Each year, on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, individuals from 80 countries meet in Berlin for the Falling Walls Conference. The purpose of the conference is to identify trends, opportunities and solutions for global challenges and discover international breakthrough research.

The Falling Walls Lab is a forum designed to promote innovative ideas and connect promising scientists and entrepreneurs from all fields on a global level. Academic institutions are invited to host their own lab to showcase the quality, diversity and passion of their most innovative minds. From there, the most intriguing presenters of the locally hosted Lab travel to the finale in Berlin, Germany on November 8. Canada currently is host to three Labs – Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto.

The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking was created in 2017 with a generous endowment from the Hunter Family Foundation as an interdisciplinary nucleus for activities that support entrepreneurial student experiences, enable faculty to lead in innovation and expand a growing community of entrepreneurial and innovative thinkers. In 2018, the Hunter Hub brought the Falling Walls Lab to UCalgary as the second Canadian Lab location. 

In 2019, the second annual Lab saw 25 percent growth and received the great honour of sending two “Labsters” to represent Canada on the global stage. One of those people was our very own Matt Schaubroeck, Director of Programming.

Matt pitched his startup ioAirFlow, an artificial intelligence-enabled software designed to show how to make buildings more efficient, and was chosen as one of the 100 finalists who will fly to Berlin and present their ideas at the Falling Walls Lab. 

Matt will join the other finalists to present their work to a distinguished panel and showcase their solutions to the pressing challenges facing us today. Three winners will be selected and awarded the “Falling Walls Young Innovator of the Year” title as well as prize money and the opportunity to present their idea on the grand stage of the Falling Walls Conference. 

“I’m very excited to be one of a handful of delegates representing Canada at the Falling Walls Lab conference in Berlin,” says Schaubroeck. “It’s an honour to take part in a meeting of one hundred of the top young minds in the world and I look forward to talking about ioAirFlow and the work we are doing on commercial building efficiency.”