Researchers and Business Innovators Celebrate Innovation in Science

At the end 2014 more than 20 top international researchers, 100 outstanding young scientists from around the world and 30 of the best science based start-ups gathered to present their impending breakthroughs at the 6^th Falling Walls Conference held in Berlin.

Held on November 9, the day of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, presenters included Göttingen researcher Stefan Hell, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his role in developing STED microscopy and the Israeli psychiatrist Zahava Solomon of Tel Aviv University, who is researching the psychological impact of war imprisonment, participation in war, and the Holocaust.

The Falling Walls Foundation also invited the presidents of the science academies of the four former occupying powers to Berlin. Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Laureate and President of the British Royal Society; Philippe Taquet, President of the Académie des Sciences in France; Diane Griffin, Vice President of the United States National Academy of Sciences; and the Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lev Zelenyi, discussed the scientific breakthroughs needed over the next 25 years in order to meet current global challenges.

The conference is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Helmholtz Association, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Berlin Senate and numerous other academic institutions, foundations and companies.

EyeTechCare, which has developed the first ophthalmic device that operates with High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), was awarded 1^st prize at the global forum Falling Walls Venture. It has treated over 800 patients so far and started to test clinical acceptance.

Tom Bieling from the Design Research Lab in Berlin was winner of the Falling Walls Lab Final 2014. Tom has developed communication technology for deaf-blind people, through which they can interact with anyone at any time.

Second was Nermeen Youssef from the University of Alberta in Canada, whose goal is to induce fat cells to secrete insulin using blue light so that patients with type 1 diabetes will no longer need to inject insulin in the future.

In third place was Dyllon Garth Randall from South Africa, who presented a profit-making opportunity for wastewater treatment. Using his technology, salts can be filtered out of the water and subsequently sold on, meaning that the investment pays for itself.