Karolinska Institutet ramps up cooperation with Charité

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 17 October at the annual World Health Summit, which Charité hosts and which gathers researchers in global health from around the world.

The main focus of the MoU is to increase the sharing of knowledge, skills, students and employees between Berlin and Stockholm. It is also intended to facilitate joint strategies for the healthcare of the future in such areas as precision medicine, including clinical trials with a particular focus on cell and gene therapy.

Charité and KI already collaborate on numerous research fields, and have had a long-standing medical student exchange programme. One example of the ongoing cooperation is the EU’s TEF-Health project, which tests and validates innovative artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics solutions for the healthcare sector.

Another intention of the MoU is to find ways of further integrating research, teaching and patient care by, for example, sharing best practices on research and university governance.

“Formalising our cooperation with Charité outs us in continual interaction with our colleagues in Berlin,” says KI president Annika Östman Wernerson. “The willingness expressed by Charité, Karolinska University Hospital and KI to pool our expertise and resources for the common aim of improving human health strengthens all parties.”

She continues: “Charité possesses valuable experience and competence of policy-making at an EU level, which we at KI are very interested in. The aim is to bolster KI’s position in the EU, in order to both gain access to the research funding available and influence policy.”