Falling Walls Lab Tokyo 2019

For the fourth consecutive year, a local edition of Falling Walls Lab, a global science communication contest for highly motivated young students and researchers, was co-organised by the German Centre for Research and Innovation Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo) and EURAXESS Japan. The 2019 edition of Falling Walls Lab Tokyo was hosted by the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), a research institute within Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Following the structure established by the German organisation Falling Walls Foundation, young scientists presented their research projects in English within no more than three minutes, highlighting their innovative aspects and potential impacts on the advancement of science and society in general. This year, 14 pre-selected young researchers and students were invited to present their approach to breaking down new walls to knowledge at the Tokyo event on the evening of June 13. An impressive variety of nationalities, research fields (including social sciences and humanities), career levels and home institutions were represented, resulting in very different topics, from collaborative learning on social media to non-invasive healthcare monitoring, and feedback sensors for remotely operated robots.

This diversity of topics made the task of the jury — composed of renowned Japanese and international academics and industry representatives — even more difficult. Their role was to rank each contribution based on Falling Walls’ three key criteria: Breakthrough Factor, Relevance and Impact, and Performance and Structure. To entertain the audience during the lively discussions in the jury deliberation room, a “catch and tell” session was co-chaired by two professional science communicators: Caitlin Devor (University of Tokyo) and Thilina Heenatigala (ELSI), allowing attendees to exchange views and interact with the speakers.

In 2019, a single winner emerged from the event: Collin Stecker, materials science specialist and graduate student at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, for his research on a ground-breaking, versatile and affordable solar cell system. He will receive an invitation and a flight ticket to attend the Falling Walls Lab Finale on November 8, 2019 in Berlin, in which the winners from more than 70 Falling Walls Lab events worldwide will participate. In a first for this event, an entrepreneurship prize funded by Research in Germany was granted to another excellent speaker for their outstanding potential as a future entrepreneur. Riku Yamada, student in physical engineering at the University of Tokyo, received this prize for his project on food waste recycling. The Entrepreneurship Prize wins him a flight ticket to Berlin to join the Falling Walls Lab Finale 2019 as part of the audience and participate in the Innovation Days seminar organised in cooperation with TU9 German Universities of Technology.

The Falling Walls Lab format was launched in 2011 in Berlin and the Finale is held every year on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. About 80 Falling Walls Lab events are held annually in cities across the globe. Winners of all local Labs qualify for the finale in Berlin on 8 November. In Japan, applications are invited for the annual Falling Walls Lab events in Tokyo (held since 2016) and Sendai (held since 2014).

Please find photos of the event here.
Please find the video of the event here.

Falling Walls Lab Tokyo 2019, The winners

Winner

Collin Stecker
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
“Breaking the Wall of affordable, flexible, renewable energy”

Entrepreneurship Prize

Riku Yamada
Grubin
“Breaking the Wall of food loss”

Jury

Prof. Dr. Izumi Ohno

Adjunct Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)

2018 – present: Director, Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute (JICA RI); Adjunct Professor GRIPS
2015 – present: Distinguished Senior Research Fellow, Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR)
2002 – 2018: Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
1999 – 2001: Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) – Director, Division for LAC.
1998 – 1999: Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan (OECF) – Director, Environment & Social Development Div.
1995 – 1998: The World Bank – Public Sector Management Specialist (Poverty Reduction & Economic Management Unit, LAC)
1993 – 1995: Research Institute for Development Assistance, Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan (OECF) – Economist & Deputy Director, Development Assistance Div.
1988 – 1998: The World Bank – Economist (Strategic Planning and Review Dept., SPRSP), Country Officer for Peru (Country Operations Dept. III, LAC) etc.
1981 – 1988: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – Mining & Industrial Planning Dept., Training Dept., Social Development Cooperation Dept.

Dr. Jörg Schneider

Director of Division „International Affairs“ and Head of Division DFG Office Japan, German Research Foundation (DFG)

since 2014 – present : Head of Division, DFG Office Japan
since 2006 – present: Head of Division “International Affairs”, German Research Foundation (DFG)
2003: Head of Division “Research Training Groups, Graduate Schools, Research Careers“ at Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
1999: Managing Director, Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (WGL)
1992: Establishment of the German National Contact Point for Human Capital and Mobility (HCM) in Framework Programme FP3. Until 1999 head of national contact point for European mobility, socio-economics and international cooperation programs
1991: Scientific Officer at the Project Management Team, German Research Ministry at the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Prof. Akemi Yokota

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Science, Chiba University

since 2017: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Chiba University
2014 – 2017: Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Politics, and Economics, Chiba University
2013 – 2014: Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Economics, Chiba University
2012 – 2013: Researcher, Institute of Administrative Management (IAM)

Prof. Dr. Yoshiaki Maeda

Vice Director and Professor, Tohoku Forum for Creativity, Tohoku University

since 2014 – present: Vice Director, Tohoku Forum for Creativity, Tohoku University
since 2014 – present: Professor, Tohoku University
2008 – present: Honorary Professor, University of Warwick
1994 – 2014: Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University
1986 – 1994: Associate Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University

Prof. Dr. Mary Voytek

Special Advisor to the President of Tokyo Institute of Technology/Executive Director of Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI)

2018 – present Executive Director Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology
2018 – present Cross appointment with Columbia University, Astrobiology
2015 – present Interagency Committee on Microbiomes
2008 – present Senior Scientist for Astrobiology, Planetary Sciences Division, SMD, NASA
1998 – 2010 Project Chief Environmental Microbiology, Water Resources Division, National Research Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

Sabine Schenk

Coordinator, Heidelberg University Office, Kyoto (HUOK)

2017 Award of the Takehisa Yumeji Society
Since 2015: Coordinator of the HUOK, Heidelberg University’s liaison office for Japan and East Asia
2013 – 2018: Visiting lectureships at LMU Munich, Heidelberg University and Ritsumeikan University
2012 – 2014: Assistant Liaison Office and Project Coordinator at the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe”, Heidelberg University
2010 – 2011: PhD research at the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo
2009 – 2010: Assistant Curator, Clark Center of Japanese Art and Culture (DIJ), California
2008 Master in Japanese Studies, Art History and German Literature at LMU Munich with an exchange year at Kyoto University

Dr. Kazuhiro Sakurada

Deputy Program Director, Medical Science Innovation Hub Program, RIKEN

2008 – 2018: Senior Researcher, Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc.
since 2008: Chief Scientific Officer, iZumi Bio Inc.
2006 – 2007: Head of Global Drug Discovery Regenerative Medicine, Bayer Schering Pharma AG
2004 – 2006: Head of Research Center Japan (Member of Corporate Research Management Team), Schering AG
2000 – 2004: Principle investigator of Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine, Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd
1988 – 2000: Researcher, Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd

Luca Escoffier

Project Manager, EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation

Feb 2019 – present: Co-founder and CEO, LCUBE Consulting
Dec 2015 – present: Chair of the Chapter on Open Innovation and Entrepreneurship, ISSNAF – Italian Scientists and Scholars of North America
Jul 2015 – present: Project Manager, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
Jul 2010 – present: Co-founder and CEO, Usque Ad Sidera LLC