Kiel Institute expands: new Geoeconomics Research Center
The Kiel Institute is expanding its structures and will soon establish a new Geoeconomics Research Center. This expansion will be accompanied by an increase in the budget of around EUR 1 million per year and more academic staff, including several professorships. A corresponding application has now been approved by the Joint Science Conference of the Federal Government and the States (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz von Bund und Ländern).
The new Geoeconomics Research Center will address the economic challenges of a changing world order. The center aims to conduct scientific research on the growing connection between economics and geopolitics and provide sound policy advice on economic security in Germany and Europe. By doing so, the Kiel Institute is responding to one of the most pressing challenges of our time—ensuring economic stability and strategic capacity in an increasingly fragmented global economy.
"Approval for the permanent expansion of our research is a great success. The Kiel Institute is excellently positioned for this task. Since 2022, the Institute has built a strong international research network through the “Kiel Geoeconomics Initiative” and has done pioneering work in geoeconomic analysis. Examples include the highly acclaimed Ukraine Support Tracker and studies on the economic consequences of decoupling from China. This work has established the Kiel Institute as a pioneer in this rapidly growing field, both nationally and internationally," says Moritz Schularick, President of the Kiel Institute.
The new research center will institutionalize and expand upon this preliminary work to provide Germany and Europe with scientifically sound, data-based answers to questions about economic security and global dependencies.
Guido Wendt, State Secretary in Schleswig-Holstein's Ministry of Science and Head of the Board of Governors of the Kiel Institute, emphasizes: "With the new Geoeconomics Research Center, the Kiel Institute is placing a decisive focus on a forward-looking field of economic research. The center will bolster geoeconomic expertise in Germany and Europe, while enhancing Schleswig-Holstein's reputation as a hub for science."
In 2024, the Kiel Institute's budget was just over EUR 17 million, with about two-thirds coming from federal and state funds, and one-third from third-party funding. The institute currently has approximately 155 positions, about 90 of which are in the scientific field.
