CEREC

What CEREC does

CEREC (Center for Research in Economics) is the economics research center of Université Saint-Louis – Brussels, an academic institution rather than a commercial entity. Its 13 faculty members, approximately 17 PhD students, 4 postdoctoral fellows, and 9 research associates work across applied and theoretical economics with a particular emphasis on game theory, public economics, long-run macroeconomics, finance, and Information Systems. The center's outputs consist of working papers (over 100 since 1999), peer-reviewed publications, and convening activities including the Beamm conference series.

CEREC's technology footprint centers on the beamm.brussels project — an open-access micro-simulation platform under development for public policy and tax justice analysis, funded under the EFRO-FEDER 2021-2027 program — alongside methodological research applying machine learning techniques such as Wasserstein GANs and autoencoders to econometric problems. The center maintains close institutional ties with UCLouvain, with faculty holding dual affiliations, and engages in seminar collaborations with HEC Liège and Erasmus University Rotterdam. Director Hélène Latzer provides regular expert commentary to Belgian and international media on macro and trade policy.

The center's business model is non-commercial: it does not charge for publications, working papers, conference participation, or platform access. Operating funds derive from institutional support via Université Saint-Louis / UCLouvain and external research grants such as EFRO-FEDER. Distribution occurs through open-access academic channels, the beamm.brussels platform, conferences, and media engagement, with no commercial sales motion.

Name

CEREC

Legal name

Center for Research in Economics - CEREC

Website

https://cerec.be

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CEREC is the economics research center of Université Saint-Louis – Brussels, producing academic research and working papers in game theory, public economics, and macroeconomics, and developing the open-access beamm.brussels micro-simulation platform for policy analysis. It serves policymakers, academics, and civil society.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Institutional Funding: Research center funded by Université Saint-Louis – Brussels and potentially government research grants
2. European Regional Development Funding: EFRO-FEDER funding received for beamm.brussels project supporting digitization of public services and evidence-based policy research

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CEREC is the Economics research center of Université Saint-Louis – Brussels, conducting applied and theoretical economic research with emphasis on game theory, public economics, long-run macroeconomics, finance, and Information Systems. The center produces working papers and peer-reviewed publications, hosts the annual Beamm.conf international conference, and operates the beamm.brussels open-access micro-simulation platform for public policy and tax justice analysis.

Product overview

CEREC (Center for Research in Economics) is the economics research center of Université Saint-Louis – Brussels, an academic institution rather than a commercial product company. It does not offer software products or services in the traditional sense. Its activities consist of academic research in economics, publishing working papers, hosting conferences (such as Beamm.conf), and conducting research in applied and theoretical fields including game theory, public economics, long-run macroeconomics, finance, and Information Systems. The institution also houses the Beamm.brussels project, which is a micro-simulation platform for public policy research, but this is a research project rather than a commercial product offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• beamm.brussels Micro-Simulation Platform Open-access online micro-simulation platform developed for public policy analysis, tax justice evaluation, and evidence-based fiscal policy research serving Belgian and Brussels-Capital Region policymakers and civil society. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (EFRO-FEDER).

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• UCLouvaincoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClose institutional affiliation with UCLouvain. Faculty members hold positions across both institutions, share publications, and collaborate on research projects. UCLouvain logo appears on CEREC materials.
• HEC LiègeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration through joint seminars. Morgane Dumont from HEC Liège gave a presentation at CEREC on cross-border multimodal mobility research.
• Erasmus University RotterdamminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration through seminars. Robert Dur from Erasmus University Rotterdam presented research on tax misperceptions and labor supply at CEREC.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ZEW – Centre for European Economic Research: ZEW is a German economics research institute conducting applied economic research and policy evaluation with a strong focus on public finance, labor markets, and industrial economics. It is the closest European peer to CEREC in terms of mission, scale, and policy-facing research output.
• Bruegel: Bruegel is a Brussels-based think tank producing economic policy analysis for European audiences. Direct geographic peer to CEREC with similar policy-research focus, though broader in macro-financial topics.
• CEPREMAP: CEPREMAP is a French economics research center focused on public economics, labor, and policy evaluation. Comparable to CEREC in research domain focus and French-speaking European positioning.
• Toulouse School of Economics: TSE is a French economics research and graduate school with strong specializations in game theory, public economics, and macroeconomics — directly overlapping CEREC's core research domains.
• Paris School of Economics: PSE is a French economics research institution with broad coverage of theoretical and applied economics, including public economics and policy evaluation. Comparable in academic research output and policy engagement.
• Barcelona School of Economics: BSE is a Spanish economics research consortium covering micro, macro, public economics, and econometrics. Comparable to CEREC in producing academic research with applied policy relevance in a European university-affiliated setting.
• CEPR – Centre for Economic Policy Research: CEPR is a pan-European network and research organization focused on economic policy research, publishing working papers, and convening researchers and policymakers. Highly comparable in terms of working-paper publication model and policy-research mission.
• CEPS – Centre for European Policy Studies: CEPS is a Brussels-based think tank conducting research on EU economic and policy issues. Geographic and mission peer to CEREC, with comparable engagement to EU policymakers.
• IZA – Institute of Labor Economics: IZA is a Bonn-based research network specializing in labor economics, publishing working papers and hosting conferences. Comparable to CEREC in its research-network model and academic-policy bridging orientation.
• Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research: Ifo is a Munich-based European economic research institute producing the ifo Business Climate Index and conducting research across macroeconomics, public finance, and labor. Like CEREC, it bridges academic research with policy advisory work.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cerec

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about CEREC