JRF - Johannes-Rau-Forschungsgemeinschaft

Name

JRF - Johannes-Rau-Forschungsgemeinschaft

Legal name

Johannes-Rau-Forschungsgemeinschaft e. V.

Website

https://jrf.nrw

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Applied Research Services

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Think Tanks, Policy Research & Public Policy Institutes (BPAGAFAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI)

Keywords

• Applied research services
• Interdisciplinary research collaboration
• Non-university research institutes
• Sustainability and climate research
• Public policy research

Headquarters

HQ city

Düsseldorf

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Institutional Funding (State of NRW): Core institutional funding from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, represented by the Ministry for Culture and Science (MKW), as founding member of the non-profit association
2. External Research Funding and Grants: Third-party funded research projects commissioned by federal ministries, EU programs, and private organizations
3. Research Services and Consulting: Contract research and consulting services to industry, government, and civil society organizations

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

JRF is a non-profit umbrella organization coordinating interdisciplinary applied research across 14 member institutes in North Rhine-Westphalia. It offers commissioned research, policy advisory, and consulting services in five thematic areas — digitalization, urban development, industry, environment, and integration — funded primarily through State of NRW institutional support and third-party research grants.

Product overview

JRF - Johannes-Rau-Forschungsgemeinschaft is a non-profit research association established in 2014 as an umbrella organization for 14 state-funded, legally independent, non-university, and non-profit research institutes in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The organization does not offer a unified software product or platform; rather, it coordinates interdisciplinary research across its member institutes. The 14 member institutes include: AMO (Applied Micro- and Optoelectronics), FIR (Research Institute for Rationalization), FiW (Research Institute for Water Management and Climate Future), ILS (Institute for Regional and Urban Development Research), IWW (Water Research Institute), ZBT (Center for Fuel Cell Technology), ZfTI (Center for Turkish Studies and Integration Research), DST (Development Center for Ship Technology and Transport Systems), EWI (Energy Economics Institute), IDOS (German Institute of Development and Sustainability), BICC (Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies), IUTA (Institute for Environmental & Energy, Technology & Analytics), and STI (Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History). These institutes conduct research across five thematic areas: Digitalization, Urban Development, Industry, Environment, and Integration, under the motto 'Research Made in NRW for Society, Economy, and Politics.'

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Interdisciplinary Applied Research Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 124 million euros annual revenue, demonstrating substantial research output and economic impact
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 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

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• HY-Infra PartnershipmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 March 2026Cross-border initiative with partners from Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany promoting hydrogen infrastructure in the Rhine-Maas region.
• TransHyDE 2.0 InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 May 2025ZBT as founding member of interdisciplinary, technically grounded, and solution-oriented platform for hydrogen infrastructure implementation in Germany.
• EDIH Rheinland (European Digital Innovation Hub)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 October 2023One of 151 EU-wide European Digital Innovation Hubs providing free services in digital transformation, High Performance Computing, and AI. 14 project partners collaborating cross-border in the Euregio region (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium).
• DiSerHub Consortium PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Publicly funded project by Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection involving FIR (consortium leader), University of Paderborn, TUCed, Institute for Automotive Research (IfA), and Fraunhofer. Focuses on digital transformation support for automotive industry stakeholders including suppliers, dealers, insurers, and municipalities.
• DRivE Project ConsortiummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConsortium including FIR, RWTH Aachen PEM chair, Hammer Road-Cargo, Maintrans Int. Spedition, Park Your Truck, MANSIO, and ZeKju developing data-based routing algorithms for alternative propulsion in freight transport.
• VoBaKI Project PartnersmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFIR at RWTH Aachen collaborating with Institute for Work Science (IAW) at RWTH Aachen to develop practical AI tools for SMEs.
• ENERGIZE ConsortiummajorTechnology or IntegrationEU-South Korea-Switzerland partnership with 3.6 million EUR funding for energy-efficient neuromorphic hardware research.
• HY-Infra Initiative PartnersmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCross-border hydrogen infrastructure partners from Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany working on hydrogen ecosystem development in Rhine-Maas region.
• Strategic Partnership for Heat Pump CubesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVonovia SE, EnerCube GmbH, and DFA Demonstrationsfabrik Aachen GmbH collaborating on serial heat pump solutions for sustainable building heating.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research): Netherlands' applied research organization with ~3,500 employees and similar contract research and policy advisory model. Comparable in mission and structure, though operating in a different geography.
• Wageningen University & Research: Dutch public research university combining university and applied research institutes (DLO). Comparable in operating model of combining public funding with contract research for sustainability, food, and environmental challenges.
• CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation): Australia's national science agency and one of the world's largest applied research organizations. Comparable in mission of delivering public-good research with industrial application, though operating at a much larger national scale.
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland: Finland's state-owned applied research center conducting contract research for industry and government. Comparable in business model and applied research focus, with a similar mix of public and contract funding.

Direct peers

• Max Planck Society: Network of 86 Max Planck Institutes conducting fundamental research in natural, life, social, and humanities sciences. Comparable as a non-university German research network, though more focused on basic science than JRF's applied orientation.
• Leibniz-Gemeinschaft: Network of 97 non-university research institutes across Germany. Highly comparable to JRF as a similarly structured umbrella organization for legally independent research institutes with joint evaluation and funding mechanisms.
• Helmholtz Association: Germany's largest scientific organization with 18 research centers focused on grand challenges. Comparable to JRF as a publicly funded multi-disciplinary research network, though operating at significantly larger scale.
• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft: Germany's largest applied research organization with 76 institutes and €3B+ annual budget. Directly comparable to JRF as a non-university applied research network performing contract research for industry and government.
• Forschungsverbund Berlin: Berlin-based umbrella organization for eight Leibniz institutes. Highly comparable as a state-organized research consortium model directly analogous to JRF's NRW structure.

Broad incumbents

• ETH Domain: Swiss federal research domain encompassing ETH Zurich and EPFL plus four research institutes. Comparable as a publicly funded research network with strong applied research portfolio, though operating across a broader national scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@JRF_NRW
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/johannes-rau-forschungsgemeinschaft

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 JRF - Johannes-Rau-Forschungsgemeinschaft