Two winnersof the Falling Walls Lab Kyiv conference will present their ideas, ‘SmartPillow’ and ‘Enable Talk’, at the global Finale, competing with entries from 27other countries

Falling Walls Labs are a seriesof global forums for young scientists and innovators in 28 countries to competein “qualifying rounds” highlighting the very best ideas to advance the world.The winners from each country then go on to compete in the Falling Walls LabFinale, an annual global gathering of forward thinking individuals from acrossthe world organized by the Falling Walls Foundation with the support of A.T.Kearney (Founding Partner) and Festo (Global Partner). 100 young innovators areare invited to Berlin to present their research projects, social initiativesand business models – in 3 minutes each. 

The first FallingWalls Lab Kyiv, a qualifying stage of the renowned international forum foryoung academics and entrepreneurs, was held on September 17, 2015 in Kyiv,Ukraine, having been brought to Ukraine and organized by the Klitschko Foundation,which supports many charitable causes and programs for the youth and future of Ukraineand the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Thirty Ukrainian contestantspresented their transformative projects on social challenges and the big issuesof the future to the influential jury of well-known researchers, professors, andbusiness leaders. External experts were highly impressed not only by thequality and innovation of the ideas from the Ukrainians but also with theirskill at presenting their ideas in 3 minutes in 3 slides to the judging panel.Exceptional performances gives Ukraine a great hope for its future in helpingto drive global innovation.

The first place and aticket to the Finale was given to Oleksandr Shymanko for his ‘Smart Pillow’ health gadget thatrecords its owners’ head shape, checks pulse, tracks sleep, and wakes them atthe best time according to vital signs.

The Falling Walls LabKyiv’s  Technology Partner and one of theevent sponsors, UTIEA (Ukrainian Technology & Innovation Export Alliance) wasformed by the six leading IT Software Engineering outsourcing companies inUkraine – Ciklum, EPAM, GlobalLogic, Luxoft, Miratech, and SoftServe, which together employ over 16,000 ITspecialists in 11 cities in Ukraine. The Alliance awarded one additional ticketto the Finale to the second-place winner, Oksana Borysenko for her ‘Enable Talk’ gloves equipped withsensors that recognize sign language and present it as a text on a smartphone’sscreen, to be then converted to speech.

The Alliance (UTIEA) representsUkrainian IT Export industry, which employs over 74,000 IT specialists inside Ukraineand brings over $2,4 billion of hard currency export revenue annually to help Ukraine`seconomy. Its goal is to do everything to increase the number of people involvedin the industry and the ability of those innovators in Ukraine to get theirideas out into the global market and drive innovation with pride and economicbenefits to the country.

The global Falling Walls Lab Finale will take place on 8 November 2015 in Berlin.

“Any internationalconference that is held in Ukraine is another step bringing us closer to theglobal community. The Falling Walls Lab is a unique type of a conferencefocused on breaking symbolic walls that limit scholastic, scientific, andsocial advancement. I’m proud that we now have such a conference in Ukraine asI’m sure it’ll help us break the walls between the Ukrainian and internationalinnovators,” said Taras Vervega who represented UTIEA on the judging panel ofFalling Walls Lab Kyiv.

About UTIEA

UTIEA (UkrainianTechnology & Innovation Export Alliance) unifies six leading IT outsourcingcompanies based in Ukraine – Ciklum, EPAM, GlobalLogic, Luxoft, Miratech, and SoftServe – in a quest to further promote innovation and technology advancement inthe country. As the Technology Partner of the Falling Walls Lab Kyiv, theAlliance supports Ukrainian start-ups and other transformative initiatives, whichunleash Ukraine`s technological innovation potential at a global level andachieve sustainable development of the innovation market in Ukraine. 

About Falling Walls Foundation / Lab

The Falling Walls Conference isan annual global gathering of forward thinking individuals from 75 countriesorganized by the Falling Walls Foundation. Each year, where 20 of the world’sleading scientists are invited to Berlin to present their current breakthroughresearch. The aim of the conference is to connect science with the innovationindustry, politics, media and culture, identify trends, opportunities andsolutions for global challenges, make research understandable to a broadaudience and to inspire people to break down the walls that we face today. 

The Falling Walls Lab is achallenging, inspiring and interdisciplinary format for young bright minds. Itoffers the opportunity to excellent young academics and professionals topresent their outstanding ideas, research projects and initiatives. Eachparticipant is asked to present his/her work in 3 minutes. All disciplines arewelcome: from agriculture, medicine, economics, engineering to the humanities.A prestigious jury from science and business awards the best participants. TheFalling Walls Lab supports interdisciplinary dialogue and internationalcooperation, connects young and senior innovators and develops new ways ofscientific communication. 

Contacts:

Nataliya Diomova

ndiom@softserveinc.com

UK: +44-203-519-1216 x1282

US: 866-687-3588 x1282