Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft

What Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft does

The Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft (IDZ) is a non-university research institute founded in 2016 in Jena, Thuringia, Germany, operating under the legal trusteeship of the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung in Berlin. Its core mission is to identify and close knowledge gaps on anti-democratic phenomena — right-wing extremism, antisemitism, racism, discrimination, and group-focused enmity — through empirical social research and to transfer that knowledge to civil society, policy, and the public. IDZ produces a portfolio of research outputs rather than commercial products, including the annual Thüringer Zustände report (co-produced with MOBIT, ezra, and KomRex), the open-access Wissen schafft Demokratie Schriftenreihe (18+ volumes), the academic journal Zeitschrift für Rechtsextremismusforschung (ZRex), IDZ-Kurzanalysen, factsheets, and Situations- und Ressourcenanalysen for local action plans. The institute also hosts RIAS Thüringen, a documentation and reporting center for antisemitic incidents in Thuringia, and operates the Jena site of the federally funded Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt (FGZ).

IDZ serves policymakers (Thüringer Landtag, state ministries, municipal governments), civil society organizations, academia, and the broader public. Its business model is institutional public funding rather than commercial revenue: primary funding comes from the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) through the FGZ consortium and from the Thüringer Landesprogramm für Demokratie, Toleranz und Weltoffenheit, complemented by project-based research grants for state ministries, municipalities, and civil society partners. All publications, events, and analyses are distributed free of charge via open-access downloads, public events, newsletter, and media engagement. IDZ lists approximately 40 staff members on its website and operates from a single headquarters in Jena.

Name

Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft

Legal name

Amadeu Antonio Stiftung

Website

https://idz-jena.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IDZ is a non-university research institute founded in 2016 in Jena, Germany, that studies right-wing extremism, antisemitism, racism, and democratic culture and transfers findings to policymakers, civil society, and the public, funded primarily by the BMBF and the Thuringian state.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Science Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPADAEAK

Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming

Business & Public Services/International Organizations & Development/International Development & Technical Assistance

Keywords

• Democracy research
• Right-wing extremism studies
• Antisemitism documentation
• Civil society research
• Election analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

Jena

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Institutional Public Funding: IDZ operates as a non-profit research institute in the trusteeship (Trägerschaft) of the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung. It receives primary funding through the Thüringer Landesprogramm für Demokratie, Toleranz und Weltoffenheit and through the federal Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt (FGZ) funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). As a non-commercial research organization, it does not generate commercial revenue.
2. Project-Based Research Grants: IDZ conducts commissioned research and analysis projects for government ministries, municipal governments, and civil society organizations, producing analyses, reports, and situation-resource assessments on request.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft (IDZ) is an extra-university social science research institute that produces empirical research on democratic culture, right-wing extremism, antisemitism, racism, and group-focused enmity, primarily in the German state of Thuringia. It generates annual reports, publication series, academic journal issues, antisemitism incident documentation, election analyses, and situation/resource assessments for government bodies and civil society partners.

Product overview

The Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft (IDZ) is a non-university research institute focused on strengthening democratic culture and civil society in Thüringen and beyond. The institute does not offer a commercial software product; instead, it provides research publications and services including the 'Wissen schafft Demokratie' publication series (18 volumes), the annual 'Thüringer Zustände' monitoring reports, the academic journal 'Zeitschrift für Rechtsextremismusforschung' (ZRex), IDZ-Kurzanalysen, factsheets, and Situations- und Ressourcenanalysen. Additionally, IDZ operates the Jena location of the Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt (FGZ) and hosts RIAS Thüringen for documenting antisemitic incidents. The institute functions as a public social research center bridging academia, civil society, and policy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Thüringer Zustände Annual Report
• RIAS Thüringen Documentation Service
• Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt (FGZ) – Standort Jena
• Wissen schafft Demokratie – Schriftenreihe (Publication Series)
• Situations- und Ressourcenanalysen
• Zeitschrift für Rechtsextremismusforschung (ZRex)
• Wahlen in Thüringen – Election Analyses
• IDZ-Kurzanalysen

