UCT innovators sweep Falling Walls Lab Cape Town 2025

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) “big thinkers, bold dreamers and future shapers” made history at the Falling Walls Lab Cape Town 2025, sweeping all three top prizes in the annual showcase of ideas with global impact.

At the top of the podium was chemical engineering student Candace Eslick, whose pitch “Breaking the wall of clean cooking in Africa” earned first place and a coveted ticket to represent Cape Town at the Falling Walls global finals in Berlin, Germany, on 9 November.

In her heels was Joelle Bel-Ange Ndongmo Vouffo Epse Tsoepze for her work titled “Breaking the wall of sustainable agriculture under drought stress”; while Rahul Rama-Panchia finished third for his “Breaking the wall of childhood abuse and vulnerability” pitch.

“This is more than just a competition,” said Associate Professor Zarina Patel, UCT’s deputy dean for research in the Faculty of Health Sciences. “It’s about dismantling the invisible walls that separate us and showcasing innovation that can change the world.”

Eslick’s winning idea tackles a challenge that affects nearly two billion people in low-income households worldwide, who still rely on coal, wood, and other dirty fossil fuels for daily cooking and heating.

“In Africa, these fuels are burned in inefficient stoves that release toxic smoke, driving climate change and causing severe health risks,” Eslick explained in her pitch. “And it is women and children who suffer most – walking long distances to collect fuel, cooking over open fires, and facing higher exposure to injury, illness, and even violence.”

“In our lab, we’ve proven we can fully convert an intermediate chemical, DME, into Green LFG, with a valuable by-product: green gasoline.”

While the World Health Organization promotes cleaner fuels like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Eslick highlighted its limitations. “LPG is still a fossil fuel, with a carbon footprint as large as the aviation industry,” she said.

Under the supervision of Professor Jack Fletcher, Eslick’s GreenQuest, a UCT-linked innovation venture, is pioneering Green Liquefied Fuel Gas (Green LFG) – a synthetic, sustainable alternative made by combining renewable hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide. “In our lab, we’ve proven we can fully convert an intermediate chemical, DME, into Green LFG, with a valuable by-product: green gasoline,” she noted.

Already scaled to a mini-plant producing 6 kg of fuel, Green LFG has been successfully tested in a cookstove and a 30 kWh generator developed by a Cape Town startup. “We have the energy. We have the heat. Next come the field trials, and with them, the chance to bring clean, sustainable cooking to millions of African households,” Eslick concluded.

Eslick’s triumph continues a remarkable tradition: UCT engineering students have won five of the six Cape Town Falling Walls Labs held since the local competition’s inception.

“This is testament not only to the calibre of UCT students but also to the culture of innovation fostered at the university,” said Associate Professor Patel. “In 2024 alone, UCT launched six new spin-off companies, with solutions ranging from clean energy to bio-farming.”

The spirit of Falling Walls

The Falling Walls Lab is a global platform where young innovators present their ideas in three-minute pitches to an audience of peers, industry leaders, and potential funders. More than 120 labs are held annually around the world, all feeding into the flagship conference in Berlin, which commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Speaking at the Cape Town event on 29 August, Inge Herbert, sub-Saharan Africa director for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, praised the courage of participants. “It’s difficult to explain scientific ideas in words we all understand, and yet that is what you have done today,” Herbert said. “Congratulations to all of you who dared to be so courageous.”

For Herbert, the symbolism of Falling Walls resonates deeply. “I came to Berlin after the wall fell, and there is a big parallel with the end of apartheid. This connects South Africa and Germany.”

Walls beyond the physical

Patel argued that walls are also ideological and systemic barriers. “They create separation that is not only physical but also deeply isolating and marginalising,” she said. “Our business today is dismantling some of these invisible walls to serve society and the environment now and into the future.”

Patel called for systemic change in higher education, encompassing not only reward structures but also publishing practices. “Working across disciplines requires dismantling many walls, not just in our disciplines but also in the very structures that universities are built on,” she said.

“The time is now for expansive ideas. Disciplinary walls need to open up to give us clearance. Universities must work for the common good of all humanity.”

“The inspiring faces here today prove that Africa’s youth can catalyse real shifts in how we think about the future.”

Gareth Morgan, the City of Cape Town’s executive director for future planning and resilience, said innovation is now one of the city’s five core values. “We are the first city in the world to benchmark ourselves against the ISO standard for innovation management. We take our 31 000 staff on this journey with us.”

Partnerships are central. “At this time in our country’s history, we must maximise the impact between government, business, university and civil society,” Morgan stressed.

For Eslick, the next stop is Berlin, where she will join more than 100 finalists from around the world at the Falling Walls Science Summit 2025. There, she will compete not only for the title of global winner but also for the chance to connect with funders, collaborators, and fellow innovators who can help take Green LFG from pilot to large-scale implementation.

But beyond the individual victory, Falling Walls Lab Cape Town 2025 reaffirmed the city – and UCT in particular – as a hub for innovation in the Global South.

“Innovation is not the preserve of the Global North,” Patel reminded the audience. “Conditions of scarcity in the Global South have always provided fertile ground for ingenuity. The inspiring faces here today prove that Africa’s youth can catalyse real shifts in how we think about the future.”