Falling Walls Venture 2025 – Science Start-Up Competition

Falling Walls Venture is a global platform to showcase the entrepreneurial potential in science. They provide an exclusive stage for selected pioneering start-ups who have successfully turned science into business, creating entrepreneurial solutions for today’s most pressing challenges.

Each year, innovative science-based start-ups from all over the world take part in the Falling Walls Venture competition and get the chance to become the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in the “Science Start-Ups” category.

Why should you join as a start-up? 

• As a start-up, you get the chance to:
  • Get selected as one of the 25 Venture Finalists, participate in the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin from 7 to 10 November, and have your accommodation and part of your travel costs covered
  • Present your work to a distinguished jury, global leaders and a selected audience during the Falling Walls Venture Pitches on 7 November
  • Become the “Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year” in the “Science Start-Ups” category and pitch in front of an audience of global leaders at the Falling Walls Breakthrough Day on 9 November
  • Expand your network with investors and business partners and become a part of the Falling Walls Community
  • Extend your global reach and be spotlighted across their online platforms

Why should you join as a nominating institution?

• As a nominating institution, you get the chance to:
  • Boost your spin-off and your institution’s entrepreneurship initiatives
  • Amplify the reach and visibility of your institution
  • Join the Falling Walls Science Summit in person and be inspired by visionary scientific breakthroughs
  • Meet leaders from science, industry and politics, and get in touch with entrepreneurs and innovators from across the world

Eligibility Criteria

• Falling Walls Venture is open to start-ups that are based on scientific research
• Falling Walls Venture is open to all scientific disciplines (e.g. biotech, data & AI, cleantech, new materials, engineering, healthcare, food & agriculture)
• Each start-up must be endorsed by a nominating institution. This can be a university, a research institution, or another type of organization, like an accelerator or incubator
• The company must be founded (incorporated) by the time you apply and cannot be older than 5 years
• Start-ups who have already participated in the Falling Walls Venture Pitches in Berlin are not eligible to participate again
• Start-ups should already have a prototype/proof of concept

Nominations, Application and Evaluation Process

• Nominations
  • For nominating institutions: nominate one or more start-ups as the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in the “Science Start-Ups” category.
  • For start-ups: ask your university, research institution, or another organisation, like an accelerator or incubator, to nominate your company as the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in the “Science Start-Ups” category.
• Applications
  • For start-ups only: after you have been nominated, you will receive further details on the necessary application materials.
  • The application will consist of:
    • An application form
    • Your pitch deck as a separate PDF file
    • Your pitch video
• Shortlist
  • All applications will be reviewed and evaluated. Should you make it through the pre-selection process, you will be featured on the Falling Walls Venture Shortlist. The shortlisted applicants will be announced in June. Their Advisory Board will screen the applications of all shortlisted applicants and select the most promising start-ups, which will become Falling Walls Venture Finalists.
• Finalists
  • Divided into three clusters (Sustainability, Engineering of the Future, and Health Solutions), the 25 Falling Walls Venture Finalists will be invited to the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin, where they will pitch their work to a distinguished Jury and selected audience on 7 November. The Finalists will be announced in the middle of August. As a Finalist, you will also receive a high-quality video as well as photos of your live pitch which you can share with potential investors and partners after the event.
• Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in the “Science Start-Ups” Category
  • After the live pitches on 7 November in Berlin, the Jury will select one Cluster Winner for each cluster and, among them, one “Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in the Science Start-Ups category”.  The selected start-up will present again on the big stage of the Falling Walls Breakthrough Day on 9 November, alongside other “Science Breakthrough of the Year” laureates.

For more information, visit Falling Walls Foundation.