IIIT Hyderabad to host international Falling Walls Lab contest

Hyderabad: The International Institute for Information Technology, Hyderabad will host the international Falling Walls Lab, a world-class pitch competition for students across disciplines and early-career professionals, on August 20. The most innovative idea – research project, business plan, or social initiative – will qualify for the global finale in Berlin in November.

The Falling Walls Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation based in Berlin set up on the 20th anniversary of the buckling of the iron curtain. Renowned academic institutions from over 60 countries host the international Falling Walls Lab to showcase innovative ideas from their regions.

While the Falling Walls lab has been organised in India over the last few years by the German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH) New Delhi, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in partnership with various institutes, this is the first time the lab has come to Hyderabad.

In the competition, participants are given three minutes each to present their solutions to some of the most challenging problems of our time. Judges comprising a panel of experts drawn from academia, industry and the general public determine a winner based on the innovativeness of the proposed idea, potential impact of the presented work, and how convincing the presentation was.

Winners across regions who qualify for the global finale in Berlin on November 7 not only compete to become the Breakthrough Winner in the Emerging Talents category of the competition but also win a ticket to attend the Falling Walls Science Summit where they get to interact and network with the world’s movers and shakers of science, business and policy-making, an IIIT-H blog said.

The deadline to apply is July 24. More information can be gathered from https://falling-walls.com/lab/apply/hyderabad/