TAKON GMBH-SPIELTHEORETISCHE BERATUNG

Their core work

TAKON is a German economics consultancy whose name — "Spieltheoretische Beratung" — translates directly as "game-theoretic consulting," which defines exactly what they do: they apply game theory and mechanism design to analyse and advise on competitive market processes. In the energy domain, this means designing, modelling, and evaluating auction schemes used by governments to award renewable energy support contracts — a technically demanding field where economic theory directly shapes billion-euro policy decisions. Both their H2020 projects belong to the AURES program, the EU's flagship research effort on renewable energy auction design, where TAKON contributes the analytical and theoretical economics layer that engineering or policy partners cannot provide. They sit at the intersection of academic economics and practical energy policy advice.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects are consecutive phases of the same research programme (AURES → AURES II), making it impossible to detect a genuine thematic shift — TAKON deepened rather than broadened their work over this period. No keyword data is available to reveal finer-grained evolution, but the move from AURES (focused on effective use and implementation options) to AURES II (a scaled successor running four years longer) suggests growing scope and seniority within the same niche. There is no evidence of diversification into other energy sub-fields or adjacent sectors during their H2020 participation.

TAKON has sustained a decade-long, highly focused commitment to renewable energy auction economics — organisations building consortia around energy market design or decarbonisation policy instruments should treat them as a go-to specialist for the economic modelling component.

How they like to work

TAKON has never coordinated an H2020 project, always entering as a specialist participant — the pattern of a small, expert consultancy that is recruited for a precise analytical capability rather than one that drives project direction. Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 15 distinct consortium partners across 8 countries, reflecting the large, multi-stakeholder CSA consortia typical of EU energy policy research. This suggests they are comfortable operating as one expert voice among many and are likely valued for the rigour of their economic modelling rather than for project management capacity.

With 15 unique partners across 8 countries from just two projects, TAKON is embedded in wide, geographically diverse research consortia — a consequence of the large Coordination and Support Actions they joined rather than an organic network they built. No repeated partner patterns are detectable from available data.

What sets them apart

TAKON occupies an unusually narrow but high-value niche: applying formal game theory to the design of competitive energy auctions, a domain where most participants are engineers, energy economists, or policy generalists. Very few SMEs in Europe combine academic-grade mechanism design expertise with direct EU project experience in renewable energy support policy. For any consortium that needs the economic theory layer — bidder behaviour modelling, efficiency analysis of auction formats, or strategic advice on tender design — TAKON fills a gap that no engineering firm can replicate.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AURES II
  The larger and longer of the two projects (EUR 186,090, running to 2022), AURES II is the EU's most comprehensive study of renewable energy auction implementation and TAKON's most substantial H2020 contribution.
• AURES
  TAKON's entry into EU-funded research, establishing their specialist role in renewable energy auction economics within a multi-country policy research consortium.