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– The eighth edition of the Innovation and Start-ups contest will be virtual and registration is now open, the winners qualify for the world final in November
Minapim by Hernan Valenzuela: The innovation and Start-ups contest organized by Falling Walls Foundation of Germany, has a global scope. The goal is to promote transformative ideas, aimed at students, researchers, Start-ups, professionals and entrepreneurs from different fields of knowledge.
Falling Walls 2020: The advances of the year
Even though the Covid-19 crisis restricts face-to-face meetings in 2020, it opens a new opportunity for Falling Walls to overcome the limitations of a traditional conference through innovative, open and engaging digital formats.
This year, it changes the format for a series of meetings and a conference with a limited number of speakers and topics to a global virtual showcase, bringing together and discussing a much broader set of the latest advances in science and society.
Falling Walls wants to contribute to the post-corona agenda through dedicated sessions. This year in a virtual way, we will share surveys for a few minutes a day for several weeks, and a global / virtual meeting on 9 November.
Innovators and Start-ups from all over the world can now enroll with their latest advances in ten categories, from life sciences to scientific management. Each country has a different closing date, it is important to check, see the link below.
Former President of the European Research Council Helga Nowotny, will serve as general president of the juries. In addition, we are also honored with our long-term partners, Springer Nature and Zeit Verlagsgruppe, to support this challenge.
Categories (Different dead line for each country)
Falling Walls invites world-class academics and academic institutions, universities, research organizations, companies, public and private research centers, academies, research funders and foundations.
- Life sciences
- Physical sciences
- Engineering and Technology
- Social and human sciences
- Science in the arts
- Digital education
- Science and innovation management
- Emerging Talents (Hot Walls Laboratory)
- Scientific start-ups (Falling Walls Project)
- Scientific engagement
- The 10 Categories and their respective selection criteria
Categories 1-4: First-class researchers around the world are pushing the limits to make some of the most important scientific discoveries of our times. Falling Walls seeks internationally recognized academics and leaders in their respective fields (as described below), whose innovative work contributes to solving the world’s greatest challenges. As excellent communicators, they are able to convey their passion and the meaning of their discoveries to society.
Categories 5 to 10: Follow the Selection Criteria link below
Innovative Science Start-ups (dead line 1 August)
Who can be registered / nominated?
- Science-based startups from all disciplines (biotechnology, data and AI, clean technology, new materials, engineering, health, food and agriculture, …)
- Each start-up must be endorsed by a designated institution. It can be a university or a research institution.
- The company must be founded (incorporated) between 1 July 2015 and the registration date, at the latest.
- If you have participated in the Falling Walls Venture as a presenter on stage, you will not be able to register again.
- Startups must have at least a proof of concept / prototype and must have already received some funding.
Appointment and Application Process for Science Start-Ups
1 Nominations: Ask your university or research institution (for example, vice president of innovation, director of technology transfer, head of university acceleration or professor) to name your company as the Scientific Initiation of the Year 2020 here, online line by September 1, 2020 at the latest. . Please note that you will have less time to submit your application materials after your nomination is submitted. Applications before 1 August 2020 are highly encouraged.
2 Finalists: Your nomination is immediately reviewed by us continuously. If accepted, we will ask you to: complete the application questionnaire, send us your pitch table (PDF) and a short video to complete your registration. You will receive more details on the required registration materials as soon as your referral is sent.
3 Global Perception. Our selection committee will review your application. If selected, Falling Walls will announce their start-up as a finalist, share their video and make their excellent work known – through social media, newsletters and in our growing library at falling-walls.com, as well as on platforms of our partners.
4 Category Day. A high-ranking jury will select the ten most promising startups, which they will present to a global audience on the “Startups of Science” Category Day in early November.
5 Falling Walls on November 9, 2020: the anniversary of the historic fall of the Berlin Wall will be announced, the advance of the beginning of science in the year 2020 and the people and institutions that made them possible will be honored in a live digital session with distinguished world leaders and high representatives of the sector.
Falling Walls Brasil
Registration for the Brazilian stage of the Falling Walls Lab Brazil 2020 is now open and will run until July 31. 
The winner of the stage, will be known on September 17, and will qualify for the world stage with 99 more candidates from all over the world. Ten will be selected for the grand final, this year called Falling Walls Remote 2020 – Breakthoughs of the Year, in the Emerging Talents category, on November 9th. The Brazilian stage also offers three additional awards, described below.
Falling Walls Brazil 2020 is organized by the German Center for Science and Innovation (DWIH São Paulo), in partnership with the Falling Walls Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Euraxess Brazil and the agency Inova Unicamp.
“The Innovation and Start-ups contest seeks to reveal young people with proposals capable of transforming people’s lives and positively impacting the world. I believe that this pandemic moment is promising for the emergence of new ideas ”, says Marcio Weichert, coordinator of DWIH São Paulo.
This year, given the context of social isolation due to covid-19, all stages of the event will be in a virtual environment. To participate, just have an idea, research or an entrepreneurial project, with the potential to solve real problems. In the last editions of the FWL in Brazil, solutions to mitigate environmental problems, as well as innovations in the areas of health, communication and social inclusion were highlighted.
Selection in the Brazilian stage
Approximately 15 candidates will be selected. Each candidate will have three minutes and four slides to promote their pitch elevator idea, a summary of the proposal, in English.
The pitch must be previously recorded on video. Inova Unicamp, innovation agency of the State University of Campinas, will offer a webinar and individual consultancy for candidates to prepare their recordings.
After showing the video at the online event on September 17, candidates will have one minute to answer any questions from the jury live.
The winner of the official Falling Walls Brazil 2020 award will have professional support to record a new video, with which he will compete in the global phase. The videos of the 100 participants in this stage will be published on an online platform and thus disseminated worldwide by the Falling Walls Foundation and its partners.
A high-level international commission will select 10 finalists for the final phase of the Innovation and Start-ups contest. In this phase, the candidates present themselves live, online, to an international jury.
The Brazilian stage will distribute two more prizes.
First prize: Candidates with the DAAD Entrepreneurship Award will be entitled to participate in the second Innovation Week, a program on innovation and entrepreneurship applied by German universities and organized by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
This event will take place in a virtual environment this year, but DAAD will invite at least one of the most prominent participants of Innovation Week 2020 to a trip to Germany in 2021, should the pandemic allow.
“The initiative aims to stimulate and train participants to materialize their ideas that transform economic activity. Who knows, even with the foundation of a startup in Germany? ”, Comments Jochen Hellmann, director of DAAD in Brazil and DWIH São Paulo.
Second prize: It will be defined by the public, by online voting of the people who are following the Brazilian contest on September 17th.
Euraxess Brazil will grant the winner of the Innovation Competition an online training in scientific communication to the winner of the stage. The training will enable the professional in communication and presentation techniques in virtual environments. Euraxess Brazil will also offer the winner individual consultations and mentoring to prepare them for the “Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year” competition and networking opportunities.
DWIH São Paulo plans to hold a face-to-face award ceremony for the top three in a safer time. If the top three, as well as the one elected by the public and the DAAD Entrepreneurship Award, do not reside in São Paulo, the German Center for Science and Innovation will subsidize travel expenses to the São Paulo capital or to another award venue.
Online registration for the Innovation Contest in Falling Walls Brazil, following the guidelines described on the platform until July 31st.
Check out the general application and registration process for all ten categories here.
Selection Criteria: Falling Walls 2020 Criteria
Sources: Falling Walls Falling Walls Brazil
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