THE NEW INSTITUTE
THE NEW INSTITUTE is a Hamburg-based non-profit research foundation that ran year-long interdisciplinary fellowship programs on systemic challenges such as capitalism, planetary governance, and democracy, serving scholars and policy practitioners until it discontinued its fellowship program in summer 2025.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersHamburg, Germany
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What THE NEW INSTITUTE does
THE NEW INSTITUTE Foundation gGmbH is a privately funded non-profit research foundation initiated in 2016 by German entrepreneur Erck Rickmers and headquartered at the Warburg Ensemble in Hamburg, Germany. Its core product was a fellowship program composed of year-long collaborative research groups, each typically led by a program chair with approximately three fellows, organized around annual themes such as 'Re-thinking Capitalism' (2024/25), 'Planetary Governance,' 'Black Feminism and the Polycrisis,' and 'Governing the Planetary Commons.' The institute also published books, policy reports, and annual reports — primarily through academic publisher transcript Verlag — and hosted public events, conferences, and lectures, including the Helтри-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis co-organized with Die ZEIT and the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung. It funded four international research centres at Humboldt University Berlin, University of Cambridge, UC Santa Barbara, and Ca' Foscari Venice, building a multi-continent academic network of approximately 140 fellows across its operating years.
The institute's revenue model is foundation funding from its founder and does not generate commercial revenue; participation in fellowship programs and access to publications is free. It is governed by a Board of Trustees including Prof. Dr. Sabine Kunst and Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schwenker, with Dr. Britta Padberg and Dr. Anna Katsman serving as Managing Directors. In summer 2025, THE NEW INSTITUTE discontinued its fellowship program, citing the difficulty of sustaining trans-sectoral collaboration within a one-year residency model and challenges attracting outstanding academics for full-year stays. The foundation indicated it would continue to document its work and develop new funding formats for societal issues, but the operational footprint is contracting from its 2024/25 peak.
THE NEW INSTITUTE firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- THE NEW INSTITUTE
- Legal name
- THE NEW INSTITUTE Foundation gGmbH
- Website
- https://thenew.institute
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- THE NEW INSTITUTE is a Hamburg-based non-profit research foundation that ran year-long interdisciplinary fellowship programs on systemic challenges such as capitalism, planetary governance, and democracy, serving scholars and policy practitioners until it discontinued its fellowship program in summer 2025.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
THE NEW INSTITUTE industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Think Tank / Policy Research
- NAICS
- Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Research Grants, Fellowships & Stipends (International) (EDAIAOAJ), Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)
Keywords
Where THE NEW INSTITUTE is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hamburg
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
THE NEW INSTITUTE business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Foundation Funding: THE NEW INSTITUTE operates as a non-profit foundation (gGmbH) funded primarily by its founder Erck Rickmers. The institute does not generate commercial revenue but relies on foundation funding to support its fellowship programs, research activities, and operational costs.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
THE NEW INSTITUTE product offering
Product offeringCore offering
THE NEW INSTITUTE Foundation gGmbH is a non-profit research institute that operates year-long interdisciplinary fellowship programmes, including the Hamburg Fellowship Programme and the Africapitalism programme in Nairobi, where selected scholars and practitioners collaborate on questions concerning capitalism and society. The institute produces open-access publications including books, reports, and policy briefs, and hosts public events to disseminate research findings to academic, policy, and civil society audiences.
Product overview
THE NEW INSTITUTE is a research institute (not a technology product company) that operates a fellowship program model with year-long collaborative research groups. Its core offerings include: (1) Fellowship Programs with approximately three fellows per program led by a program chair, exploring research themes including Re-thinking Capitalism (2024/25 annual theme), Beyond Capitalism, Africapitalism, Futures of Capitalism, The Future of Food, Planetary Governance, and Bitter Victory; (2) Publications including books, policy reports, and academic papers; (3) Events including conferences, workshops, lectures, film releases, and a reading club; (4) The Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis annual award. The institute also funds four research centers at partner universities. In summer 2025, the fellowship program was discontinued.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Fellowship Programmes Year-long interdisciplinary fellowship programmes (Hamburg Fellowship Programme and the Africapitalism programme in Nairobi) where selected scholars and practitioners conduct residential research on systemic societal challenges including capitalism, sustainability, and economic transformation.
- Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis Award An institutional prize awarded by the foundation recognizing innovative policy ideas and contributions to addressing systemic societal challenges.
Quantifiable outcome
- 140 Fellows completed programs by end of academic year 2024/25
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use THE NEW INSTITUTE
Customer profileSegments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
THE NEW INSTITUTE technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
THE NEW INSTITUTE partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- DFG Research Group 'Futures of Sustainability' at University of HamburgminorJoint workshop 'Degrowth, Planning, Transformation' hosted by the DFG Research Group and THE NEW INSTITUTE, exploring restructuring and deconstructing economies of the Global North in response to the climate crisis.
- Frankfurt Book FairminorTHE NEW INSTITUTE participated in Frankfurt Book Fair's cultural-political program 'Frankfurt Calling' with two events featuring fellows and alumni.
- Süddeutsche ZeitungminorCo-hosted the event 'NEXUS - into the future with a system reboot?' featuring Yuval Noah Harari and Kohei Saito at Frankfurt Book Fair.
