Productivity and firm-level economicsprimary
2 projects
MICROPROD (coordinated, EUR 940K) focused on productivity slowdown using micro data; PILLARS examined inclusive labour markets and industrial dynamics.
Organization
LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUER WIRTSCHAFTSFORSCHUNG HALLE E.V.
German economics research institute analyzing productivity, labor markets, and the socio-economic effects of energy and industrial transitions across Europe.
Research institutesocietyDENo active H2020 projectsThin data (2/5)
H2020 projects
3
As coordinator
1
Total EC funding
€1.2M
Unique partners
30
What they do
Their core work
IWH is a German economics research institute specializing in productivity analysis, labor markets, and the economic impacts of structural transitions. They study how globalization, technological change, and energy transitions affect firms, workers, and regional economies across Europe. Their work bridges macroeconomic trends with micro-level firm data, making them valuable for understanding how policy interventions and industrial shifts play out in practice.
Core expertise
What they specialise in
Labor markets, skills, and inequalityprimary
2 projects
Both MICROPROD (income inequality, allocative efficiency) and PILLARS (inclusive policies, labour demand & supply, migration) address labor market challenges.
Energy transition socio-economicssecondary
1 project
ENTRANCES studied the socio-economic and psychological effects of coal and carbon transitions on local communities.
Globalization and global value chainssecondary
2 projects
Both MICROPROD and PILLARS list global value chains and globalization as core research themes.
Regional economic diversificationemerging
1 project
PILLARS includes regional diversification and future studies, suggesting growing interest in place-based economic analysis.
Evolution & trajectory
How they've shifted over time
Early focus
Productivity and firm economics
Recent focus
Transition impacts on communities
IWH entered H2020 in 2019 focused squarely on macroeconomic fundamentals — productivity slowdown, allocative efficiency, and the effects of globalization on firms and income inequality (MICROPROD). By 2020-2021, their scope broadened to include the human and regional dimensions of economic change: energy transitions affecting coal communities (ENTRANCES) and inclusive labor markets addressing migration, skills gaps, and regional diversification (PILLARS). The shift shows a move from diagnosing aggregate economic problems toward understanding how structural transitions impact people and places.
IWH is moving toward applied socio-economic research on how energy and industrial transitions reshape labor markets and regions — increasingly relevant for Just Transition funding and policy design.
Collaboration profile
How they like to work
Role: active_partnerReach: European16 countries collaborated
IWH operates as both a project leader and a contributing partner, having coordinated one of their three projects (MICROPROD, their largest). With 30 unique partners across 16 countries from just three projects, they clearly favor large, multi-country research consortia. This breadth suggests they are well-connected across European economics research networks and comfortable working in diverse, interdisciplinary teams.
Despite only three H2020 projects, IWH has built a remarkably wide network of 30 partners across 16 countries, indicating they join large pan-European consortia with strong geographic diversity rather than clustering around a few repeat collaborators.
Why partner with them
What sets them apart
IWH sits at the intersection of hard economic data analysis and real-world transition policy — a combination that is rare among economics institutes. As a Leibniz institute, they carry institutional credibility and long-term research continuity that project-based groups cannot match. For consortium builders, they bring rigorous micro-data expertise to projects that need to quantify the economic and social impacts of technological or energy transitions.
Notable projects
Highlights from their portfolio
- MICROPRODIWH's coordinated flagship (EUR 940K) — a major EU effort to understand Europe's productivity slowdown using improved firm-level micro data across multiple countries.
- ENTRANCESStudied how coal and carbon phase-outs affect local communities socio-economically, directly relevant to Just Transition planning in coal-dependent regions.
Cross-sector capabilities
Energy transition policy and socio-economicsRegional development and cohesion policyIndustrial policy and manufacturing workforce analysisMigration and labor mobility economics
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