At the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Barbara Bulc joined the Falling Walls Circle along with fifty invited leading scientists and distinguished representatives from across business and politics. The Circle is a global platform for science strategists and visionaries across all fields, to shape solutions for our shared future. Chaired this year by Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPrize Foundation and the first Muslim woman in space, Circle members shared experience on how to move our thinking “From breakthroughs to moonshots” inspired by the first moon landing that took place exactly 50 years ago.

What must we do now that won’t need to be forgiven? What innovation can create sustainable change for the future without simultaneously creating great harm? We need to begin rethinking the values, relations, and goals that bring us together to generate knowledge and change for future generations. When everything is being labeled a moonshot, the overuse of the term and saturation of the discussion around them deflects the focus from the importance of systemic innovation beyond ambitious one-off goals.

Sweelin Heuss, the new Managing Director of the Falling Walls Foundation said “The knowledge generated by science and research provides the basis for the public to form opinions and for governments to make decisions. Free, impartial thinking is fundamental here, and it is an asset that must be protected more than ever. We want to take a stand on this today”.

The Falling Walls Conference, established by Sebastian Turner after the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, tears down metaphorical walls between the worlds of science, business, politics, the arts, and society. Every year, leaders from these fields converge to address major trends by placing them into new contexts and developing them further in exciting and often unexpected directions. Chaired by Jürgen Mlynek it is generously supported by the German Ministry for Education and Research, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Helmholtz Association, the Berlin Senate and numerous other acclaimed academic institutions, foundations, companies, non-governmental organizations, and prominent individuals.

Join us next year at the Falling Walls Conference Nov 8-9, 2020 in Berlin.

Additional Resources:

Falling Walls Circle