ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT-INSTITUT FURINTERNET UND GESELLSCHAFT GGMBH

Their core work

The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) is a Berlin-based research centre that studies how digital technologies reshape society, law, and the economy. Their H2020 work focuses on two distinct threads: the governance and legal frameworks around digital content (copyright reform, cultural access in the Digital Single Market), and the intersection of open source principles with hardware and product design. They bring a social science and policy research lens to technical topics, making them valuable where projects need to understand the human, legal, or regulatory dimensions of technology.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

HIIG's H2020 portfolio is compact (2019–2023) so evolution is subtle but visible. Their earlier involvement centred on open hardware and participatory design for IoT (OpenDoTT), reflecting interest in how communities shape technology. Their more recent work shifted toward digital copyright, cultural accessibility, and the legal frameworks governing the Digital Single Market — moving from the technical-social interface to the legal-policy dimension of digitization.

HIIG appears to be deepening its focus on the regulatory and legal dimensions of digital transformation, making them a strong fit for projects needing policy analysis around digital content, platform governance, or cultural access rights.

How they like to work

HIIG has never coordinated an H2020 project — they consistently join as a participant or third party, contributing specialized research expertise rather than managing consortia. With 39 unique partners across 13 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia and appear comfortable working within broad European networks. This suggests they are a reliable specialist contributor who brings focused analytical capability without seeking the administrative lead.

Despite only 3 projects, HIIG has worked with 39 unique partners across 13 countries, indicating participation in large pan-European consortia. Their network is geographically broad with no single dominant partner region.

What sets them apart

HIIG occupies a rare niche: a research institute that sits at the crossroads of internet policy, digital law, and open technology practices. Unlike purely technical partners, they bring rigorous social science analysis of how digital technologies affect society and culture. For consortium builders, they are the partner you bring in when your project needs credible research on the societal, legal, or governance implications of a digital innovation — particularly around open source ecosystems or digital content regulation.

Highlights from their portfolio

• reCreating Europe
  Directly addresses EU Digital Single Market copyright reform — a politically significant topic with real policy impact on cultural accessibility.
• OPEN_NEXT
  Largest funded project (EUR 340,625 to HIIG) exploring company-community collaboration models for open source hardware — bridging manufacturing and digital communities.