Success for Science and Innovation: A Look Back at the Falling Walls Lab Baden-Württemberg 2024

On July 10, a group of up-and-coming researchers came together at ARENA2036 on the Vaihingen Campus in Stuttgart to present their groundbreaking innovations and research ideas at the Falling Walls Lab Baden-Württemberg. This event offered young researchers the opportunity to present their projects in front of a renowned jury and an enthusiastic audience. The event was held by the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science (ENI) with the Elements4Founding project and the Wissensfabrik - the Falling Walls Lab was co-organized by the hosts, the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) , HEiKA, and the Universities of Heidelberg and Konstanz.

Insights into the event

The Falling Walls Lab is a global format of the Falling Walls Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting science and innovation. The participants had three minutes to present their projects to a jury and the audience, followed by a two-minute Q&A session. The variety of topics ranged from medical research to construction and quantum computing. Prof. Peter Middendorf, Vice Rector for Knowledge and Technology Transfer at the University of Stuttgart, opened the event with a welcoming address, followed by a welcome from Pamela Renz, Head of Startup Success at the Wissensfabrik, who kicked off the day. The participants impressed everyone present with their passion and commitment to their research. Both the audience and the jury witnessed projects that have the potential to bring about real change in the world.

“The Falling Walls Lab Baden-Württemberg 2024 has once again impressively demonstrated how strong the inventive spirit and inventions of our young researchers are. The diversity and quality of the projects presented were overwhelming and show that we have enormous potential for groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs here at the University of Stuttgart and throughout the region,” said Prof. Alexander Brem, start-up advisors at the University of Stuttgart.

The winners of the evening

Particularly noteworthy are the winning entries selected by the jury:

• First prize: Julius M. Kernbach (Heidelberg University Hospital) for his research on combating glioblastomas, presented under the title “Breaking the Wall of Invisible Brain Cancer”.
• Second prize: Andra-Lisa M. Hoyt (University of Konstanz) for her innovative method for restoring historical buildings, “Breaking the Wall of Crumbling Walls”.
• Third prize: Kian van der Enden (University of Delft) for his work on scalable quantum networks, presented under “Breaking the Wall of Scalable Quantum Networks”.
• Audience Award: Tiffany Cheng (University of Stuttgart) impressed the jury with her project “Breaking the Wall of Bioinspired Building(s)”.

Julius M. Kernbach and Andra-Lisa M. Hoyt will represent the Lab Baden-Württemberg as first and second place winners at the final of the competition at the international Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin in November. We wish them good luck and look forward to their further developments.

Further remarkable contributions from the University of Stuttgart

In addition to the winners, other candidates presented impressive projects, including Tiffany Cheng and three other doctoral students from the University of Stuttgart:

• Marlon Suditsch with the topic “Breaking the Wall of a Virtual Cancer Patient”
• Muhammad Saeed “Breaking the Wall of Computational Expenses with Quality Measures”
• Shahnewaz Shuva“Breaking the Wall of Building Energy Waste”

Their contributions provided exciting insights into the innovative research projects at the University of Stuttgart. The commitment and inventiveness of the participants made innovation and diversity in the field of science transfer in Baden-Württemberg and beyond visible.

Panel discussion: Research Transfer Made in The Land

Another highlight was a panel discussion with Dr. Rubina Zern-Breuer (Head of the TRACES Transfer Center) and Lisa Kohler (Head of the School for Talents), moderated by Mia Zsohár (Elements4Founding project). The discussion offered exciting insights into the promotion of talent and knowledge transfer in Baden-Württemberg. Topics such as supporting young researchers and the commercialization of science were discussed intensively, underlining the region's commitment to promoting innovation.

“The contributions to the panel discussion impressively demonstrated how important knowledge transfer and the support of young talent are for Baden-Württemberg as a location for innovation,” said Mia Zsohár, Project Manager at ENI.

Thanks and recognition

Special thanks go to the organization team, who made a significant contribution to the success of the event. We would also like to thank all the contributing and presenting researchers and the audience. We would also like to thank the Vector Foundation and the Wissensfabrik for their support of the initiatives, as well as all those involved from the Universities of Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Konstanz and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Finally, we would like to thank the moderator Martin Phelan (MPG), the expert jury consisting of Amrei Bahr (University of Stuttgart), Michael Baus (Bosch GmbH), Barbara Bruno (KIT), Ana Martin-Villalba (DKFZ) and Giso Hahn (University of Konstanz), who made a valuable contribution with their expertise.

In conclusion, it can be said that the Falling Walls Lab Baden-Württemberg was not only a platform for outstanding research projects, but also laid the foundation for future innovations. The University of Stuttgart and the Elements4Founding project have shown how important it is to promote young talent and strengthen the exchange between science and industry. We look forward to the next steps and to seeing how these promising researchers will change the world.

Elements4Founding is a project of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science (ENI) at the University of Stuttgart. The aim of the project is to develop a holistic, sustainable approach to sensitize and qualify PhD students and post-docs for the topic of entrepreneurship over the project period between 2022 and 2025. Elements4Founding is funded and supported by the Vector Foundation.