Deutsches Institut für angewandte Pflegeforschung e.V

What Deutsches Institut für angewandte Pflegeforschung e.V does

Deutsches Institut für angewandte Pflegeforschung e.V. (DIP) is a German non-profit applied nursing research institute headquartered in Cologne, founded in 2000 and operating as an affiliated institute (An-Institut) of the Catholic University of Applied Sciences North Rhine-Westphalia (katho). With approximately 11 employees and no institutional base funding, the institute finances itself exclusively through third-party research grants (Drittmittel), membership fees, and donations, having delivered more than 200 projects with a cumulative volume exceeding €25 million. Its customers are primarily German federal and state health ministries (NRW, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland, with newer commissions in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein), foundations (Robert Bosch Stiftung, B. Braun Stiftung), and practice partners such as Johanniter Seniorenhäuser and Caritas.

The institute's deliverables span four clusters: (1) longitudinal national surveys, anchored by the Pflege-Thermometer series conducted since 2002 across hospitals, nursing homes, and home care services; (2) state-level workforce reporting and policy evaluations, such as the Landesberichterstattung Gesundheitsberufe NRW; (3) applied intervention research including PräSenZ preventive home visits and KOMPASS.RLP vocational training coordination; and (4) digital health innovation, notably the ViKI pro AI-based nursing decision support system — developed with Fraunhofer ITWM, AWSi, JoSe, CBT, and AOK-Bundesverband — which combines a rule-based expert system with a domain-specific LLM trained on nursing documentation, and the BMFTR-funded DECURA project developing decentralized, privacy-by-design home care applications. A for-profit services arm, DIP-GmbH, was spun off in 2021 to handle consulting, evaluations, and assessments, operating alongside the e.V. as the 'DIP platform'.

DIP's go-to-market is sales-led but mission-driven: project acquisition runs through competitive tendering, ministry framework agreements, foundation calls, and consortium partnerships with academic and Fraunhofer institutes. Pricing is not commercially disclosed because outputs are commissioned research rather than commercial products; intellectual property and tools developed (e.g., ViKI pro) remain within the public-funded research envelope rather than being licensed at scale. The institute's core competitive position rests on 25 years of domain authority, the longest-running national nursing workforce dataset in Germany, multi-ministerial trust, and an unusual ability to combine academic rigour with immediate operational deployment in care facilities.

Name

Deutsches Institut für angewandte Pflegeforschung e.V

Legal name

Deutsches Institut für angewandte Pflegeforschung e.V.

Website

https://dip.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DIP is a Cologne-based non-profit applied nursing research institute founded in 2000, serving German federal and state health ministries, foundations, and care providers through commissioned surveys, policy evaluations, and digital health projects such as the ViKI pro AI nursing decision support system.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nursing Research Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Data, Analytics & AI Consulting (BPAHACAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services (BPAHALAJ), Geriatric, Frailty & Fall-Prevention Remote Monitoring (HLALAFAI)

Keywords

• Nursing research
• Applied healthcare research
• Care workforce studies
• Nursing workforce surveys
• Health policy consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Köln (Cologne)

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Third-party funded research projects (Drittmittelprojekte): DIP's primary revenue stream consists of competitively tendered research grants and commissioned studies from government ministries (federal and state), public health insurers, foundations (e.g., Robert Bosch Stiftung, B. Braun Foundation), and healthcare associations. Projects range from large-scale national surveys to regional evaluations and consulting mandates. The institute has no institutional base funding from the state.
2. Membership fees and donations: The non-profit association generates supplementary revenue through membership fees from institutional members (universities, associations) and charitable donations, supporting its independent research agenda.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

DIP is a non-profit applied nursing research institute that conducts commissioned research projects, nationwide nursing workforce surveys, AI-supported care research, and policy consulting on behalf of government ministries, foundations, and healthcare organisations in Germany. Its work spans large-scale national surveys, evidence-based digital tools for nursing practice, preventive care models, and health-professions reporting for individual German states. Together with its 2021-spun-off subsidiary DIP-GmbH, it operates as the DIP platform delivering research, evaluations, and consulting services.

Product overview

DIP (Deutsches Institut für angewandte Pflegeforschung e.V.) is a non-profit research institute, not a commercial product company. Its offerings consist of research projects and studies focused on nursing research, healthcare workforce development, and care quality. Key projects include ViKI pro (an AI-based system for nursing process support), DECURA (a decentralized digital care support application), PräSenZ (preventive home visits for seniors), and the Pflege-Thermometer survey series. The organization also conducts state reporting on health professions, develops guidelines for nursing education, and provides scientific accompaniment for various care-related initiatives. Projects are funded by government bodies, foundations, and healthcare organizations rather than being commercial product offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ViKI pro (Versorgungsintegrierte Künstliche Intelligenz im professionellen Pflegeprozess) Evidence- and expertise-based AI system that supports decision-making in nursing measure planning within the professional nursing process, combining a Fraunhofer expert system with an LLM trained on nursing documentation. Developed for mobility and pain management in long-term care. Commissioned funded project for healthcare provider practice partners.
• DECURA (Decentralized Care Support App) Digital application that processes health data decentrally directly on end devices of those affected, providing personalized information and learning offers for care-dependent individuals and their informal caregivers. Emphasises data sovereignty and privacy-by-design. Commissioned funded research project led by DIP as consortium lead.
• PräSenZ (Prävention für Senioren Zuhause) Preventive home visits project testing municipal-based visits to support independent living for seniors in three Baden-Württemberg municipalities (Ulm, Rheinfelden, Neuweiler). Commissioned by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Social Affairs and Integration.
• Pflege-Thermometer Series of nationwide surveys of nursing management personnel on the situation of nursing care and patient care across hospitals, nursing homes, and home care services in Germany. Produces nationally recognised benchmark data on nursing workforce, working conditions, and care quality.
• Landesberichterstattung Gesundheitsberufe NRW State-level reporting service on health professions in North Rhine-Westphalia, commissioned by MAGS NRW. Provides current key figures and assessments on the development and situation of training and personnel needs across all health professions.
• KOMPASS.RLP – Central Coordination Office for Vocational Nursing Education

