EURHISFIRM · Project

Europe-Wide Historical Company Database for Smarter Investment and Risk Decisions

digitalPrototypeTRL 4Thin data (2/5)

Imagine you want to understand how European companies have performed over decades — not just the last few years, but going back a century or more. Right now that data is scattered across dusty archives, old registries, and disconnected databases in different countries. EURHISFIRM built the blueprint and tools to pull all of that historical company data together into one standardized, searchable system — financial records, ownership structures, locations — across 8 European countries. Think of it as a "Google Maps for corporate history" that lets you trace how companies grew, merged, failed, or thrived over the long term.

By the numbers

EUR 3,385,610

EU funding for building the historical data infrastructure

consortium partners contributing historical data expertise

European countries covered in the data infrastructure

total project deliverables produced

universities providing academic and archival expertise

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies making long-term investment, insurance, or strategic decisions about European markets lack access to standardized historical corporate data. The information exists — buried in national archives, old registries, and incompatible databases across different countries — but pulling it together manually is prohibitively expensive and slow. Without reliable long-term data, financial models and risk assessments rely on short time windows that miss critical patterns.

The solution

What was built

The project produced 32 deliverables including data models for standardizing historical company records, data extraction and enrichment tools for digitized historical sources, and alignment technologies to connect datasets across countries and time periods. The infrastructure design connects financial, governance, and geographical data on European companies into one interoperable system.

Audience

Who needs this

Quantitative hedge funds and asset managers back-testing long-horizon investment strategiesReinsurance companies modeling systemic economic risks over decadesM&A advisory firms needing deep historical due diligence on European targetsEconomic policy research units at central banks and finance ministriesESG rating agencies tracing long-term corporate governance patterns

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Financial Services & Investment

enterprise

Target: Asset management firms and institutional investors

If you are an asset manager looking to back-test investment strategies over long time horizons — this project developed standardized tools to connect and align historical European company-level financial data across 8 countries. Instead of spending months cleaning scattered archival records, you could access decades of comparable corporate performance data to validate your models against real long-term trends.

Management Consulting & Corporate Due Diligence

mid-size

Target: Strategy consulting firms and M&A advisory practices

If you are a consulting firm conducting due diligence on European acquisitions and need to understand a target company's long-term track record — this project created data extraction and enrichment systems that digitize and standardize historical corporate records. This means faster, more reliable background checks drawing on governance and financial data stretching back decades, built by a consortium of 12 partners across 8 countries.

Insurance & Risk Analytics

enterprise

Target: Reinsurance companies and actuarial analytics firms

If you are a risk analytics firm that needs long-term economic and corporate failure data to model catastrophic or systemic risks — this project developed technologies to match and collate historical company data and connect them to recent datasets. With 32 deliverables covering data standardization methods, you could feed your risk models with structured, verified corporate histories instead of patchy estimates.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to access this historical company database?

The project was funded with EUR 3,385,610 in EU contributions and built as a research infrastructure. Based on available project data, pricing for commercial access is not specified — the platform was designed primarily for researchers and policymakers. Commercial licensing terms would need to be negotiated with the coordinating institution.

Can this data cover companies at industrial scale across all of Europe?

The consortium spanned 8 countries (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, UK) with 12 partners. The infrastructure was designed to be scalable and connect to existing systems like CESSDA and DARIAH. However, coverage depends on available historical sources in each country, so depth varies by region.

What about intellectual property and data licensing?

The project was coordinated by Ecole d'Economie de Paris under a Research and Innovation Action. Based on available project data, the tools and models developed are likely owned by the consortium partners. Any commercial use would require licensing discussions with the coordinator and relevant data-holding partners.

How far back does the historical data actually go?

The project focused on long-term company data from European historical sources, including digitized archival records. While the exact time range varies by country and source, the objective explicitly targets connecting historical data to recent ones, suggesting coverage spanning decades to over a century for some markets.

Can this integrate with our existing financial data systems?

The project developed standardized data models and alignment tools specifically designed to connect disparate datasets. With 32 deliverables covering data extraction, enrichment, and collation technologies, integration with modern databases was a core design goal. However, custom integration work would likely be needed for proprietary systems.

Is there ongoing support or is this a finished project?

EURHISFIRM ran from April 2018 to June 2021 and is now closed. The project aimed to lay the groundwork for a permanent European research infrastructure. Based on available project data, ongoing development would depend on follow-up funding or institutional adoption by the consortium universities.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a purely academic consortium — 9 universities and 2 research organizations across 8 countries, with zero industry partners and zero SMEs. The coordinator is Ecole d'Economie de Paris, a leading economics research institution in France. The absence of any commercial partners means the project was designed by and for researchers, not businesses. For a company considering this technology, this means the data tools and models are scientifically rigorous but have not been stress-tested in commercial environments. Any business adoption would require significant bridging work between the academic outputs and production-ready data products. The 8-country spread (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, UK) does provide good geographic coverage for Western and Northern European markets.

ECOLE D'ECONOMIE DE PARISCoordinator · FR
UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPENparticipant · BE
GESIS-LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUR SOZIALWISSENSCHAFTEN EVparticipant · DE
UNIVERSITE DE ROUEN NORMANDIEparticipant · FR
KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN - KNAWparticipant · NL
UNIWERSYTET EKONOMICZNY WE WROCLAWIUparticipant · PL
CESSDA ERICparticipant · NO
INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUEES DE RENNESparticipant · FR
THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFASTparticipant · UK
JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE-UNIVERSITAET FRANKFURT AM MAINparticipant · DE
ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAMparticipant · NL
UNIVERSIDAD CARLOS III DE MADRIDparticipant · ES

How to reach the team

Ecole d'Economie de Paris, France — reach out to the project coordination team for data access and licensing inquiries

Order a report on this consortium See ECOLE D'ECONOMIE DE PARIS profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how historical European company data could strengthen your investment models or risk analysis? SciTransfer can connect you with the research team and help evaluate fit for your business needs.

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