Research data offered by the EBDC
The Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC) is a combined platform for empirical research in business administration and economics of the Ludwig–Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and the ifo Institute. It aims to open up new fields for empirical research in business administration and economics.
Here you can find all research datasets offered by the EBDC including documentation as well as the data repository.
The EBDC provides innovative datasets on German companies, featuring both survey data collected by the ifo Institute and external balance sheet data. The EBDC’s tasks also include the procurement and administration of data sources for research and teaching, the central provision, updating and documentation of external databases, as well as the acquisition of corresponding support tools.
As of 2014, users can access the data of the Research Data Centers of the Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the Länder on the premises of EBDC. This greatly expands the diversity and opportunities for empirical research in the Economics & Business Data Center. The Center offers external researchers the option of storing the datasets used in their research work in the EBDC and of making them available to the scientific community. In 2018 the EBDC became part of the LMU Open Science Center, which aims to foster open science practices and help researchers fulfill the standards of good scientific practices.
Beyond that, the EBDC serves as a contact and central coordinator for licensing economic firm-level datasets for the LMU’s Munich School of Management and LMU’s Department of Economics and supports (guest) researchers of the LMU and the ifo Institute on site. The EBDC actively participates in scientific debate by presenting its research results at conferences and organizing workshops on firm data research and other topics.
The Economics and Business Data Center was founded in 2008 and is supported by the Exzellenzinitiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (within the “LMUExcellent” programme). In spring 2011 it received accreditation as a research data center of the "Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten" (RatSWD).
In July 2016, the RatSWD established a complaints office offering users the option of addressing the RatSWD directly with any unresolved problems concerning the usage of data provided by the EBDC, should it have proven impossible to resolve those problems with the contact persons in the EBDC bilaterally. The corresponding contact form, as well as details on the procedure, can be found on the website of the RatSWD (see below; only available in German).
The German Data Forum (RatSWD)
Open Science Center (OSC), LMU Munich
Forschungsdatenzentrum, Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder
Research Stay in the EBDC
The Economics & Business Data Center offers professors, doctoral students and other researchers the opportunity to temporally use the facilities of the EBDC for their research projects and provides external databases together with two innovative datasets on German firms. These company panels include both survey data of the ifo Institute (ifo panel data at the firm level) as well as external accounting data and other structural enterprise information concerning corporate finance, investment activity or corporate governance. Since its foundation in 1949, the ifo Institute has collected relevant data of the Federal Republic of Germany concerning cyclical trends, firms’ capital spending and innovation strategy.
Research projects of national and international researchers which do not have a commercial focus can apply for admission to the datacenter. The EBDC supports these researchers on site with the necessary infrastructure.
Due to the usage of confidential and sensitive information, admission to the EBDC company datasets can only be granted on site, taking the anonymization of the data according to our access concept into account. However, the continuously updated datasets and their specific combination with additional sources will offer high-quality data to our guests, making empirical research in new fields of business administration and economics on the firm-level possible.
For questions concerning our services, your stay at the EBDC, or other activities, our staff is glad to assist you (ebdc@ifo.de).
Publications
Hönig, Anja, "Linkage of Ifo Survey and Balance-Sheet Data: The EBDC Business Expectations Panel & the EBDC Business Investment Panel", Journal of Applied Social Science Studies 130 (4), 2010, 635–642.
Hönig, Anja, "The New EBDC Dataset: An Innovative Combination of Survey and Financial Statement Data", CESifo Forum 10 (4), 2009, 62–63.
Abberger, Klaus, Sascha O. Becker, Barbara Hofmann, Klaus Wohlrabe, "Mikrodaten im ifo Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung: Bestand, Verwendung, Zugang", Ifo Working Paper No. 44, 2007.
Becker, Sascha O. , Klaus Wohlrabe, "Micro Data at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research – The “Ifo Business Survey”, Usage and Access", Ifo Working Paper No. 47, 2007.
“Serious political advisory requires access to high-quality data. The Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC) of the ifo Institute and LMU makes a crucial contribution to this.”
Prof. Dr. Oliver Falck, Director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organisation and New Technologies
Data
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The EBDC provides innovative datasets of German companies which contain both survey data of the ifo Institute as well as balance-sheet data from the company databases Amadeus and Hoppenstedt.
For researchers and guests of LMU and the ifo Institute with strictly scientific purposes the EBDC Business Expectations Panel (focus: cyclical economic factors/balance-sheet data), the EBDC Business Investment Panel (focus: investment/balance-sheet data) and the EBDC Business Innovation Panel (focus: innovations/balance sheet data) are available in the EBDC. The Panels will be continually updated as regards time and content.
