Lilit Guroghlyan from QaylTech will represent Armenia at the international forum for young innovators FallingWallsLab, which will be held in November 2022 in Berlin.

At the local selection in Armenia, where she took the first place, Lilit Guroghlyan presented the MetaGait rehabilitation device developed by QaylTech, which helps people regain the ability to move. It enables even fully disabled people to stand upright and simulate the process of walking, and with the help of VR glasses and special games takes the patient to a virtual reality, where he walks or skis, which stimulates the creation of new neural connections in the brain and the transfer of impulses to the legs. The device was created entirely in Armenia, including software and virtual games.

At the second stage of the competition in the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, seven young innovators in English, for three minutes, presented their innovative and creative projects to "break down the walls. Argam Amiraghyan presented the project on 3D-repair of broken home appliances and products, Grigor Abelyan invented a car which will cook healthy and organic food on the street at an affordable price, Ani Sandeyan proposed the idea of a social network for just one family member and Ozheni Avetisyan told about an online project for career guidance.

The competent jury consisting of the Director of the National Scientific Laboratory after H. Alikhanyan Ani Aprahamyan, Academic Secretary of NAS RA Artur Ishkhanyan, the Acting Director of Yerevan Botanical Garden Arsen Gasparyan and Gagik Harutyunyan, expert of the National Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship besides the winner chose two more winners-Hovhannes Manushyan (3rd place) and Lilit Arshakyan (2nd place).

Hovhannes Manushyan's project PrekogAI is an automated cryptocurrency asset management system based on artificial intelligence, aimed at reliable positive capital growth. Lilit Arshakyan proposed a new approach to preliminary diagnosis of liver cirrhosis, tracking the dynamics of the disease and the dynamics of treatment with hepatoprotectors.

FallingWalls Lab is a start-up project created in Germany to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It provides an opportunity for young professionals to present their ideas, research projects and social initiatives, to present scientific concepts or to propose innovative methods for solving global problems and challenges in almost all areas of human activity. Every fall, in November, in Berlin, the final conference FallingWalls Lab is held, where the jury consists of major politicians, businessmen, economists, scientists, journalists, activists and media personalities.

According to founder of FallingWalls Lab in Armenia Hripsime Mkrtchyan, FallingWalls Lab has been conducted in Armenia for four years already. The winner will get a paid trip to a forum in Germany where they will have to present their idea and try to attract investors. The three winners of the Berlin finals receive cash prizes. The selection of participants is carried out in more than 60 countries, and Armenia is one of them.

According to the Director of the National Scientific Laboratory after Alikhanyan Ani Aprahamyan, both scientific, technological and educational projects were presented in the competition in Armenia. The jury evaluated the presentations, giving preference to those, which contained innovative ideas and can stand competition in Europe. This was taken into account and the knowledge of English, and the ability to present material well.

High school students from 7 regions of Armenia attended the FallingWallsLab project presentations at the National Academy of Sciences. Kids were invited to take a walk through the academy, to listen to the ideas of the young innovators (though they were not entirely comprehensible (the presentations were in English) and to talk with the Academician-Secretary of NAS RA Artur Ishkhanyan.

Addressing the children, Artur Ishkhanyan said that one of the reasons of Armenia's defeat in the 44-day war is the regression in science. According to him, technology is the main engine of progress in the 21st century, and it is impossible to create them without the development of science. He urged children to link their future with science, realizing that the most important person in the country should be a scientist, and that doing science today is a mission. At the same time, he added, a scientist has the most interesting job in the world.

Anahit Sargsyan