Falling Walls Conference 2011

The International Conference on Future Breakthroughs in Science and Society

The Falling Walls conference is an annual global gathering of forward thinking individuals from 75 countries. Each year, 20 of the world’s leading scientists are invited to Berlin to present their current breakthrough research. The aim of the conference is to:

- connect science with industry, politics, media and culture

- identify trends, opportunities and solutions for global challenges

- make research understandable to a broad audience

- inspire people to break down the walls that we face today

The initial conference was held in 2009 on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall to celebrate this historic day by looking into the future and getting an understanding of the world of tomorrow. It was hosted by Berlin’s newly established scientific Einstein Foundation and supported by a wide variety of academic institutions. Ninety per cent of the participants said that they would like to return. We asked them why.

This positive response encouraged to establish an annual convention. For this purpose an independent organising committee was established that is open to all academic institutions that wish to contribute to this conference. The Falling Walls Foundation is a non-profit charity that is dedicated to the support of science and humanities.

The Falling Walls Foundation is supported by the German Ministry for Education and Research and the Berlin Senate for Education, Science and Research. Its work is overseen by its Board of Trustees.

Falling Walls is generously receiving advice and support from a wide variety of academic institutions, among them Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science and the Humanities, acatech – German Academy of Science and Engineering, German Academic Exchange Service, Fraunhofer-Society, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Leibniz Association, Max Planck Society, Stifterverband.

Falling Walls Conference 2011: Programme and Speakers

8 November WELCOME RECEPTION – Staatsbibliothek Unter den Linden, Berlin-Mitte

- 8:00 pm WELCOME RECEPTION at the New Reading Room, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Haus Unter den Linden
ROBERT DARNTON Harvard University BREAKING THE WALL OF INACCESSIBLE KNOWLEDGE

9 November FALLING WALLS CONFERENCE – Radialsystem, Berlin-Friedrichshain

- 9:00 am ANNETTE SCHAVAN German Federal Minister of Education and Research OFFICIAL OPENING

- 9:20 am – 10:40 am FIRST SESSION Host: HELGA NOWOTNY European Research Council
JEAN-LUC LEHNERS
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
BREAKING THE WALL OF THE BEGINNING OF TIME

MARY KALDOR
London School of Economics
BREAKING THE WALL OF THE NEW WARS

NICK BARTON
Institute of Science and Technology
BREAKING THE WALL THAT LIMITS EVOLUTION

REBECCA CASSIDY
Goldsmiths, University of London
BREAKING THE WALL OF GAMBLING
(Coffee Break)

- 11:10 am –12:30pm SECOND SESSION Host: REINHARD F. HÜTTL acatech – the National Academy of Science and Engineering

ANASTASIA AILAMAKI
Ecole Polythechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
BREAKING THE WALL OF DATA DELUGE

ROBERT SCHLÖGL
Fritz-Haber-Institut MPG
BREAKING THE WALL OF ENERGY SUPPLY

ELKE WEBER
Columbia Business School
BREAKING THE WALL OF RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
To be confirmed

- 12.30 pm
ANGELA MERKEL Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany KEYNOTE

- 12.45pm – 2:00 pm LUNCH BREAK

- 2:10 pm – 3:10 pm THIRD SESSION Host: DENNIS SNOWER Kiel Institute for the World Economy

SUNIL KHILNANI
King’s College London
BREAKING THE WALL TO THE FIRST WORLD
To be confirmed

(Coffee Break)

AARON CIECHANOVER
Technion Israel
BREAKING THE WALL OF DISEASES

WANG HUI
Tsinghua University Beijing
BREAKING THE WALL OF SOCIAL DIVIDE

INGRID DAUBECHIES
Duke University
BREAKING THE WALL OF COMPUTER STUPIDITY
(Coffee Break)

PAUL CHIRIK
Princeton University
BREAKING THE WALL SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY

FERENC KRAUSZ
MPI for Quantum Optics / LMU München
BREAKING THE WALL MICROSCOPIC MOTION

CÉDRIK VILLANI
Université de Lyon / Institut Henri Poincar
BREAKING THE WALL OF CHAOS

- 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm SUMMARY To be confirmed
SEBASTIAN TURNER Falling Walls Foundation GOODBYE

FESTIVE DINNER – Museum for Communication Berlin, Berlin-Mitte

8:00 pm RECEPTION AND FESTIVE DINNER at the Museum for Communication Berlin

MATTHIAS KLEINER
German Research Foundation
INTRODUCTION KOJI OMI

KOJI OMI STS
Forum Kyoto
THE MESSAGE FROM KYOTO

3:30 pm – 4:40 pm FOURTH SESSION Host: JÜRGEN MLYNEK Helmholtz Association

Sessions