In this way we want to supplement the more qualitative aspects (business expectations, assessments, etc.) contained in the ifo micro databases with accounting and structural company information and thus facilitate innovative approaches for empirical economic research.
- EBDC Business Expectations Panel Overview
- EBDC Business Investment Panel Overview
- EBDC Business Innovation Panel Overview
Access
For working with the EBDC´s data you need the approval of the research proposal. After checking the project description, which is part of the formal obligation for using EBDC Panel Data, access will be enabled. To use the data in the premises of the EBDC, see also Access Concept.
Test Data Set
If you are interested in EBDC test data, please send an e-mail together with the formal obligation for using the EBDC Panel to contact person given below.
Documentation
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Coordination and Support for the LMU in licensing, managing and providing databases for research
For the Munich School of Management and the Department of Economics at LMU Munich the EBDC serves as a central point of contact for the coordination and licensing of databases that are of interest for business-related research questions. The EBDC provides an overview of existing databases, the respective access rights and takes care of administration and procurement issues. It also provides support for database access, database integration, and linkage.
Databases at the EBDC
AMADEUS
Amadeus is a comprehensive, European firm database that currently covers financial information on more than 21 million firms from 41 European countries. Company reports contain 26 balance sheet positions, 26 positions of the profit and loss statement, 32 financial ratios and SIC codes. The database provides information on the ownership structure of firms and information on corporate governance.
The EBDC provides access to both the current online database (company information for 10-year running window) and the local historical databases (company information for 10-year windows since 2000).
Further information on Amadeus.
ORBIS
Orbis is a comprehensive, global firm database that provides balance sheet information, profit and loss, patent data, M & A activity, and structural data for up to 300 million businesses, banks, and insurance companies worldwide.
The EBDC currently only provides access to the up-to-date online database (company information for 10-year running window). Furthermore a local historical database is in preparation, as it is already available for Amadeus, which will allow the analysis of longer periods in the future.
Further information on Orbis .
HOPPENSTEDT
This database provides annual reports of the largest companies from the sectors industry, trade and services and is enriched by further information on associations, state authorities and organizations, as well as on banks and insurance companies.
The EBDC provides access to the up-to-date online database.
Further information on Hoppenstedt .
Further company databases
More databases can be accessed at the Institute for Finance & Banking at LMU.
Further information can be found hier.
Access
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Only for researchers at LMU and the ifo Institute.
- Restricted only at the computers of the Munich School of Management and the Department of Economics at LMU and at the EBDC
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With its business surveys the ifo Institute collects data that are directly relevant to empirical economic research both in Germany and internationally. The ifo Institute makes this data available to external researchers under specific security precautions.
This data pool is also available to guest researchers at the ifo Institute. Use of ifo's micro data is subject to strict security precautions to ensure the anonymity of the survey data.
Business surveys and data sets
- ifo Business Survey Industry Overview
- ifo Business Survey Construction Overview
- ifo Business Survey Trade Overview
- ifo Business Survey Service Sector Overview
- ifo Business Survey Insurance Sector Overview
Investment surveys and data sets
World Economic Survey and data sets
- ifo World Economic Survey Overview
Innovation surveys and data sets
- ifo Innovation Survey Overview
ifo Investment Database and data sets
- ifo Investment Database Overview
Special surveys and data sets
- Personnel Manager Survey Overview
- ifo Architects Survey Overview
- Meta Survey for Ifo World Economic Survey 2014 Overview
- Meta Survey for the Ifo Business Survey in Trade (2009) Overview
- FamData - a data base for research on family businesses
Publications
A selection of scholarly publications that use ifo survey data is presented below. The overview is structured according to the different ifo surveys. Many publications are based on aggregated time series that were available before the creation of the ifo DataPool. In cases where microdata is used, this is mentioned. The overview is intended to provide insights into previous research conducted based on ifo survey data, and may serve as a basis for future research.
The use of Ifo data in economic research was examined in:
Seiler, Christian, "The Data Sets of the LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center - A Guide for Researchers", Ifo Working Paper No. 138, 2012.
Access
Contact
If you are interested in EBDC data, please send an e-mail together with your research project application and terms of data use to:
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On this page data collections of the ifo Institut are provided for secondary use by economic research. They may therefore be reused for analysis. The informations were collected at the ifo Institute and are subject to no data protection restrictions.
Conditions of Use
The data are provided free of charge. We have tried to document the data as good as - we think - we possibly could, including references to the original primary sources from which the data are drawn. By downloading data, you assume full responsibility for their use. We cannot provide assistance on issues of research design, let alone statistical analysis.
