About FWLS

SHARE YOUR IDEA AND WIN A TRIP TO BERLIN!

The Falling Walls Lab is an interdisciplinary format to showcase the next generation of top researchers developed and hosted annually by the Falling Walls Foundation in Berlin on 7 November. In 3–minute talks, outstanding talents and innovative thinkers share their research projects, business models and social initiatives with an interdisciplinary audience and jury. Academic institutions worldwide are invited to host their own Falling Walls Lab and to send their winner/s to the Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin.

Falling Walls Lab SENDAI, the first lab in Japan

Falling Walls Lab Sendai is co–hosted by Tohoku University, DWIH Tokyo, Tohoku Forum for Creativity (TFC), and the Research Management Center. Bachelor and Master students, PhD candidates, postdocs, young professionals, and entrepreneurs from all scientific disciplines.
The Falling Walls Lab Sendai will be held on Friday, 22 September, 2023, at TOKYO ELECTRON House of Creativity, Tohoku University. Please see the "Schedule" page for further details.
Attending the event is free of charge for participants and the audience.

The Prizes

The first winner of the Falling Walls Lab Sendai will receive a paid trip to Berlin to present in the Falling Walls Lab Finale and attend the Falling Walls Conference on 7–9 November 2023. At the finale in Berlin, the 100 Finalists compete to become the Breakthrough Winner in the Emerging Talents category of Falling Walls, taking home the title and prize money, and receiving the opportunity to pitch their idea once again on the grand stage of the Falling Walls Conference. The international network of Falling Walls Labs includes renowned academic institutions from over 60 countries.

Participants

Bachelor and Master students, PhD candidates, postdocs, young professionals and entrepreneurs from all scientific disciplines are invited to apply. The age of an applicant should be 18 years or older.

  • If an applicant has only a Bachelor's degree, the degree should not date back more than 10 years.
  • If an applicant has a Master's degree, the degree should not date back more than 7 years.
  • If an applicant has a PhD, the degree should not date back more than 5 years.
  • Students and postdocs which are currently enrolled in university are also eligible to apply.

Your Presentation

Each participant is asked to present his/her work in 3 minutes (2:30–minute presentation and a half–minute Q&A) with a presentation file containing 4 slides.

1st slide: Your presentation title, your name and affiliation
2nd slide: Problems you are going to solve
3rd slide: Your innovative solutions
4th slide: Q&A

A prestigious jury from science and business awards the best participants. The jury is allowed to ask questions or to make comments during your speech. Further discussion will be welcome during the several breaks and reception party.

Scoring System

The jury evaluates based on the following criteria,

  1. Breakthrough Factor (how innovative is the proposed idea?) – 50%
  2. Relevance/Impact (how relevant is the idea for the discipline and beyond?) – 40%, and
  3. Structure/Performance (how convincing was the presentation?) – 10％

You can find more information at falling-walls.com/lab

Our partner event

FALLING WALLS LAB TOKYO [LINK]