Six teams received awards for their application ideas from basic research in the field of mobility at the closing event of the fifth “Forum Junge Spitzenforscher” ideas competition on November 22, 2018. First place went to scientists from Technische Universität Berlin: with their “STIMSWIM” project, they want to enable paraplegics to swim in water by combining functional electrostimulation of the legs with non-invasive spinal cord stimulation. The project, “Grandma, let’s go running: we got you wearables!” — submitted by a team from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin — was awarded second place: the functional clothing, so-called wearables, are intended to support older people in their mobility. Third place went to the “BIGAP” project proposed by scientists of Technische Universität Berlin aiming to improve cooperation via wireless Internet connections.

Fourth place was awarded to three projects: a team from Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin wants to facilitate the inclusion of people suffering from dementia through increased mobility. A scientist at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin proposed a holistic optimization of traffic light control. Scientists at Technische Universität Berlin were also successful with their project “Destination Prediction based on Partial Trajectory Data using Recurrent Neural Networks.” For the first three places, a 10,000 euro prize was awarded for each team. The other teams received 2,000 euros each. The prize money is intended to be used to continue their research. In addition, all six finalists have an opportunity to apply for one of three validation grants of up to 50,000 euros each. The funding is provided by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, with the aim of putting the research results into practice.

The “Forum Junge Spitzenforscher” competition is organized by the Stiftung Industrieforschung and Humboldt-Innovation GmbH and is aimed at young researchers from all disciplines in Berlin. This was the first time that it was organized in cooperation with Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin.