The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA) will host Hawaiʻi’s first Falling Walls Lab on May 4. The local winner will earn a presentation spot at the International Falling Walls Conference in Berlin, Germany.
Groundbreaking research, projects, initiatives, ideas and business models from all disciplines are welcome. The aim of the Falling Walls Lab is to foster scientific and entrepreneurial innovations, and to promote the exchange between outstanding scholars and professionals emerging from different fields of expertise.
“My experience in serving as a judge for the Falling Walls competition in November, 2016 convinced me of the lasting value that the competition can have on the career aspirations of young people from across the world,” said UH Mānoa Vice Chancellor for Research and Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Michael Bruno. “It also convinced me that the competition, and its competitors, will gain immensely from the creativity and unique perspectives of the students at the University of Hawaiʻi.”
Added IfA Director Guenther Hasinger, “IfA is looking forward to hosting the state’s first Falling Walls Lab in Hawaiʻi, because I believe that the Falling Walls competition offers our students the opportunity to not only demonstrate their creativity and passion to change the world, but also enables that message to be delivered from the Pacific, an area that is undergoing significant climate and geopolitical change.”
The Hawaiʻi winner of Falling Walls Lab will earn airfare, hotel and convention costs, as well as a presentation spot, at the Falling Walls Conference in Berlin on November 8–9, 2017.
Applications accepted until March 24
Applications will be accepted at the Falling Walls website until March 24. Each participant will be given three minutes to present an original work of research, initiative or business model. A coaching session aimed at rehearsing the quickest and most efficient ways to present ideas will be held at IfA on May 2 and 3, prior to the May 4 local competition.
Bachelor and professional degree university students, holders of PhDs, professors, entrepreneurs and early-career professionals are expected to apply.
More on the Falling Walls Conference
The Falling Walls Conference is an annual global gathering of forward-thinking individuals from more than 75 countries. Each year, it is held on November 9, which coincides with the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. Twenty of the world’s leading scientists are invited to present their current breakthrough research in 15-minute presentations.
