Heidelberg Institute For International Conflict Research (hiik)

Name

Heidelberg Institute For International Conflict Research (hiik)

Legal name

Heidelberger Institut für Internationale Konfliktforschung e.V.

Website

https://hiik.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Heidelberg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: HIIK's volunteer researchers support the institute with yearly membership fees, forming the primary source of funding alongside donations.
2. Donations: Financial donations from supporters used for maintenance of database, server infrastructure, and publication of the Conflict Barometer. The HIIK is officially recognized as a non-profit organization and donations are tax-deductible in Germany.
3. Publication Royalties: Royalties on the Conflict Barometer publication constitute a portion of HIIK's funding.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

HIIK conducts independent, interdisciplinary research on the emergence, dynamics, and settlement of political conflicts worldwide. Its flagship deliverable is the annual Conflict Barometer, which documents and classifies global conflicts across five intensity levels using the proprietary Heidelberg Conflict Research Methodology and the CONIS Database. The institute publishes downloadable datasets, static maps, and an iOS application as part of its open-access research output.

Product overview

HIIK is an independent, non-profit research organization that operates as a single unified research product suite centered on the Conflict Barometer annual publication and the underlying CONIS database. The core offering consists of quantitative conflict research data including the Conflict Barometer (available in PDF format for years 2022-2025), static maps visualizing conflict distributions, downloadable datasets, and an iOS mobile application. The organization also maintains a blog for commentary content. All materials are provided free of charge to the public for non-commercial use.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Conflict Barometer Annual flagship publication of HIIK providing comprehensive analysis and documentation of political conflicts worldwide, classifying conflicts across five intensity levels with regional analysis. Free PDF download for non-commercial use with attribution.
• CONIS Database (Conflict Information System) Structured database (Conflict Information System) recording conflict-related measures and events, enabling assessment of conflicts and designation of intensity levels at subnational and monthly granularity.
• Static Maps Pre-generated conflict maps showing the geographic distribution and intensity of political conflicts across different regions worldwide; available for free download.
• Datasets Downloadable datasets containing structured conflict research data for further academic or analytical use by researchers and analysts.
• iOS Application Mobile application for accessing HIIK conflict research data on iOS devices, developed by team members Marko Hermsen and Ruben Ilyas.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 30 years of continuous conflict data collection since 1991
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

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

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Chatham House: Chatham House produces international-affairs research, including conflict and security analysis, and shares HIIK's London-area policy audience, though it operates at far greater scale and scope.
• International Crisis Group: Crisis Group produces global conflict analysis and policy recommendations for governments and multilateral institutions; it competes for policy-analyst attention and operates at substantially greater scale than HIIK.
• SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute): SIPRI is a much larger, well-funded institute covering peace, security, and arms control; it overlaps with HIIK's peace-and-conflict mandate but operates as a broad, established incumbent rather than a focused conflict-intensity dataset.
• IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies): IISS publishes strategic analysis including armed-conflict datasets (e.g., the Armed Conflict Survey), making it a broad incumbent in the same conflict-research space as HIIK but with paid subscription products and institutional funding.
• PRIO (Peace Research Institute Oslo): PRIO is a leading peace and conflict research institute producing both datasets and policy analysis; it overlaps directly with HIIK on academic peace-and-conflict research and is institutionally backed by Norwegian research funding.

Regional players

• ACDS (African Centre for Disaster Studies) / ACCORD: ACCORD focuses specifically on African peace and conflict resolution, providing a regional comparison point to HIIK's Sub-Saharan Africa regional group and offering methodological parallels in conflict-intensity assessment.

Direct peers

• Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP): Based at Uppsala University, UCDP is one of the principal global conflict datasets and the most direct methodological comparator to HIIK — both produce standardized, time-series conflict data, but use different intensity thresholds and granularity.
• Correlates of War (COW) Project: COW is a long-running academic conflict dataset project explicitly named in HIIK's own competitive landscape; both produce structured cross-national conflict data used widely by political-science researchers.
• ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project): ACLED collects real-time data on political violence and protest events worldwide, competing most directly with HIIK's CONIS database and Conflict Barometer for academic, media, and policy-analyst mindshare.

Others

• Global Conflict Tracker (Council on Foreign Relations): CFR's Global Conflict Tracker is a publicly accessible, curated conflict-monitoring resource; it is more of a downstream consumer of conflict data than a peer, but it sits adjacent to HIIK's media and policy-analyst audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HIIK_eV
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/heidelberg-institute-of-international-conflict-research

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Heidelberg Institute For International Conflict Research (hiik)