The Falling Walls Science Summit (previously Falling Walls Conference) is an annual science event in Berlin, Germany, which takes place from 7 to 9 November and coincides with the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.[1] Guided by the question "Which are the next walls to fall in science and society?" the Science Summit aims to showcase scientific breakthroughs, foster a dialogue between science and general public and connect global leaders from science, business, and media to develop solutions for the greatest challenges of our time. Originally being a one-day conference, the summit has expanded and now spans three days: Falling Walls Pitches on 7 November (pitches from up-and-coming scientists, science start-ups, and science engagers), Falling Walls Circle on 8 November (round table debates between global leaders from science, politics, and business) and Falling Walls Breakthrough Day on 9 November (keynotes of the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year laureates and renowned international speakers).
- Quarraisha Abdool Karim, CAPRISA, Durban
- Kevin Bales, University of Nottingham
- Neil Gershenfeld, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Rob Knight, University of California, San Diego
- Lim Chuan Poh, A*STAR, Singapore
- Randolph Nesse, Arizona State University
- Peter Neumann, King's College London
- Hélène Rey, London Business School
- Katherine Richardson, University of Copenhagen
- Eyal Weizman, Goldsmiths, University of London
- June Andrews, University of Stirling, UK
- Bruce A. Beutler, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA
- Emmanuelle Charpentier, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
- Ottmar Edenhofer, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
- Nilüfer Göle, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France
- Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind, London, UK
- Dirk Helbing, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Naila Kabeer, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- Wolfgang Ketterle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
- Nina Kraus, Northwestern University, USA
- Joanne Liu, Médecins Sans Frontières, Switzerland
- Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, New York City
- Brian Schmidt, Australian National University
- Jackie Yi-Ru Ying, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore
- Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President, European Research Council (Session Host)
- Rush D. Holt, CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science (Session Host)
- Johanna Wanka, German Federal Minister of Education and Research (Official Opening)
- David Chipperfield, David Chipperfield Architects
- Karl Deisseroth, Stanford University, USA
- Stefan Hell, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany
- Lisa Kaltenegger, Cornell University, USA
- Christof Koch, Allen Institute for Brain Science, USA
- Nathan S. Lewis, California Institute of Technology, USA
- Mariana Mazzucato, University of Sussex, UK
- Svante Pääbo, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
- Alan Rusbridger, Former Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian, UK
- Thierry Zomahoun, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), South Africa
- Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna, Austria
- Diane Griffin, vice-president of the United States National Academy of Sciences (Session Host)
- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (Official Opening)
- Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, UK (Session Host)
- Rupert Stadler, CEO, AUDI AG, Germany (Dinner speech)
- Philippe Taquet, President of the French Academy of Sciences (Session Host)
- Lev Zelenyi, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Session Host)
- Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Columbia University, USA
- Olafur Eliasson, artist
- Jill Farrant, University of Cape Town, South Africa
- Stephen Friend, President Sage Bionetworks, USA
- Anita Goel, CEO Nanobiosym, USA
- Rolf-Dieter Heuer, CERN, Switzerland
- Jules A. Hoffmann, Université de Strasbourg, France
- Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University, USA
- Daniel G. Nocera, Harvard University, USA
- Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, University of Cambridge, UK
- Mark Pagel, University of Reading, UK
- Dan Shechtman, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
- Salil Shetty, Secretary General Amnesty International, UK
- Luc Steels, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain
- Ai Weiwei, artist
- David Awschalom, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Monique Breteler, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston
- Michael Bruter, London School of Economics
- Philip Campbell, Nature Publishing Group
- Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Senegal's Health Minister
- David Harel, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
- Michel D. Kazatchkine, UN Special Envoy for HIV/Aids in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
- Alan I. Leshner, AAAS and Science
- Daniel Libeskind, Architect
- Helga Nowotny, European Research Council (ERC), Vienna
- Ina Schieferdecker, Fraunhofer FOKUS/Technische Universität Berlin
- Hal Varian, Google Inc.
- Daniel Zajfman, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
- Anastasia Ailamaki, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
- Nick Barton, Institute of Science and Technology, Austria
- Aaron Ciechanover, Technion
- Robert Darnton, Harvard University
- Ingrid Daubechies, Duke University
- Robert E. Horn, Stanford University
- Wang Hui, Tsinghua University, Beijing
- Mary Kaldor, London School of Economics
- Ferenc Krausz, Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics Munich
- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Helga Nowotny, European Research Council (ERC), Vienna
- Kõji Omi, The Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum Kyoto
- Annette Schavan, German Federal Minister of Education and Research
- Dennis J. Snower, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy
- Cédric Villani, Université de Lyon
- Stewart Wallis, nef (the new economics foundation), London
- Dalton Conley, Sociologist
- Frederick Cooper, historian
- Helmut Dosch, Physicist
- Olafur Eliasson, artist
- Doug Guthrie, Dean of The George Washington University School of Business
- Olga Holtz, mathematician
- Reinhard Hüttl, President at acatech
- Thomas Lengauer, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics
- Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Belgium
- Karl Ulrich Mayer, President of the Leibniz Association
- Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association
- Annette Schavan, professor, German Federal Minister of Education and Research
- Sabine Schmidtke, professor, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania
- Christian Wulff, President of Germany
