Over the weekend, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) was the host venue for Falling Walls Lab SUSTech. The competition is organized by the Falling Walls Foundation, a charity that is generously funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Berlin-Senate, the Bayer Foundations, Huawei, and Sartorius. The SUSTech Global Engagement Office was a proud sponsor of the event, with dozens of students from across south China flocking to SUSTech to present their innovative ideas. Of the seven winners, three have been funded to experience the Berlin Science Week in November.
Vice Provost (Global Strategies) Professor Zheng Chunmiao said that the Falling Walls Lab competition is an international forum for young innovative leaders to stimulate and encourage new ideas and solve practical problems for society. These interdisciplinary and innovative ideas are well in alignment with SUSTech’s genes of research, innovation and entrepreneurship. SUSTech is committed to developing a talent pipeline full of future leaders with a global outlook. He encouraged the competing students to explore their fields to make breakthroughs in a quest to improve society. Zheng Chunmiao added that hosting Falling Walls SUSTech was a valuable opportunity for SUSTech and anticipated that there would be further opportunities for international innovation and entrepreneurship education.
The 3-member panel was full of international investment and entrepreneurial experience, with Australian Managing Director of ROMPT Leigh Angus, Co-founder of Green Pine Capital Luo Fei and Founder of Alpha Startups Xu Siqing commenting on the students’ projects. The jury encouraged the students to think more about the social impact of their projects, while also providing valuable guidance on demonstration methods, presentation angles, innovative ideas, and even time management.
The Falling Walls Lab is an international forum for the next generation of outstanding innovators and creative thinkers. Its aim is to promote exceptional ideas and to connect promising scientists and entrepreneurs from all fields on a global level. Labsters get the opportunity to present their research work, business model, or initiative to peers, a high-caliber jury made up of experts from academia and business, and the general public – in 3 minutes each.
The most intriguing presenters of the locally hosted Falling Walls Labs travel to the Lab Finale in Berlin, Germany on 8 November. 100 Labsters from around the world will present their work in front of a distinguished jury of science, business, and policy-making leaders, and showcase their solutions for today’s most pressing challenges.
In 2019, universities from 91 cities on six continents participated in the event, including world famous universities such as Stanford, ETH Zurich, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia) and the University of Tokyo. China’s competition points include the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tongji University and Northwest Polytechnic University. The SUSTech Competition is the only competition point in South China this year, and had the most registered competitors in China.