- Goethe University FrankfurtminorCo-hosted the Frankfurt Book Fair event 'NEXUS - into the future with a system reboot?' with Süddeutsche Zeitung and THE NEW INSTITUTE.
- Co-creating Inclusive Intersectional Democratic Spaces across Europe (CCINDLE)minorCo-sponsored the 'Reading Our Futures' workshop with THE NEW INSTITUTE's Black Feminism and the Polycrisis program. CCINDLE is a Horizon Europe research project focused on inclusive democratic spaces.
- Earth System Governance NetworkcoreTHE NEW INSTITUTE program 'Governing the Planetary Commons' works in conjunction with the Earth System Governance Network. Louis Kotzé serves as Co-Chair of the Network's Scientific Steering Committee. The partnership facilitates research collaboration and knowledge exchange on global governance issues.
- Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-StiftungcoreThe Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung co-founds and co-organizes the annual Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftpreis (Helmut Schmidt Future Prize) with THE NEW INSTITUTE and Die ZEIT. The prize recognizes innovative achievements in democracy, society, and technology, awarded to international personalities who positively impact their time. Prize amount is 20,000 Euro.
- Die ZEITcoreDie ZEIT newspaper partners with THE NEW INSTITUTE and Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung to co-organize the annual Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftpreis. The partnership includes a Zukunftsfestival as part of the 'Lange Nacht der ZEIT'.
- Alexander von Humboldt FoundationminorLouis Kotzé is an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow. Multiple fellows at THE NEW INSTITUTE are Humboldt Fellows, conducting research at German institutions through Humboldt Foundation fellowships.
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)coreJohan Rockström, Director of PIK and Professor of Earth System Science, co-led the paper 'The Planetary Commons: A New Paradigm for Safeguarding Earth-regulating Systems in the Anthropocene' with THE NEW INSTITUTE's Louis Kotzé. This represents a major research collaboration between THE NEW INSTITUTE and PIK.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
THE NEW INSTITUTE competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS): Dutch residential fellowship institute hosting interdisciplinary scholars; similar model of themed cohorts and cross-sectoral engagement, though smaller in scale.
- Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton): The archetype for residential, interdisciplinary fellowship-based research institutions; THE NEW INSTITUTE explicitly mirrors this model with its Warburg Ensemble residency and year-long program structure.
- Santa Fe Institute: Independent research center for complex systems science with visiting researcher programs; comparable as a privately funded interdisciplinary research institution operating outside traditional academia.
- Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin: Berlin-based Institute for Advanced Study that hosts year-long residential fellowships for distinguished scholars across disciplines; directly comparable to THE NEW INSTITUTE's discontinued Warburg Ensemble residency model.
- Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study: Harvard's institute offering year-long residential fellowships to leading scholars and practitioners across disciplines; closely comparable operating model and target audience of interdisciplinary researchers.
- Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald: German residential fellowship institute founded by the Krupp Foundation offering year-long stays to international researchers; the closest German structural analogue to THE NEW INSTITUTE.
Broad incumbents
- Chatham House: Major international affairs think tank with fellowship-style research programs on global governance and economics; broader scope but overlapping audience of policy makers and academic researchers.
- Berlin Social Science Center (WZB): Large German public research institute producing interdisciplinary social science with policy relevance; broader portfolio than THE NEW INSTITUTE but overlapping themes in democracy, governance, and inequality.
- The Brookings Institution: Large U.S. policy think tank producing research on economic transformation, governance, and society; shares THE NEW INSTITUTE's policy-oriented interdisciplinary research output, though with much broader scale.
Others
- Volkswagen Foundation: Germany's largest private science foundation; comparable as a private non-profit funding academic research, but operates as a pure funder rather than a host institution.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
THE NEW INSTITUTE social profiles
Digital presenceTHE NEW INSTITUTE financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
THE NEW INSTITUTE leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
THE NEW INSTITUTE funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
THE NEW INSTITUTE M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about THE NEW INSTITUTE
What does THE NEW INSTITUTE do?
THE NEW INSTITUTE Foundation gGmbH is a non-profit research institute that operates year-long interdisciplinary fellowship programmes, including the Hamburg Fellowship Programme and the Africapitalism programme in Nairobi, where selected scholars and practitioners collaborate on questions concerning capitalism and society. The institute produces open-access publications including books, reports, and policy briefs, and hosts public events to disseminate research findings to academic, policy, and civil society audiences.
Is THE NEW INSTITUTE a public or private company?
THE NEW INSTITUTE is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was THE NEW INSTITUTE founded?
THE NEW INSTITUTE was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is THE NEW INSTITUTE based?
THE NEW INSTITUTE is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does THE NEW INSTITUTE make money?
One revenue line is on record: foundation Funding.
Who are THE NEW INSTITUTE's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS), Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), Santa Fe Institute, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald. Broad incumbents are Chatham House, Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and The Brookings Institution. Volkswagen Foundation is listed as an others.
Does THE NEW INSTITUTE have an API?
No public API is recorded for THE NEW INSTITUTE.
What industry is THE NEW INSTITUTE in?
THE NEW INSTITUTE's product category is Think Tank / Policy Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAKAI, Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations, with a secondary code of EDAIAOAJ, Research Grants, Fellowships & Stipends (International). Its NAICS code is 813211 and its SIC code is 2741.