Research Data Center

Research and development (ongoing)

We offer microdata on R&D activities of German companies and aggregated R&D data for regional analyses. Completely anonymized Campus Use Files (CUF) are offered for teaching purposes. In the aggregated data, there are two indicators: internal R&D expenditures and R&D staff in NUTS 3 level (level of districts). In the mircodata are much more indicators on R&D activities of German companies. The data include internal and external expenditures for R&D and the source of financing, R&D staff by type of activity and gender. We also collect data on the type and purpose of research and fields of research and business indicators as turnover and number of employees. These core indicators are available from 1995 onwards. A complete survey of all R&D-active companies in Germany is conducted every two years; in the even-numbered years, a representative sample of researching companies is taken. Every two years, as part of the full survey, we also collect data on regional distribution of research facilities. This is the third dataset we offer. It contains the same information as the aggregated dataset, but at the individual company level.

Higher Education Explorer (ongoing)

The individual entries from the lecture catalogues of German public universities are consolidated into a database that includes all courses. In addition to course titles and descriptions, the dataset includes, where available on the respective university’s website, details such as course type (e.g., seminar, lecture, etc.), the offering institution, course structure (e.g., weekly, block course, etc.), number of participants, recommended reading (if applicable), and ECTS credits. The dataset consists of lecture catalogues from 2009 to 2022 to illustrate developments in specific subject areas or in the structure of higher education. An annual update is planned. 

Gründungsradar (ongoing)

The Startup Monitor (Gründungsradar) compares university profiles in entrepreneurship support at German higher education institutions. Only data for the year 2025 are available.

Evaldat (completed)

The project was carried out in cooperation with the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research from 1 September 2023 to 30 June 2025. As part of the subproject conducted by SV Wissenschaftsstatistik, an integrated database was developed by combining data from the R&D Survey with administrative data on public R&D funding programs.

The RDC advises on data selection, data access, data handling, analysis options, coverage and validity of the data. Requests for commercial (non-scientific) data use should be addressed to: Bernd.Kreuels@stifterverband.de

Researchers interested in accessing the RDC's data are invited to contact fdz@stifterverband.de by email to obtain further information and application forms in English.

The data (SUF) can be accessed via a guest researcher workstation in Essen, Germany, or remote data processing after concluding a user agreement. The use of the data is limited to scientific purposes and is subject to a fee.

The use of the microdata costs 200 euros plus VAT (for the R&D data: per reporting year). The prices include the use of the guest researcher workstation in the research data centre in Essen. Additional costs apply for the use of the remote desktop access. The remote access costs 100 euro for one month and 900 euro for one year plus VAT. The costs include a brief introduction to the programme as well as the provision of the systems and software. Before the output can be used for scientific work, it is checked for compliance with the rules for output generation. For this service, the data centre charges a fee of 70 euros plus VAT per half hour for the output check. These services are invoiced at the end of the year, depending on the amount of work involved. There are special conditions for non-funded theses (e.g. in the context of a master's degree or a doctorate). Researchers can use the data at a reduced rate, provided that the project is not part of a publicly funded research project or privately funded contract research.