Imagine you want to understand why stock market bubbles form, why crowds panic, or why people cooperate — but you can't run experiments with thousands of people at once. IBSEN built a digital lab that lets researchers run controlled experiments with over 1000 people simultaneously, watching how they make decisions in groups. Think of it like a flight simulator, but instead of testing pilots, you're testing how large groups of humans behave when they interact — competing, cooperating, or following the herd. The goal is to uncover the hidden rules behind collective human behavior so we can eventually simulate it.
Companies making decisions about markets, products, or policies affecting large groups of people currently rely on small focus groups, historical data, or theoretical models — none of which capture how real humans behave when interacting in large networks. Market bubbles, consumer stampedes, and policy backlash keep surprising businesses because there was no way to experimentally test group behavior at scale before committing real resources.
The project delivered a functional experimental infrastructure — both software and hardware — capable of running controlled behavioral experiments with 1000+ participants simultaneously. This includes analysis tools, data standardization systems, and protocols for designing and executing large-scale group experiments across 14 total deliverables.
If you are a trading firm or fintech company dealing with market volatility and unpredictable crowd behavior — this project developed an experimental infrastructure for testing how 1000+ people behave in group decision-making scenarios, including market bubbles. Their behavioral rules could feed into better risk models that account for real human herd behavior rather than theoretical assumptions.
If you are a market research company struggling to predict how large groups of consumers will react to new products or pricing — this project built software and analysis tools that run controlled experiments with 1000+ participants simultaneously. The recorded behavioral data and standardized analysis tools could improve your ability to test group reactions before costly product launches.
If you are a policy consulting firm that needs to predict how populations will respond to new regulations or city designs — this project created a platform for running large-scale behavioral experiments that capture how social context and individual identity influence group decisions. Their approach of testing with 1000+ real people could replace guesswork in policy impact assessments.
Based on available project data, no pricing or licensing model is mentioned. The project was developed by 7 university partners with no commercial entity involved, so any licensing would need to be negotiated directly with the coordinating university (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid). Expect academic licensing terms rather than off-the-shelf pricing.
The project demonstrated experiments with 1000+ participants simultaneously, which is significant for academic standards. However, the infrastructure was built as a research tool, not a commercial SaaS platform. Scaling to tens of thousands or integrating with existing enterprise systems would require further engineering work.
The project was funded under the FET Open programme (RIA), meaning IP is typically retained by the consortium partners — in this case, 7 universities across Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, and the UK. Licensing discussions would go through the coordinator, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Unlike surveys or A/B tests that capture individual responses in isolation, IBSEN's platform lets participants interact with each other in structured networks during experiments. This captures how social context changes decisions — something standard tools miss entirely. The platform records actions during real-time group interactions, not static questionnaires.
The project ended in August 2018. Based on available project data, there is no indication of ongoing commercial maintenance. The experimental infrastructure including software, hardware, and analysis tools was delivered as a functional system, but its current availability would need to be confirmed with the consortium.
Based on deliverable descriptions, the infrastructure includes data standardization and analysis tools. The platform was designed to record participant actions during experiments in a standardized format. Specific technical formats are not detailed in the available project data.
The IBSEN consortium is purely academic: 7 universities from 4 countries (Spain, Finland, Netherlands, UK) with zero industrial partners and zero SMEs. This is typical of FET Open projects which fund high-risk fundamental research. The interdisciplinary team includes physicists, economists, social psychologists, and computer scientists. For a business looking to adopt this technology, the lack of any commercial partner means there is no ready-made product — you would be working directly with universities to adapt research tools for commercial use, which requires patience and technical integration effort.
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) — contact through university technology transfer office
Want to explore how large-scale behavioral testing could improve your market predictions or product decisions? SciTransfer can connect you with the IBSEN research team and help assess fit for your specific use case.
