The winner, Karin Ljubič (left), will travel to Berlin to the Falling Walls Lab Finals.
Publish Date: 30.03.2015
Category: Researchers in focus
“At the University of Ljubljana, we have joined the global Falling Walls Lab concept primarily with the goal of encouraging young individuals with innovative ideas who have the desire and courage to present their research and development considerations to the wider public”, said prof. dr. Maja Makovec Brenčič, who also opened today’s event.
Member of the jury, Branko Žibert, partner at A.T. Kearney, emphasised: “I am pleased to discover that interest in technologically advanced start-up entrepreneurship is increasing in Slovenia. For example, last year, Slovenian start-ups gathered more than 60 million dollars of investment capital, which is as much as in all the previous eight years put together. We believe that the segment of start-ups is an important driving factor in the future development of numerous industries.”
From thirteen final ideas, the commission selected three of the best and a winner from among the three. The third place went to Tanja Štular with the idea “Breaking the Wall of Drug Discovery”, the author of the idea that placed second is Zautvydas Juskauskas (Latvia) with the idea “Breaking the Wall of Crowd Size Estimation”, and the winning idea was by Karin Ljubič titled “Breaking the Wall of Data Storage”. The winner will travel to the Falling Walls Lab Finals in Berlin, which will take place on 8 November, 2015, and will also receive a ticket to attend the renowned Falling Walls conference a day later. At the conference, the twenty best ideas from all over the world shall give their answer to the question “What will be the Next Walls to Fall?”
After the awarding ceremony, the winner, Karin Ljubič said: The “Breaking the Wall of Data Storage” idea is trying to provide new opportunities for storing data and to open new areas for developing new data storage and access technologies. With the help of a computer programmer and two biotechnologists, we wrote a computer programme, turned it into a DNA sequence and stored it in a live plant and its seeds. Our approach enables the storage of immense quantity of data, the free reproduction of data and survivability for thousands of years.
After the conclusion of the event, Sonja Šmuc executive director of the Managers’ Association of Slovenia said: “Some of the ideas presented today have a commercial prospect. Young people also need to be encouraged to think about how to sell their idea. Things become professional when you create something people are prepared to pay for. And if they are, the response is immediate. You can improve your idea, service or product and thus contribute to the creation of new jobs.”
Photos by Željko Stevanić, IFP, d.o.o.
Prof. dr. Maja Makovec Brenčič: %u201CAt the University of Ljubljana, we have joined the global Falling Walls Lab concept primarily with the goal of encouraging young individuals with innovative ideas who have the desire and courage to present their research and development considerations to the wider public.%u201D
The commission composed of (from left to right) Marko Žibret (A.T. Kearney), dr. Lidija Honzak (Ljubljana University Incubator), prof. dr. Martin Čopič (University of Ljubljana), Sonja Šmuc (Managers%u2019 Association) and prof. dr. Andrej Kos (Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana) did not have an easy task.
The best of the best was Karin Ljubič. She won with the break-through idea %u201CBreaking the Wall of Data Storage%u201D.