Leibniz Institute

What Leibniz Institute does

The Leibniz-Institut für Präventionsforschung und Epidemiologie – BIPS GmbH is a non-profit research institute headquartered in Bremen, Germany, founded in 1981 and structured as a GmbH under German law. It is a full member of the Leibniz Association since January 2013 and receives institutional core funding jointly from the German federal government and the State of Bremen, supplemented by competitive grants from DFG, the European Union, and other public research funders. As of December 2025, the institute employs approximately 211 staff across departments covering epidemiological methods and cause research, clinical epidemiology, prevention and evaluation, statistical methods in epidemiology, and research data infrastructure and data science.

BIPS's core technical assets are large-scale population health research infrastructures: it serves as the Bremen examination center for the NAKO Gesundheitsstudie (Germany's largest population health study, 200,000+ participants), operates access to the GePaRD German pharmacoepidemiological research database, runs the BIPS BioBank, and hosts the Bremer Krebsregister (Bremen Cancer Registry). These feed a Research Data Portal (rdp.bips.eu) that exposes data to global researchers via metadata catalogs, the NFDI4Health Health Study Hub, and DataSHIELD-based remote analysis. The institute also develops and publishes open-source statistical software (MetS-Score, MODYS, SAS Two-Phase Package) and methodological innovations in causal inference, with code released via its GitHub organization.

Commercially, BIPS does not operate a traditional for-profit model; data, software, and consulting services are provided on a non-commercial basis to the scientific community, while policy advisory work flows to national and international bodies including the WHO (where BIPS is a designated Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Nutrition and Physical Activity since 2016). Its customer base spans the international scientific research community, healthcare policy makers, and the general population participating in cohort studies, with the institute's primary mission being the generation of scientific evidence for the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases.

Name

Leibniz Institute

Legal name

Leibniz-Institut für Präventionsforschung und Epidemiologie – BIPS GmbH

Website

https://bips-institut.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS) is a publicly funded non-profit research institute in Bremen, Germany, conducting population-based epidemiological research on chronic disease prevention, operating large-scale cohort and claims-data infrastructure, and serving the international scientific community, policy makers, and the WHO.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bremen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Government Research Funding: As a member of the Leibniz Association, BIPS receives core funding from federal and state (Bremen) governments. Additional project-based funding comes from German Research Foundation (DFG), European Union research programs, and other public research funders.
2. Research Data Services: BIPS provides data access services to researchers worldwide through its Research Data Portal, enabling secondary use of epidemiological data for scientific research purposes.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

BIPS conducts population-based epidemiological and prevention research focused on chronic non-communicable diseases, operating longitudinal cohort studies (NAKO with 200,000+ participants), pharmacoepidemiology databases (GePaRD), cancer registries (Bremer Krebsregister), and biobanking. It provides external researchers with access to its epidemiological datasets and analysis platforms via the Research Data Portal, and develops open-source statistical software for the research community.

Product overview

The Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS) is a research institution focused on population-based prevention research and epidemiology, not a traditional product company. Its offerings consist of research data infrastructure, data access platforms, and open-source statistical software tools. The core product is the Research Data Portal (https://rdp.bips.eu/), which enables external researchers to apply for and access epidemiologic data through web-based applications and remote DataSHIELD analysis. Supporting research infrastructure includes the NAKO Gesundheitsstudie (Germany's largest longitudinal health study), GePaRD (health insurance claims database), BIPS BioBank, and the Health Study Hub metadata explorer. BIPS also develops and distributes open-source software including MetS-Score for metabolic syndrome calculation, SAS Two-Phase Package for survey statistics, MODYS for adverse drug reaction monitoring, and various tools available via their GitHub repository.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Research Data Portal Web-based portal enabling researchers worldwide to apply for and access BIPS epidemiologic research data, featuring data exploration via the Health Study Hub and remote analysis through DataSHIELD.
• NAKO Gesundheitsstudie (NAKO Health Study) Germany's largest ongoing epidemiological research project investigating causes and risk factors of common chronic diseases, with BIPS serving as the Bremen study center (200,000+ participants nationwide).
• GePaRD (German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database) Database of German health insurance claims data enabling pharmacoepidemiological research on medication use and safety for scientific researchers.
• BIPS BioBank Bioprocessing resource supporting the conduct of epidemiological studies with biological sample collection, storage, and management.
• Bremer Krebsregister (Bremen Cancer Registry) Clinical-epidemiological cancer registry for the federal state of Bremen providing population-based cancer surveillance data.
• Research Data Infrastructure and Data Science Center Central hub bundling projects on research data infrastructure and data science, supporting FAIRification of research data and Open Science.
• Leibniz Living Lab Living lab setting in Osterholz for health-related research and community engagement in prevention research.
• MetS-Score Software tool for calculating metabolic syndrome scores used in health research.
• SAS Zwei-Phasen Paket (SAS Two-Phase Package) Statistical software package for two-phase study designs in epidemiological research.
• MODYS Statistical software for monitoring and detecting adverse drug reactions using health insurance claims data.
• BIPS GitHub Repository GitHub repository hosting open-source statistical software and tools developed at BIPS for the research community.
• DataSHIELD Remote data analysis platform enabling researchers to analyze sensitive health data without direct access, maintaining data privacy and security.
• Health Study Hub Metadata explorer developed within NFDI4Health allowing researchers to search and explore the BIPS collection of research data, study metadata, and dataset descriptions.
• IDEFICS/I.Family Dashboard Interactive dashboard providing detailed insights into the IDEFICS and I.Family cohort study data for research purposes.

Quantifiable outcome

• Leading role in Germany's largest population health study (NAKO Gesundheitsstudie)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• World Health Organization (WHO)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2016Since September 2016, BIPS has served as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Nutrition and Physical Activity. The collaboration includes the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), development of training platforms for non-communicable diseases, and methodological competence platforms for surveillance harmonization across Europe.
• NAKO e.V. (NAKO Gesundheitsstudie)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIPS serves as the examination center for the NAKO Gesundheitsstudie, Germany's largest population-based health study with over 200,000 participants. The institute contributes to data collection, research infrastructure, and scientific analysis within this national research consortium.
• NFDI4HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIPS participates in NFDI4Health, the National Research Data Infrastructure for personal health data. The institute contributes to the Health Study Hub and provides data collections for secondary use through this German research data initiative.
• University of BremencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIPS maintains close ties with the University of Bremen, where the institute operated as part of the university before becoming an independent Leibniz Institute. Collaborative research, student supervision, and academic qualification programs continue.
• European Research ConsortiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIPS leads and participates in multiple European research consortia including projects on childhood nutrition (I.Family, IDEFICS), physical activity (AEQUIPA), and the Joint Programming Initiative 'A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life'. The institute coordinates the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN).
• U Bremen Research AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIPS is a member of the U Bremen Research Alliance, a network of research institutions in Bremen that promotes collaboration, knowledge exchange, and joint research initiatives including the Welcome Center for international researchers.
• Leibniz AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIPS has been a full member of the Leibniz Association since January 2013, following associate membership since November 2008. The Leibniz Association connects over 100 non-university research institutions in Germany.
• Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Digital Public HealthminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIPS leads the Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Digital Public Health, examining how digitalization affects health through interdisciplinary research involving IT, psychology, public health, and economics.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/bips-hb
• Xx.com/bips_bremen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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