If you are fully convinced you discovered an error and have checked this against the original sources, please contact us at ebdc@ifo.de.
Data sets
- ifo GAME – the Geological and Meteorological Events Database
- GAME-LIGHTS – the gridded Meteorological Events and Night Light Emission Database
- Development in Income Inequality
- ifo Education Survey
- Minister of Education data base
- Replication files for Downward Revision of Investment Decisions after Corporate Tax Hikes
- ifo GAME – the Geological and Meteorological Events Database
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Since January 2015 the EBDC offers researchers from the economic sciences faculties of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and from the ifo Institute the possibility to archive their research data on the computers of the research data center. With regards to the execution of the concept of “good scientific practice” it is necessary to keep research data for a longer period. This is the only way transparency of research is ensured and secondary analysis is supported. Not only primary data is to be made publicly available in the future, but also procedures and self-created analysis panels.
To allow this data to still be worked on even after several years, the EBDC provides adequate hardware and software (Stata). This will become even more important, since recording all research data is an increasingly important requirement to publish papers in the respective journals.
The EBDC Data Archiving Agreement regulates the details between primary researchers and the EBDC with regards to archiving. By signing the Formal Obligation for Using Archive Data a secondary researcher is obligated to acknowledge the access concept of the EBDC.
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Data offered by the Research Data Centre of the Bavarian State Office for Statistics and Data Processing
By appointment and under the supervision of an employee of the Bavarian State Office for Statistics and Data Processing selected microdata of official statistics can be accessed for scientific purposes at two guest workstations in the EBDC.
Detailed information on the Research Data Centre of the Statistical Offices, as well as data services, please visit:
Contact
Anja Hlawatsch
Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik
Telefon: +49 (911) 98208 6609
E-Mail: fdz@statistik.bayern.deKaren Meyer
Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik
Telefon: +49 (911) 98208 6761
E-Mail: fdz@statistik.bayern.deSelina Straub
Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik
Telefon: +49 (911) 98208 6857
E-Mail: fdz@statistik.bayern.de
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ProjectFederal Ministry of Education and ResearchSeptember 2023 - August 2026
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ProjectFederal Ministry of Finance2022 - 2026
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ProjectFederal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate ActionJuly 2022 - June 2026
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ProjectGerman Aerospace Center (DLR), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Projektträger Jülich (since December 2023)February 2023 – January 2026
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ProjectinternJanuary 2023 - December 2025
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ProjectinternalJanuar 2023 - Dezember 2025
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ProjectGerman Institute for Development EvaluationMarch 2023 - September 2025
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ProjectGerman Research FoundationJanuary 2023- December 2025
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce Munich and Upper BavariaJuly 2017 - December 2025
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ProjectinternalJanuary 2023 - December 2025
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce Munich and Upper BavariaSeptember 2023 - December 2023
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ProjectinternalSeptember 2022 – August 2025
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ProjectBundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungAugust 2022 - Juli 2025
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Projectintern, Partners: Bavarian State Office for Statistics, University of BambergJanuar 2024 – Juni 2025
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ProjectFederal Ministry of Education and Research, German Aerospace CenterApril 2022 - March 2025
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ProjectinternalApril 2022 – März 2025
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ProjectFederal Ministry of FinanceAugust 2023 – February 2025
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ProjectInstitute for Financial and Regional Analyses (GEFRA), Münster and Ramboll Management Consulting, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action1 August 2023 - 28 February 2025
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ProjectThuringian Ministry of the Interior and Municipal AffairsFebruary 2024 - January 2025
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ProjectGerman Research FoundationJanuary 2017 - December 2024
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ProjectJoint Research Council of the European Commission – Seville2021 - 2024
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ProjectGerman Research FoundationJanuary 2021- December 2024
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ProjectGerman Council of Economic Experts (Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung)August 2023 - December 2023
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ProjectinternalJanuar 2024 - Dezember 2024
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ProjectDeutsche BundesbankMarch 2022 - December 2024
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ProjectFederal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Woman and YouthNovember 2022 - December 2024
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ProjectSociety for the Promotion of Economic Research (Friends of the ifo Institute) e.V.October 2023 - September 2024
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ProjectCooperation between the ifo Institute and the Institute for Swiss Economic PolicyDecember 2021 – November 2024
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ProjectBill & Melinda Gates FoundationJuly 2021 – June 2024
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ProjectEuropean CommissionJanuary 2023 - August 2024
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ProjectFriedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit1 April – 31 July 2024
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria1 April – 31 July 2024
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ProjectThe Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial DevelopmentJuli 2021 - Juni 2024
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ProjectGerman Research FoundationJuly 2021 – June 2024
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ProjectinternalJanuary 2023 – June 2024
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria1 March – 31 May 2024
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria1 March – 31 May 2024
