idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
With the establishment of an ARC Innovation Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) are creating a new organizational framework to advance medical innovations rapidly and in a targeted manner. ARC stands for Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate. The center bundles medical expertise, scientific research, and technological development under a single roof, shortening the course from ideas through to everyday clinical practice.
"Our healthcare system is facing unprecedented challenges due to demographic change. Consequently, we must bring medical innovations into practice at a far more rapid pace and accelerate long research and development cycles. The ARC Innovation Center enables us to develop interdisciplinary solutions based on specific issues arising in everyday healthcare that are medically expedient and sound, technically feasible, and rapidly benefit patients," as Prof. Heyo Kroemer, Chairman of the Executive Board of Charité underlined.
Prof. Christopher Baum, Chairman of the BIH Executive Board and Director of Translational Research at Charité, adds: "New approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and therapy should be developed in a risk-adapted manner and reach patients as quickly as possible. In this respect, the ARC model will provide many important impulses. We will adapt everything carefully to the respective local conditions – and gladly in interaction with other partners in our innovation ecosystem."
Employees as innovation drivers
The idea for the ARC Innovation Center is based on a concept developed at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, which has meanwhile been adopted by clinics around the world. Specific challenges from everyday clinical practice which are brought in by employees from all areas, form the starting point. The ARC Innovation Center collects and prioritizes these needs, develops initial solutions, and subsequently tests them directly in medical care. This approach improves collaboration with external partners, regulatory bodies, and investors, and ensures access to data and test environments, as well as to clinical expertise.
"Hospital staff are the key players here in bringing about genuine transformation in healthcare. The new center and the international network of ARC Centers provide them with the necessary structure and reach to accomplish this" as Prof. Surjo Soekadar, Chief Innovation Officer and largely responsible for setting up the new ARC Center, stated. He is developing the center together with Managing Director Avner Shahal and an interdisciplinary core team.
If the developments prove successful, the proceeds can then flow back into research – a cycle that benefits patient care in the long term. In this way, the ARC Innovation Center represents an ecosystem that brings people, knowledge, and resources together to advance healthcare.
First projects now in the starting blocks
In Open Innovation Hubs, the Berlin ARC Innovation Center brings together clinics, research, start-ups, and industry partners – hubs which are open in terms of topics and issues and representing open development spaces where innovations are developed and tested in a practical manner in cooperation with external partners. Among the planned initiatives is the establishment of a NeuroTech Open Innovation Hub. Sponsors and investors can participate through an investment initiative launched by the Science in Berlin Promotion Fund together with the Einstein Foundation. Under a matching-funds mechanism, the State of Berlin contributes an additional 50 percent for every euro invested by industry partners or start-ups in open-innovation projects at Charité.
The Berlin ARC Innovation Center will launch its initial activities in the first half of 2026. Among other things, idea competitions are planned in which specific challenges and solutions from clinics, research, and administration will be systematically recorded. Moreover, an innovator program will be launched to provide structured support to employees and external teams in the development and implementation of entrepreneurial ideas.
https://www.bihealth.org/en/notices/from-ideas-to-care-new-arc-center-at-charite...
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