Accelerating medical innovation: New ARC Center bundles expertise

Brain City Berlin

From idea to everyday clinical practice: In order to advance medical innovations more rapidly and in a targeted manner in the future, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, together with the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), has created a new organisational framework – the ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate). The new institute brings together clinics, research, start-ups and industry partners in hubs. The ARC serves as an ecosystem that bundles many aspects and thereby further develops the healthcare system.

“The demographic shift is confronting our healthcare system with unprecedented challenges. We must therefore bring medical innovations into practice much faster and accelerate long research and development cycles. The ARC Innovation Center enables us to develop interdisciplinary solutions based on concrete issues arising from everyday healthcare that are medically sound, technically feasible and rapidly benefit patients,” says Prof. Heyo K. Kroemer, Chairman of the Executive Board of Charité.

Prof. Christopher Baum, Chairman of the BIH Executive Board and Head of the Translational Research Division at Charité, adds: “New approaches in prevention, diagnosis and therapy should be developed in a risk-adapted manner and reach patients as quickly as possible. The ARC model will provide important impetus in this regard. We will carefully adapt it to local conditions – ideally in interaction with further partners within our innovation ecosystem.”

Employees as drivers of innovation

The idea of the ARC Innovation Center is based on a concept developed at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, which has since been adopted by clinics worldwide. The starting point consists of concrete challenges from everyday clinical practice submitted by employees from all areas. The ARC Innovation Center collects and prioritises these needs, develops initial solution approaches and subsequently tests them directly within medical care. It strengthens collaboration with external partners, regulatory authorities and investors, and ensures access to data, testing environments and clinical expertise.

“Hospital employees are the decisive actors for genuine transformation in healthcare. The new center and the international network of ARC Centers provide them with the necessary structure and reach,” says Prof. Surjo Soekadar, Chief Innovation Officer and largely responsible for establishing the new ARC Center. He is developing the center together with Managing Director Avner Shahal and an interdisciplinary core team.

If developments prove successful, revenues can flow back into research – creating a cycle that benefits patient care in the long term. The ARC Innovation Center in the Brain City Berlin is thus an ecosystem that brings together people, knowledge and resources to further advance healthcare.

First projects starting soon

The Berlin ARC Innovation Center brings together clinics, research, start-ups and industry partners in thematic Open Innovation Hubs. These hubs are open development spaces in which innovations are jointly developed and tested in practice with external partners. Among other initiatives, the establishment of a NeuroTech Open Innovation Hub is planned.

Through the Science in Berlin Promotion Fund and the Einstein Foundation Berlin, sponsors and investors can support these initiatives. Their commitment is complemented by public funding from the State of Berlin. Under this so-called matching-funds model, the State provides an additional 50 per cent in funding for every euro invested by industry partners or start-ups in joint projects with Charité.

The first activities of the ARC Innovation Center in the Brain City Berlin will begin in the first half of 2026. Planned initiatives include idea competitions in which concrete challenges and solution approaches from clinics, research and administration will be systematically identified. In addition, an Innovator Programme will be launched to provide structured support to employees and external teams in developing and implementing entrepreneurial ideas.

The idea of the ARC Innovation Center

The concept of the ARC Innovation Center was developed in 2019 at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel. The idea was based on the insight that traditional healthcare systems are becoming increasingly unstable due to rising costs and staff shortages and require far-reaching transformation. Innovation is understood not only as a driver of scalable patient benefit and economic growth, but also as a global responsibility.

In the meantime, the Accelerate – Redesign – Collaborate concept has evolved into a rapidly growing international network. Partners include UCL Partners (London), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, SingHealth in Singapore and Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo. This provides an important international perspective for medicine in Berlin.

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