infas Institute for Applied Social Sciences

infas Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft (Institute for Applied Social Sciences) is a private and independent social research institute headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It conducts research and provides consultancy for companies, academia, politics and public administration. The institute carries out surveys using all quantitative methods of empirical social research with its own resources and maintains a nationwide pool of interviewers for face-to-face CAPI interviews. In 2020 infas ranked fourth among the highest-revenue market and social research institutes in Germany. The institute was founded in 1959 by Wolfgang Hartenstein, Klaus Liepelt and Günter Schubert as the Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft, abbreviated ifas; the short form was later changed to infas because of naming disputes. The founding was financed in part with funds from the SPD. From the outset infas focused on social, political and regional research. Between 1965 and 1996 it held the contract from ARD to produce analyses and projections for federal, state and municipal elections in the Federal Republic of Germany. From 1974 to 1984, together with the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, infas conducted the first German television research to determine viewing figures, using an electronic measuring device for the first time. In the 1990s infas ran into difficulties and accumulated debts of 28 million DM. At the end of 1993, experts from McKinsey and family members of former Neckermann executive Unkelbach took over the institute and carried out a restructuring. In 1996 the PR consultant Moritz Hunzinger acquired the majority of the institute and in 1998 contributed it to Hunzinger Information AG, the predecessor of today's infas Holding AG, ahead of its IPO. infas is a subsidiary of infas Holding AG (formerly Action Press Holding AG) and since 2024 part of the Ipsos Group. infas has conducted surveys for numerous national and international social science studies. These include the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, also known as Leben in Deutschland), a long-term study that surveys more than 30,000 people each year about their life situation and attitudes; the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), a longitudinal study on educational processes across the lifespan; the German Ageing Survey (DEAS), a nationally representative cross-sectional and longitudinal survey of people in the second half of life; the Panel Labour Market and Social Security conducted by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), for which infas has carried out the annual surveys since 2009; lidA – leben in der Arbeit, a cohort study on health and ageing in work commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), for which infas has conducted the empirical surveys since 2009; Mobility in Germany (MiD), which studies the mobility behaviour of Germans on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and numerous regional partners, carried out by infas in 2002, 2008 and 2017, with the most recent survey from mid-2023 to mid-2024 covering 185,000 households; the Innovation Panel of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), conducted annually since 2000 on behalf of the BMBF; TwinLife, a longitudinal twin family study of the University of Bielefeld and Saarland University; and the Vermächtnisstudie (Legacy Study), conducted with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, first in August 2016 and subsequently in six repetitions, most recently in 2023.

infas was founded in 1959 by Wolfgang Hartenstein, Klaus Liepelt and Günter Schubert as the Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft, abbreviated ifas. The founding was financed in part with funds from the SPD. Because of naming disputes, the short form was later changed to infas. From the beginning the institute concentrated on social, political and regional research. From 1965 to 1996 infas held the contract from ARD, the German public broadcasting consortium, to conduct analyses and projections for federal, state and municipal elections in the Federal Republic of Germany. From 1974 to 1984, together with the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, infas carried out the first German television research to determine viewing figures, using an electronic measuring device developed by the Heidelberg firm Teldix for the first time. In the 1990s infas ran into difficulties and reached a debt level of 28 million DM. At the end of 1993, experts from McKinsey and family members of former Neckermann executive Unkelbach took over the institute and carried out a restructuring. In 1996 the PR consultant Moritz Hunzinger acquired the majority of the institute and in 1998 contributed it to Hunzinger Information AG, the predecessor of today's infas Holding AG, ahead of its IPO. infas is a subsidiary of infas Holding AG (formerly Action Press Holding AG) and since 2024 part of the Ipsos Group. Over the decades infas has conducted surveys for numerous national and international social science studies. These include the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), the German Ageing Survey (DEAS), the Panel Labour Market and Social Security of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the lidA cohort study, Mobility in Germany (MiD), the ZEW Innovation Panel, TwinLife, and the Vermächtnisstudie with Die Zeit and the WZB. In 2020 infas ranked fourth among the highest-revenue market and social research institutes in Germany. Recent work includes the evaluation of the Deutschlandticket, the Teilhabesurvey, and an online survey for the DFG.

• 2024

  Became part of the Ipsos Group; began evaluating the Deutschlandticket on behalf of the BMV.

• 2023

  Most recent MiD survey conducted from mid-2023 to mid-2024, covering 185,000 households.

• 2020

  Ranked fourth among the highest-revenue market and social research institutes in Germany.

• 2016

  First conducted the Vermächtnisstudie with Die Zeit and WZB.

• 2009

  Began annual surveys for the IAB Panel Labour Market and Social Security and empirical surveys for the lidA study.

• 2002

  First conducted the Mobility in Germany (MiD) survey.

• 2000

  Began conducting the ZEW Innovation Panel annually on behalf of the BMBF.

• 1998

  Contributed to Hunzinger Information AG, predecessor of today's infas Holding AG, ahead of its IPO.

• 1996

  PR consultant Moritz Hunzinger acquired the majority of the institute.

• 1993

  McKinsey experts and family members of former Neckermann executive Unkelbach took over the institute and restructured it after debts reached 28 million DM.

• 1974

  Together with Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, conducted the first German television research using an electronic measuring device, until 1984.

• 1965

  Began contract with ARD for election analyses and projections, lasting until 1996.

• 1959

  Founded by Wolfgang Hartenstein, Klaus Liepelt and Günter Schubert as Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft (ifas), financed in part with SPD funds.

Private, independent social research institute for business, science, politics and administration; among Germany's leading market and social research institutes by revenue.

• Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

  Long-term study surveying more than 30,000 people annually about their life situation and attitudes.

• National Educational Panel Study (NEPS)

  Longitudinal study on educational processes across the lifespan; infas conducts surveys of mothers with newborns, parents, trainees, students and adults.

• German Ageing Survey (DEAS)

  Nationally representative cross-sectional and longitudinal survey of people in the second half of life.

• Panel Labour Market and Social Security (IAB)

  Annual surveys conducted by infas since 2009 for the Institute for Employment Research.

• lidA – leben in der Arbeit

  Cohort study on health and ageing in work commissioned by the BMBF; infas has conducted empirical surveys since 2009.

• Mobility in Germany (MiD)

  Study of German mobility behaviour conducted in 2002, 2008 and 2017, with the most recent survey from mid-2023 to mid-2024 covering 185,000 households.

• ZEW Innovation Panel

  Annual panel study on innovation in companies conducted since 2000 on behalf of the BMBF.

• TwinLife

  Longitudinal twin family study of the University of Bielefeld and Saarland University.

• Vermächtnisstudie (Legacy Study)

  Study conducted with Die Zeit and WZB, first in August 2016 and subsequently in six repetitions, most recently in 2023.

1. 1infas - Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaftinfas.de
2. 2Institut für Angewandte Sozialwissenschaft - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Infas - Wikipediade.wikipedia.org