Image: Prof Dr Heyo K. Kroemer, Chairman of the Charité, and Prof Dr Thomas Wiegand, Institute Director, Fraunhofer HHI
Charité and Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute cooperate on 5G and 6G
Berlin, 21 July 2025
How can modern communication technologies help to make medical care better, more efficient and safer? Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) intend to pursue this question even more closely together in future. With a declaration of intent signed today, they are laying the foundations for close collaboration in the areas of research, technology transfer and innovation.
An ageing society, increasing demand for care and the growing shortage of specialised staff are presenting hospitals with ever greater challenges. Charité and the Fraunhofer HHI will now meet these challenges with a cooperation to increase the digitalisation of medicine.
The focus here is on the development of wireless communication technologies to optimise medical processes – from digital diagnostics to robot-assisted therapy: the 5G and 6G mobile communications standards, for example, enable more efficient use of resources, support medical staff through automated processes and create new ways of providing care, for example through telemedicine, mobile diagnostics or AI-supported assistance systems. In this way, the quality of care can be ensured, waiting times can be reduced and specialist staff can be relieved.
Communication technologies improve patient care
‘Digitalisation plays a key role in meeting the growing challenges in the healthcare sector,’ emphasises Prof. Heyo K. Kroemer, Chairman of the Charité Executive Board. ‘When we integrate modern communication technologies into everyday clinical practice, this opens up new possibilities for diagnostics, treatment and care processes from which our patients benefit directly.’
Fraunhofer HHI, which is significantly involved in 6G research at national and European level, is contributing its extensive expertise in wireless communication technologies and as coordinator of the ‘6G-RIC Research and Innovation Cluster’ to clinical applications:
“The collaboration with Charité enables us to test and further develop state-of-the-art communication technologies such as 5G and 6G specifically in the medical environment. Together, we are creating an innovation ecosystem that not only drives research forward, but also delivers concrete solutions for patient-centred medicine of the future,” says Prof. Slawomir Stanczak, Head of the Wireless Communications and Networks Department at Fraunhofer HHI.
Putting innovations into practice
As part of the co-operation, spin-offs in high-tech areas are also to be promoted in order to transfer innovations from theory into practice. The active promotion of young talent is also planned as a further component of the cooperation.
Berlin as a centre for health and science has the best prerequisites for this: In recent years, it has established itself as a centre for 5G and health research – now the aim is to turn this into a strong network for the digital medicine of tomorrow.