the eight final participants each had a pitch training with the hei_INNOVATION team. The ideas that the finalists present had backgrounds in very different academic areas and disciplines and each offered a solution for pressing problems of our time. At Falling Walls Lab Heidelberg, every participant had three minutes to present his or her idea. Afterwards the jury of experts from academia and business and the interested audience were able to asked questions.

The winner, Camila Suliani Raota from KIT in Karlsruhe, won with her idea “Breaking the wall of purifying water using sunlight”. Together with her research group, she developed a membrane filter to purify water contaminated by hormones with the help of sunlight. She won a ticket to attend the Falling Walls Science Summit and is now qualified for the global Falling Walls Final in Berlin on November7, 2022.

The runners-up were Florian Klein from the TUM in Munich and Ryan Alicea from Heidelberg University. Florian Klein placed second with his idea of “Breaking the Wall of Oncolytic Adenoviruses' Limitations” for the development of a new type of cancer therapy. Ryan Alicea placed 3rd and also won the audience award for his idea of “Breaking the Wall of Lifelong Disability”. He is researching and developing a glove that will allow disabled people to move their hands again.

Falling Walls Lab is a worldwide pitch competition and the lab in Heidelberg is the regional qualifying event for the final in Berlin in November. With the competition, the Falling Walls Foundation aims to bring together scientists from all over the world and offers them a stage to present their research work.