On July 22nd, we experienced an unforgettable afternoon in Heidelberg filled with groundbreaking and visionary ideas!
The winners are:
1st place: Dr. Daria Kovaleva
Breaking the Wall of Concrete Construction Emissions
2nd place: Mina Atabakhsh
Breaking the Wall of Glioblastoma Recurrence
3rd place: Laurids Pernice
Breaking the Wall of Vegan Steak
Audience award: Mina Atabakhsh
Congratulations to all participants
Very talented early-career researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs presented their idea that has the potential to make a difference. Communicating complex scientific concepts clearly and convincingly is no easy task. It requires not only scientific excellence, but also creativity, curiosity, and the ability to inspire others. These skills have never been more important.
The challenges we face today require collaboration across traditional boundaries and a willingness to think differently.
These 13 presenters made the difference:
- Amin Soleimani Mehr, University of Stuttgart Breaking the Wall of green ammonia production stability
- Chiara Bernardini, University of Stuttgart Breaking the Wall of Metabolism
- Rasmus Bankwitz, Heidelberg University Breaking the Wall of Quantum Computing
- Mahyar Abbasi, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Breaking the Wall between money & the future
- Ravi Pradip, Heidelberg University Breaking the Wall of AI's Bandwidth Bottleneck
- Mina Atabakhsh, Heidelberg University Breaking the Wall of Glioblastoma Recurrence
- Dr. Maximilian Raff, University of Stuttgart Breaking the Wall of Walking Robots: Why Humanoids Should Not Move Like Humans
- Susanna Wakely, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Breaking the Wall of Nuclear Reactor Monitoring
- Dr. Daniel Rebai, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Breaking the Wall of Plastic Pollution in Rivers
- Dr. Daria Kovaleva, University of Stuttgart Breaking the Wall of Concrete Construction Emissions
- Katrin Sauter, University of Konstanz Breaking the Wall of AI in Civic Deliberation
- Dr. Mirko Rossini, Ulm University Breaking the Wall of Quantum Genetics and Life
- Laurids Pernice, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Breaking the Wall of Vegan Steak Structures
Nerds at Work
While the jury discussed all the pitches and selected the winners, we were invited by MAITHINK X scientist Dr. Jens Foell and science slammer Dr. Christian Scharun to the nerdiest office in the world. What the psychologist and the climate researcher usually discuss every Friday on their podcast, these full-time nerds presented live on stage. As usual, there were hard-hitting scientific facts, combined with a healthy dose of humor. Except this time, the audience was not only listening - they have been actively involved in the science fun.
Impressions
