On the 12th of July 2018, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) hosted its 5th consecutive Falling Walls Lab Egypt. The FWL Egypt is funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and hosted by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with the support of our Partners Egypt Innovate, Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC) , the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), the German-Arabic Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and the Misr El-Kheir Foundation.

Outstanding talents and innovative thinkers came together at Bayt Al Sinnari to showcase their research projects, social initiatives and business models moderated by Dr. Khaled Ismail.

Our high-calibre jury selected our winner who will travel to Berlin in November and compete at the global Lab Finale. The winner also receives a ticket for the Falling Walls Conference which takes place on the 9th of November and brings together leaders from the worlds of science, industry and policy-making

Meet the winner:

Laila Ziko, Egypt, Breaking the Wall of Antibiotic Resistance:

Laila presented the problem that Antibiotic resistance is now a global concern, killing more than 20,000 people every year in USA & Europe. Chemotherapeutic resistance is also increasing globally. Her ambitious Idea is that there is a need for new drugs with the Motto: “Bacteria living 'on the edge' can save our lives!”

from left to right: Laila Ziko - 1st Place,  Mohamed Abd Allah - 2nd Place and Mohammed Rizkallah - 3rd Place

The presentations were evaluated by the esteemed jury with a score based on three criteria: breakthrough factor, relevance to society and performance.

Meet the Jury:

Starting from the right side:

  • Roman Luckscheiter: Director of the DAAD Cairo Office
  • Simon Brombeiss: Head of Culture and Education, Head of Protocol and Science at the German Embassy in Cairo
  • Abeer Shakweer: Advisor for Social Responsibility and Services Ministry of Communication and Information Technology & Advisor to Scientific Research and Innovation Strategy Unit at Misr el Kheir Foundation
  • Yasmin Abdallah: Science and Event Coordinator at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology
  • Mohamed Elmahdy: Entrepreneurship Support Specialist at the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC)

This year Egypt ranked 4th as the Lab with the highest applicant number world wide. Out of 128 applicant here are our 15 Falling Walls Lab Egypt Finalists that amazed us with their ground-breaking ideas.

Falling Walls Lab Egypt 2018 - Programme

The night ended with a light dinner where the participants, jury and guests had the opportunity to network and enjoy the historical flair of the location at Bayt Al-Sinnari.