BERTELSMANN STIFTUNG

Their core work

Bertelsmann Stiftung is a major German non-profit foundation that operates as an independent policy think tank, conducting applied research and civic innovation on governance, education, and social development. In the H2020 programme, they contributed as a third-party expert to doctoral training in social sciences and to urban regeneration research, indicating their role as a bridge between academic research and public policy. Their practical value to consortia lies in translating research findings into policy-relevant recommendations and connecting research teams with public authorities, civil society networks, and media ecosystems across Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 engagement (2016), Bertelsmann Stiftung was positioned around structured doctoral education and international academic partnerships in the social sciences — a role consistent with a foundation invested in education system reform and academic capacity building. By 2018, their focus shifted to applied urban policy: shrinking cities, territorial revitalisation, substitute industries, and spatial governance. This is a clear move from upstream knowledge-system reform toward downstream policy application and territorial challenges.

Bertelsmann Stiftung appears to be moving from supporting research infrastructure (training, partnerships) toward engaging directly with applied urban and territorial governance challenges — making them a more relevant partner for city-level policy projects.

How they like to work

Bertelsmann Stiftung has participated exclusively as a third party in both H2020 projects — never as a coordinator or funded participant — which means they contribute expertise without taking on project management responsibility or receiving direct EC funding. Despite only two projects, they appear in consortia of substantial size (26 unique partners across 15 countries), suggesting they are brought in to large international networks for their policy credibility and outreach reach rather than technical research output. Working with them likely means accessing their civil society networks and policy translation capacity, not a hands-on research team.

Across just two projects, Bertelsmann Stiftung has collaborated with 26 distinct partners in 15 countries — unusually broad for such limited project involvement, pointing to large multinational consortia. Their geographic reach spans much of the EU, with a base in Germany (Gütersloh) but clearly operating at a European scale.

What sets them apart

Unlike university research groups or public agencies in the same space, Bertelsmann Stiftung brings the credibility and media reach of one of Europe's largest non-profit foundations, with established relationships across government, business, and civil society. Their value to a consortium is not laboratory output but policy relevance, public dissemination capacity, and access to decision-makers — assets that are difficult to find in academic partners. For projects targeting urban policy reform or education governance, their participation signals real-world applicability to evaluators.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RE-CITY
  A multi-year ITN project on the urgent policy challenge of urban shrinkage — population decline, industrial hollowing-out, and greening — directly aligned with Bertelsmann's core civic research agenda on social and territorial inequality.
• BIGSSS-departs
  A COFUND doctoral programme at Bremen's International Graduate School of Social Sciences, where Bertelsmann's third-party role reflects their long-standing investment in reforming how social scientists are trained for inter-sectorial careers.