Interview with Falling Walls Lab Finalist

The Falling Walls Lab is a world-class pitch competition, networking forum and place where early-career professionals take the stage to share their breakthrough ideas. Who better to explain what the event was like than Keiu Virro herself? So, we asked 6 questions about the Final Walls Lab and the Science Summit in Berlin:

1. Why is the Falling Walls important to you? Or what importance does the event for the Finalists of Falling Walls Lab hold to you?

The significance of the Falling Walls Lab unfolds on several levels. First, the short presentation format is an excellent opportunity to practice storytelling and challenge yourself to communicate your research in an engaging and inclusive way. It is also a fantastic exercise in public speaking.

Beyond that, the final event offers a chance to meet an extraordinary range of people, from early-career researchers to Nobel laureates and science start-up innovators. It is a remarkable concentration of brilliant minds and lovely people that inevitably broadens your own perspective on the world.

2. What was the atmosphere like at the event? Collaborative, friendly, innovative?
All of those, and more. It was fast-paced, but also incredibly supportive. You could feel that everyone, from the jury to fellow finalists, wanted each other to succeed. There were moments that made you laugh, others that made you cry, and by the end of each day you were completely exhausted, but in the best possible way.

3. What was it like meeting the other finalists? Did the event facilitate international connections?
Absolutely. Meeting people from 60 countries, all working on different ways to improve the world, cannot be anything else than inspiring. The event made it very easy to connect over coffee breaks and discussions. I very much hope that this is not the last time when I meet these brilliant people (I use superlatives, but I promise, they are in the right place).

4. What did you present at this event and was the presentation, feedback or hearing other speakers’ presentations helpful to your research/academic interests?

The topic of my presentation was “Breaking the wall of accessible culture”. The main point behind the format I presented is actually something pretty simple – the foundation of any kind of innovation is a human connection.

Feedback was very positive. For me, it was particularly important that the broader feedback that we got afterwards in the private discussions also touched upon disciplinary representation. Most of the participants in Falling Walls come from STEM fields. I represented the social sciences. And for example, the very first presenter, Maarja Merivoo-Parro, is a historian. One jury member said they believe representation from the humanities and social sciences will continue to grow at Falling Walls. That recognition from outside my own research bubble meant a lot.

But it also worked the other way around. It was incredibly inspiring to hear what kinds of solutions my fellow finalists were developing, for example for the early diagnosis of autism, the creation of new medicines, tackling specific forms of cancer treatment, and developing environmentally sustainable fuels, among many others. I believe that bringing these innovations to where they truly make a difference goes hand in hand with the social sciences and the humanities.

5. What’s one takeaway from the event?
That breakthroughs don’t happen in isolation. Whether in physics, medicine, or the arts, progress depends on how we connect with each other, and how we understand the human side of innovation.

6. Was there anything you were surprised about from this experience?
Initially, I felt slightly out of place among so many STEM projects, but the openness and interest from both the audience and jury members showed me that the boundaries between disciplines are softening. People increasingly see that to solve global problems, we need both scientific and cultural understanding.