What SIRIS Academic does

SIRIS Academic is a for-profit management consulting firm founded in 2010 and headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, that is fully owned by the not-for-profit SIRIS Foundation since 2023. It serves universities, research organizations, philanthropic foundations and public administrations across Europe and beyond, helping them design, implement and monitor complex projects such as large-scale funding applications, strategic plans, data analyses, and impact evaluations. The firm positions itself as a research-laboratory-like entity of nearly 50 international, interdisciplinary experts and applies an academic-grade methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative expertise from humanities, social sciences and computation with advanced research-driven semantic data science and visualization, text mining (including BERT-based Topic Modelling and Deep Learning classifiers), and bibliometric analysis. R&D outputs are released as open access publications, repositories and datasets, and the firm publishes a Wages, Fees and Ethics charter that caps internal pay ratios below 2:1, reflecting its stated view of profit as a means rather than an end.

The firm generates revenue through professional-services consulting engagements delivered at industry rates, typically under multi-year contracts, with work carried out in person across Europe (workshops, strategic seminars, working groups) and supplemented by remote delivery. Go-to-market is sales-led and largely referral-driven within public and socially oriented organizations, supported by thought-leadership content (reports, blog posts) and conference participation. It has ISO 9001-aligned quality management and operates multiple practice lines including academic-institution strategy, public-administration policy design, research-community agenda articulation, philanthropic-foundation programme support, and increasingly analytics products such as the EUt+ R&I mapping toolkit.

Name

SIRIS Academic

Legal name

SIRIS Academic

Website

https://sirisacademic.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SIRIS Academic is a Barcelona-based consulting firm of nearly 50 experts that helps European universities, research organizations, philanthropic foundations and governments design, implement and evaluate complex higher-education, research and innovation projects using qualitative, quantitative and semantic data science methods.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education & Research Consulting

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Higher Education Governance & Quality Policy Research (EDADADAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships) (EDAIABAC)

Keywords

• Higher education consulting
• Research strategy advisory
• University strategic planning
• Research policy consulting
• Innovation consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Barcelona

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: SIRIS Academic provides consulting services to universities, research organisations, philanthropic foundations and governments. They charge industry rates and invest earnings in research and innovation to provide responsible service to clients. The company is for-profit but views profit as a means and not an end.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

SIRIS Academic is a higher education, research, and innovation consultancy that helps universities, research organisations, philanthropic foundations, and governments design, implement, and monitor complex projects — from large-scale applications and strategic plans to data analysis and impact evaluation. The firm delivers qualitative and quantitative research expertise, advanced semantic data science and visualization, participatory process design, and capacity-building programme support.

Product overview

SIRIS Academic is a higher education, research, and innovation consulting company that provides strategic advisory services. The company offers qualitative and quantitative research expertise spanning humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, and computation. Key services include designing and implementing complex projects (large-scale applications, strategic plans, data analysis, monitoring impact evaluation), advanced research-driven semantic data science and visualization techniques, and capacity-building programs. The company operates a research laboratory-like entity with nearly 50 experts, focusing on bridging research and consulting to provide external perspectives for academic institutions, public administrations, and research communities. Research and Development activities are conducted with results made available as open access publications or openly available repositories and datasets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Planning & Project Design Consulting
• Data Analysis & Impact Evaluation
• Capacity-Building Programme Support
• Policy Design for Education, Research & Innovation
• R&I Mapping Toolkit (EUt+)
• ISO 9001-Aligned Quality Management Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Internal wage ratio between top paid employee and median salary maintained at less than 2:1
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• SIRIS FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSIRIS Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation that became 100% owner of SIRIS Academic. The foundation's mission includes supporting research, education and innovation as fundamental actions for the common good; promoting open science and open government; and supporting the use of scientific evidence for decision-making and public investment.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Science-Metrix: Specialist scientometrics and bibliometrics firm focused on research performance evaluation, STI ecosystem mapping, and citation analysis. Closely overlaps with SIRIS Academic's text mining, ERC panel classification, and quantitative research capabilities.
• Ithaka S+R: US/global non-profit providing strategic advisory and research on higher education and scholarly communications infrastructure. Comparable in mission-driven consulting model, research outputs, and serving the academic institutional client base.
• RAND Europe: Mission-driven European policy research institute providing independent research on education, innovation, and labour markets. Comparable in non-profit ethos, scale (~150 staff), and public-sector research clientele to SIRIS Academic.
• CHE Consult: Germany-based consultancy focused on higher education strategy, university rankings, and institutional development. Directly comparable to SIRIS Academic in serving European HEIs on strategic planning and capacity-building engagements.
• Technopolis Group: Strategy consulting firm specialising in research and innovation policy, serving universities, governments, and foundations across Europe. Highly comparable to SIRIS Academic in scale, offerings (strategic planning, impact evaluation), and target client segments.
• PPMI: Lithuanian consulting firm specialising in EU education, research, and innovation policy evaluation. Directly comparable to SIRIS Academic in providing strategic and impact evaluation support to European HE and R&I institutions, including for the European Commission.

Broad incumbents

• ECORYS: Netherlands-based research and consulting company with substantial European HE and innovation policy practice. Overlapping with SIRIS Academic in education/R&I strategic advisory and impact evaluation but at larger scale and broader sector coverage.
• European Science Foundation: Pan-European non-profit organisation supporting research collaboration and science policy. Operates in adjacent HE/R&I policy space with a broader coordination remit but functions within the same client ecosystem SIRIS Academic serves.
• McKinsey & Company (Education Practice): Global management consulting firm with an established higher education practice advising governments and universities on HE strategy and institutional transformation. Overlapping capabilities with SIRIS Academic but at materially greater global scale.
• Boston Consulting Group (Education & Social Impact): Global strategy firm with dedicated education and social impact practices advising European public-sector and HE clients. Serves overlapping client types with broader service portfolio than SIRIS Academic's specialised focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sirisAcademic
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/siris-academic

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SIRIS Academic