From the Lecture Hall to the Clinic: Hands-On Learning at HPI

It’s Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. While many students are just heading to their lecture halls, master’s students in the Digital Health program at the HPI are already on their way somewhere else—not to the university, but to a hospital. They are participating in the seminar "Digital Health Spark," organized once a year by the Digital Health Economics & Policy research group together with HPI Engine in cooperation with the Berlin-based hospital network Vivantes.

Under the motto "Igniting Need-Driven Innovation in Healthcare", students spend two weeks working in real clinical settings. They observe daily routines, identify concrete challenges, and develop value-based health-tech solutions inspired by the Stanford Biodesign methodology.

"Need-driven means that, in the spirit of human-centered design, we start with desirability—that is, with the real needs and wishes of future users. That way we avoid purely push-driven innovations," explains Dr. Philipp Stoffers, program manager and initiator of Digital Health Spark.

HPI master’s students shadow hospital staff and observe workflows.
At Vivantes Hospital, students rotate through various departments, from radiology and pediatrics to the cardiac catheterization lab.
The heavy documentation workload is one of the biggest challenges in daily hospital life—even in neuroradiology.

Between paper concepts and clinical reality

A central component of the seminar is four days of clinical shadowing at the Ida-Wolff Hospital and Humboldt Hospital in Berlin. Students rotate through departments including radiology, pediatrics, the central operating room, and the cardiac catheterization lab. There, they observe workflows, talk with physicians and nurses, document pain points, and identify unmet needs directly on site.

"The Digital Health Spark was designed specifically for students. In a survey, they named field studies and interdisciplinary collaboration as their biggest wishes," says Dr. Stoffers. "Direct experience helps ensure desirability, but it also prevents jumping to solutions too quickly. Only this approach creates empathy and openness to needs you might never have considered otherwise."

Physicians at the hospitals say the approach works. Martin Schwarz, senior physician in radiology at Vivantes Hospital Neukölln, explains:

Working with the students made us realize that certain questions we face here with our patients had never occurred to them before. Some things look very smart on paper—but in reality they run into limits. I think it’s important for people who will later work in the healthcare system to see what everyday reality actually looks like for patients and staff.

Physician Martin Schwarz (left) and HPI researcher Philipp Stoffers at an MRI scanner. — Dr. Philipp Stoffers (right) from the HPI Chair of Digital Health, Economics, and Policy initiated the seminar for the master’s students.

Hospitals benefit from the exchange as well. Michèle Kluge, the first Digital Nurse at Vivantes, combines hands-on nursing experience with expertise in innovation and digitalization. She says:

We have a fixed perspective. We’ve been working in hospitals for years and know everything inside out. Then young, new minds come in and look at things differently—things we may have long overlooked because of routine. I personally find that extremely valuable.

From idea to concrete solution

Past cohorts show that Digital Health Spark produces more than ideas—it generates tangible projects.

Sparkles
Sparkles addresses an often underestimated risk in everyday hospital life: delirium, an acute state of confusion that particularly affects older patients and can lead to longer hospital stays and complications. The voice-interactive bedside companion activates patients through conversation and cognitive prompts, reduces passivity, and supports nursing staff without requiring additional resources.
NeoGuide
NeoGuide brings structure and safety to neonatology. The AI-supported, multilingual tool informs parents in real time about their baby’s condition, delivers personalized learning content, and reduces workload for nursing staff through an intelligent chatbot. Its goal is to digitally accompany parents during and after their hospital stay while involving them more closely in care.

More transparency for parents: "PediCare"

This year’s students also encountered key challenges during their time in the hospital. Paula, a master’s student with a background in psychology, identified a recurring problem during her shadowing in pediatrics: a lack of transparency and uncertainty among parents. "We had the impression that many parents weren’t informed about what was actually happening and which processes were taking place," she says. "There were so many open questions: Am I allowed to stay in the hospital with my child? When can we go home? What exactly is being done here?"

Her team developed "PediCare," a digital companion that guides parents through procedures, diagnoses, and appointments from admission to discharge.

The solution is designed to integrate into existing patient portals, reduce language barriers, and involve parents more closely—without creating additional work for doctors or nurses.

For Paula, the real-world insight was crucial:

That was actually my main interest when I joined the Digital Health program at HPI. I see myself as a bridge between the world of healthcare and the world of digitalization.

HPI master’s student Paula at Vivantes Neukölln — HPI master’s student Paula and her team aim to support parents with their digital client "PediCare."

Dr. Lorenz Reill, a senior physician in cardiology, agrees that such a bridge is needed: "We have a lot of experience in the analog world, and we’d like to pass that on to people who view things from a digital perspective. To me, that makes perfect sense."

Reducing documentation work: "SmartIR"

Besides communication issues, another topic repeatedly surfaced: documentation. Krishna, a master’s student with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, observed the hospital’s fragmented IT landscape during shadowing. "Most doctors told us that information has to be entered into several different systems multiple times," she explains. "The systems are not connected."

Her project "SmartIR" addresses exactly this problem. The solution for interventional radiology connects existing technologies—speech-to-text documentation, automated image capture, and product scanning. Relevant information could then automatically flow into the patient record. By the end of a procedure, the documentation would be almost complete and would only need verification.

Innovation from within the clinic

Dr. Volker Hesselmann, chief physician of neuroradiology, also sees an urgent need for change.

What overwhelms us as physicians—besides the heavy responsibility of treating patients—is documentation, workflows, and the transfer of information. The need is still very high, especially when it comes to workflow.

Dr. Volker Hesselmann, chief physician of neuroradiology, at his desk. — To enable faster stroke treatment, Dr. Volker Hesselmann, chief physician of neuroradiology, developed an AI prototype together with colleagues and experts.

Together with colleagues and AI experts, he developed an AI-based system to support stroke treatment. The software analyzes imaging and clinical data directly in the emergency department to help clinicians make faster and better-informed therapy decisions. The prototype is currently being tested in a clinical environment.

Initiatives like this—from medical professionals themselves—show how urgently healthcare needs practical, technology-driven solutions. Programs like Digital Health Spark create a structured exchange between hospitals and innovation.

From solution to startup

Students who want to take their ideas further can join the Product Builder Digital Health program at HPI Engine after the seminar.

The program helps participants validate solutions, develop prototypes, and refine business models. The goal is to turn early concepts into real, scalable products—transforming innovation from an idea into reality.

Further information about the course is available here.