Falling Walls competition showcase for university students’ business ideas

Germany is a short pitch away for one enterprising Manitoba student or recent graduate.

Come November, the academic will jet to the Falling Walls Lab Finale — a science and business-focused pitch competition that, when grouped with other events, draws some 60 nations across the globe.

“Because we are facing global problems, having global partners around the world is a good thing to have,” said Hans-Joachim Wieden, the University of Manitoba’s associate vice-president of partnership, knowledge mobilization and innovation, microbiology.

The University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and Brandon University didn’t collaborate on sending a pupil to Germany because of the world’s shifting trade ties.

The Falling Walls Lab Finale occurred last year and years prior. This time, however, the Manitoba export will join fellow winners during a period of geopolitical unease.

“(It’s) a great opportunity for us to showcase what we’re doing here in Manitoba,” said Wieden, a former judge of the Manitoba competition.

Venture capitalists, philosophers and innovators from around the world will gather for Falling Walls events — including a science summit — in Berlin.

Contestants will pitch their business ideas for support and money. The focus is on “breakthrough innovations” for mankind’s challenges, Wieden explained.

More than a dozen Manitoba students will compete today, locally, for the chance to advance to Berlin. Students and recent graduates from the province’s three largest English universities are enrolled.

Fabian Rohden is among the contenders. The University of Manitoba pupil is finishing a Ph.D. in microbiology; he’s pitching a business that uses computer simulations and artificial intelligence to flag potential resistance to in-development pharmaceutical drugs.

He’s considering himself a winner regardless of today’s outcome: “Things like Falling Walls are still a gigantic gain,” he said.

Falling Walls marks Rohden’s fourth pitch competition. Presentation skills and business acumen are skills he’s learned through the events, he added.

And Falling Walls is a test, he continued: “The more I learn, the more I figure out how much this idea can actually work or not.”

If he isn’t getting bites on his pitch, he hasn’t lost years to forming a startup, Rohden said.

Local judges include representatives from post-secondaries and Bioscience Association Manitoba, among other organizations. The panel will hear three-minute pitches.

Others’ pitches include tackling insecticide dependency in canola farming and minimizing hallway medicine through real-time triage systems.

The winner will head to Berlin for the global Falling Walls finale and summit Nov. 6-9. They’ll also win $1,000 in Manitoba.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com