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 completed research projects with a total volume exceeding €25 million since 2000
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Justus-Liebig-Universität GießencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026Academic partner in the DECURA project consortium, jointly researching decentralized digital support systems for home-based care with DIP as consortium lead.
• Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-SiegcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026Academic partner in the DECURA project consortium, contributing to the interdisciplinary research and development of decentralized home care digital applications.
• Universität des SaarlandescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026Academic partner in the DECURA project consortium, contributing research expertise to the interdisciplinary consortium developing decentralized care support technologies.
• VIVAI Software AGcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 February 2026Technology partner in the DECURA project, providing software development expertise for the decentralized digital care application being developed by the consortium.
• Fraunhofer Institut für Techno- und Wirtschaftsmathematik (ITWM)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2023Fraunhofer ITWM contributed the expert system core technology for the ViKI pro project, developing and integrating a rule-based knowledge model and a Large Language Model for processing nursing documentation. This is a deep technical partnership central to the project's AI architecture.
• August-Wilhelm Scheer Institut für digitale Produkte und Prozesse gGmbH (AWSi)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2023AWSi was a consortium partner in the ViKI pro project, contributing to the digital product and process development aspects of the AI-based nursing decision support system.
• Connext Communication GmbHsupportingTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2023Connext Communication GmbH participated in the ViKI pro consortium, providing communication and integration technology expertise for the nursing AI system.
• Johanniter Seniorenhäuser GmbH (JoSe)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023JoSe served as a practice partner in ViKI pro, providing real-world nursing home environments for the development and evaluation of the AI-supported care planning system. JoSe facilities participated in field testing of the ViKI pro prototype in stationary long-term care.
• Caritas Betriebsführungs- und Trägergesellschaft (CBT)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023CBT was a practice partner in ViKI pro, contributing real care facility environments for testing and evaluating the AI-based nursing decision support system in April and May 2025.
• AOK-Bundesverband (associated partner)supportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023AOK-Bundesverband served as an associated partner in the ViKI pro project, contributing the perspective of Germany's largest statutory health insurer to the consortium.
• Katholische Hochschule Nordrhein-Westfalen (katho)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDIP e.V. is an affiliated institute (An-Institut) of katho and operates as the DIP platform together with DIP-GmbH. The relationship forms the institutional and academic anchor of the institute within Germany's Catholic university network.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• aQua-Institut GmbH: Göttingen-based institute providing healthcare quality measurement, evaluation and methodology for German statutory health actors. Overlaps with DIP in evaluation, sector reporting and quality-oriented research mandates.
• IQTIG – Institut für Qualitätssicherung und Transparenz im Gesundheitswesen: Federal institute that develops quality assurance procedures and indicators for German healthcare. Comparable as a publicly commissioned applied research institute translating evidence into operational tools for the German health system.
• WIdO – Wissenschaftliches Institut der AOK: Research arm of the AOK health-insurance group, conducting healthcare workforce, quality and utilization studies. Closely parallels DIP's Pflege-Thermometer-style workforce reporting and policy advisory role.
• DZA – Deutsches Zentrum für Altersfragen: Berlin-based national gerontology research institute producing reports on aging, care needs and senior services in Germany. Comparable as an applied, government-commissioned research body focused on aging and care infrastructure.
• Zi – Zentralinstitut für die kassenärztliche Versorgung: Berlin-based research institute of the KBV, generating ambulatory care utilization and workforce data. Comparable to DIP as a statutory-body research institute producing commissioned studies and sector reporting.
• IGES Institut GmbH: Berlin-based independent research and consulting institute serving health policy, pharma and providers. Highly comparable: like DIP it delivers applied health-services research, evaluations and policy advice to German federal and state ministries.
• Institut für Pflegewissenschaft (IPW), Universität Basel: Swiss academic nursing science institute conducting applied research on long-term care, workforce and care models. Comparable to DIP in its applied nursing science focus and connection to policy and practice partners.

Broad incumbents

• Deutsches Krankenhausinstitut (DKI): Düsseldorf-based research institute of the German Hospital Federation, conducting hospital-sector studies and workforce analyses. Comparable to DIP in producing national workforce and capacity reports for German healthcare.
• Bertelsmann Stiftung – Gesundheitsprogramm: Large German foundation publishing influential healthcare system studies, including nursing and care infrastructure. Comparable to DIP's foundation-funded research output, though operating as a foundation rather than independent institute.

Emerging players

• OptiMedis AG: Hamburg-based healthcare management and consulting firm developing regional integrated care models in Germany. Overlaps with DIP's preventive-care and community-nursing research (e.g., PräSenZ) on the operational side.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/deutsches-institut-f%C3%BCr-angewandte-pflegeforschung-e.v

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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