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ProjectFondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Volkswagen FoundationJune 2020 - May 2024
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria1 March – 30 April 2024
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper BavariaJanuary 2024 - September 2024
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ProjectFederation of German Employers‘ Associations in the Metal and Electrical Engineering Industries (Gesamtmetall e.V.)January 2024 - March 2024
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria1 January – 31 March 2024
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ProjectFederal Ministry of Education and Research, German Aerospace CenterApril 2022 - March 2024
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ProjectProfessional Networks and High-Skilled Migration: The Historical and the Contemporaneous PerspectiveGerman Research FoundationJanuary 2021 - January 2024
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ProjectEuropean Commission (European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, Grant Agreement No 101004703)January 2021 – December 2023
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ProjectZentrum für neue SozialpolitikJanuary 2023 - December 2023
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ProjectExpert witnesses2020 - 2025
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ProjectinternalJuly 2022 – December 2023
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ProjectNFDI-Konsortium KonsortSWDDecember 2023
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ProjectEconPol EuropeMarch 2023 – December 2023
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ProjectFederal Ministry of FinanceNovember 2023 – December 2023
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ProjectinternalJanuary 2023 – December 2023
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ProjectHanseatic Blockchain Institute e.V. on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate ProtectionJanuar 2023 – Dezember 2023
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ProjectLeibniz Association2019 - 2023
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ProjectBundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungJuly 2020 – December 2023
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ProjectBundesministeriums für Arbeit und SozialesMarch 2023 – December 2023
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ProjectNFDI-Konsortium KonsortSWDOctober 2023 - September 2025
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ProjectTechnische Universität MünchenAugust 2023 - September 2023
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ProjectinternalMay 2022 - September 2023
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ProjectSaxon State Ministry for Economy, Labor and TransporOctober 2022 – September 2023
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ProjectSmith Richardson FoundationOctober 2021 - December 2025
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ProjectSaxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and GeologyOctober 2022 – September 2023
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ProjectinternalApril 2022 - September 2023
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria1 January – 30 September 2023
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ProjectIndustrie- und Handelskammer (IHK) ChemnitzJune 2023 - August 2023
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ProjectinternalApril 2022 - June 2023
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ProjectinternalOctober 2022 – June 2023
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ProjectSaxon State ChancelleryMarch 2022 – June 2023
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ProjectFederal Ministry of FinanceMarch 2023 - May 2023
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ProjectBILD hilft e.V. „Ein Herz für Kinder“September 2022 - May 2024
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ProjectSaxon State ChancelleryOctober 2022 – April 2023
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ProjectHertie StiftungNovember 2022 - March 2023
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ProjectEuropäisches Parlament – DG Internal Policies of the UnionJanuar 2023 - März 2023
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ProjectChamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper BavariaJuli 2022 – März 2023
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ProjectFederal Ministry of FinanceDecember 2022 - March 2023
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ProjectGerman Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and EnergyMarch 2020 - February 2023
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ProjectFrankfurt Fair GmbHongoing
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ProjectKfW Bankengruppeongoing since October 2020
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ProjectGerman Chamber of Architectsongoing since 2017
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ProjectInternalongoing since 2006
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Projectinternalongoing
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ProjectNexolution, Wiesbadenongoing since 1993
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ProjectFederal Ministry of FinanceSeptember 2022 – January 2023
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ProjectGesamtmetall employers’ associationongoing
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ProjectGesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e. V.ongoing since mid-1999
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ProjectRandstad Deutschland GmbH & Co. KGongoing since May 2007, quarterly survey
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ProjectInternalongoing since July 2020
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ProjectFoundation for Family Businessongoing since 2017
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ProjectBundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbankenongoing since 2006
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ProjectInternalOngoing since 2020
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ProjectSaxon State Ministry of Finance1 February – 30 April 2024
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ProjectEnterprises / associations / administrative bodies via conference fees or purchase of the conference documentsongoing (two conferences per year in changing European cities)
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ProjectFederal Logistics Associationongoing
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ProjectKfW Banking Groupongoing since 2003
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ProjectWirtschaftswocheongoing
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ProjectInternalongoing
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Projectinternal projectongoing
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ProjectInternalongoing
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ProjectInternalongoing since 1996
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EBDC Team
Visitor Information
EBDC
c/o ifo Institute
Poschingerstr. 5
81679 Munich
Germany
Opening hours of the EBDC: Mo-Th 9:30 - 17:00, Fr 9:30 - 15:00