Quantifiable outcome

• 418 antisemitic incidents documented and reported for Thuringia in a single reporting year (RIAS Thüringen annual report)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt (FGZ)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2020Since 1 June 2020, IDZ has been one of eleven nationwide sites of the FGZ (Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt), a research institute funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). IDZ hosts the FGZ Jena site, focusing on ecological transformation and anti-democratic crisis mobilization (project 'ÖTAK').
• Amadeu Antonio StiftungcoreOthers · 1 January 2016IDZ is in the legal trusteeship (Trägerschaft) of the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, based in Berlin (Novalisstraße 12, 10115 Berlin). The foundation provides institutional support, legal responsibility, and organizational infrastructure. The Amadeu Antonio Stiftung's board consists of Timo Reinfrank, Tahera Ameer, and Lars Repp.
• KomRex – Zentrum für Rechtsextremismusforschung, Demokratiebildung und gesellschaftliche Integration (FSU Jena)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIDZ collaborates with KomRex at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Dr. Axel Salheiser (IDZ's scientific director) is a member of KomRex. Both institutions co-produce publications and analyses, including the Thüringer Zustände report series. Joint projects include the 'Topografie des Rechtsextremismus' research.
• MOBIT and ezracoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMOBIT (Mobile Beratung in Thüringen) and ezra (Beratungsnetzwerk gegen Rechtsextremismus) are civil society organizations that co-produce the annual Thüringer Zustände report with IDZ and KomRex. The report is a collaborative publication covering right-wing extremism and group-focused enmity in Thuringia.
• RIAS Thüringen (Antisemitism Documentation and Reporting Center)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRIAS Thüringen (Recherche- und Informationsstelle Antisemitismus) is a project of IDZ that systematically documents antisemitic incidents in Thuringia. It produces annual reports (in cooperation with the Bundesverband RIAS), press releases, and data contributing to the Thüringer Zustände publications.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb): Federal agency for political and civic education in Germany. Funded by BMBF, it commissions much of the same kind of civic-education and democracy-support research that IDZ produces, and shares federal funding flows and political mandate.

Direct peers

• Institut für Demokratieforschung an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen: University-based research institute focused on democracy research, civic education, and political culture in Germany. Closely comparable mandate to IDZ at a national academic tier and overlapping methodological focus on democratic attitudes and education.
• MOBIT – Mobile Beratung in Thüringen: Thuringia-based civil society counseling network on right-wing extremism and democratic culture. Co-produces the Thüringer Zustände report with IDZ and KomRex and serves a closely overlapping regional audience with complementary (practice vs. research) delivery.
• PRIF – Leibniz-Institut für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung: Leibniz Association peace and conflict research institute. Comparable in social-science research methodology and thematic overlap on democratic resilience, extremism, and societal cohesion, but at larger scale and with a broader international mandate.
• Bundesverband RIAS – Recherche- und Informationsstelle Antisemitismus: Federal umbrella organization for antisemitism documentation of which RIAS Thüringen (an IDZ project) is a member. Operates the same documentation methodology and joint reporting infrastructure that IDZ's RIAS team feeds into.
• ezra – Beratungsnetzwerk gegen Rechtsextremismus: Thuringia-wide counseling network against right-wing extremism. Joint publisher of the Thüringer Zustände report with IDZ and MOBIT, addressing the same regional constituency on adjacent practice-oriented and research-oriented services.
• Amadeu Antonio Stiftung: Berlin-based civil society foundation focused on democratic culture, anti-racism, and civil society strengthening. Functions as IDZ's legal parent (Trägerschaft) and operates adjacent programs on antisemitism, digital hate, and right-wing extremism, with overlapping mission and funder networks.
• KomRex – Zentrum für Rechtsextremismusforschung, Demokratiebildung und gesellschaftliche Integration (FSU Jena): University-based research center at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena focused on right-wing extremism, democracy education, and social integration. Directly comparable in subject matter and regional focus (Thuringia), and co-produces the Thüringer Zustände report series with IDZ.
• Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt (FGZ): Federally funded consortium of eleven research sites — including IDZ — investigating social cohesion and democratic threats in Germany. Operates at the same conceptual layer as IDZ and shares funding flows, governance, and joint publications.

Emerging players

• DeZIM – Deutsches Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung: Berlin-based federal research center on integration and migration with adjacent focus on racism and group-focused enmity. Comparable in funding structure (federal) and adjacent in research mandate (anti-discrimination, social cohesion).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/idzjena

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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