Company lists · Data refreshed September 2026
Top 12 Think tanks based in Germany
RevenueBase identified 56 think tanks headquartered in Germany as of September 2026 and tracks 590 professional contacts across them, including 172 with verified work emails. Berlin is the largest hub.
This list covers think tanks headquartered in Germany, matched on what each company actually does as described in its own words. Ranked by team size, largest first. Every row shows the company's own description, its RevenueBase Smart Search rating, and when it was last checked. Data refreshed September 22, 2026.
Published by RevenueBase, a B2B data infrastructure company. This list was built with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search RevenueBase customers use to build their own targeted lists and unlock verified emails and direct dials at the companies on them. How these lists are built and judged.
The 12 largest think tanks based in Germany
Ranked by team size| # | Company | Contacts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “The Zukunftsinstitut was founded in 1998 by journalist and publicist Matthias Horx.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 2 | 43 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Das Progressive Zentrum (The Progressive Centre) is an independent and non-profit think tank based in Berlin.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 3 | 31 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “At the Jacques Delors Centre, academic research goes hand in hand with the development of concrete ideas for future-oriented EU policies.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 4 | 19 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “As a Berlin-based think-and-do tank, we specialise in developing and piloting innovative governance concepts for sustainable development – from the local to the global level.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 5 | 17 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Ellery Studio for Creative Strategy is a think and do tank in Berlin.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 6 | 16 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Wir sind The Future: Project – der führende Think-Tank für transformative Zukunftsforschung.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 7 | 13 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Denkfabrik für Publishing, Campaigning, Reputation und Crisis.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 8 | 10 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Willkommen bei Polis180!” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 9 | 5 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Die Stiftung Marktwirtschaft ist ein unabhängiger und überparteilicher wirtschaftspolitischer Think-Tank.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 10 | 2 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Die CamP Group gGmbH ist ein "Think-and-Do-Tank", dessen Ziel es ist, soziale Probleme mithilfe fundierter Forschung und bewährten Praxisansätzen aus der Pädagogik zu lösen.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 11 | 2 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Our goal is to shape a positive future for the next generation.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 12 | 2 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Wir arbeiten an der Zukunft der Medien, indem wir neue Partnerschaften in Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft knüpfen.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 22, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
RevenueBase Smart Search
RevenueBase Smart Search assesses information from a company’s LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website, and other publicly available sources. It uses that information to rate how closely the company relates to this list’s category: think tanks. Every row carries its rating and the description the rating was read from, so each one can be checked rather than taken on trust.
- Strong evidence
- The company's own public description of its business names think tanks.
- Partial evidence
- Its own public description names part of think tanks, so it works in or next to the category without describing itself that way.
- Indirect evidence
- The description shown does not name think tanks. The match rests on the rest of the company's public profile rather than the one sentence quoted here, so this is the rating to check first.
RevenueBase Smart Search is how these lists are built: RevenueBase's data engine and AI assemble the companies that match a category defined in a user's own words, so a list can be about what companies actually do rather than about whichever industry code they were filed under.
Showing 12 of 56 think tanks based in Germany
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Think tanks based in Germany at a glance
As of Sep 22, 2026Companies by employee count
Email recency for this list is measured worldwide rather than for Germany, so it is reported there. Company counts and contact totals on this page are exact for Germany, over 56 companies.
How this list was built
Company categories are rarely black and white. RevenueBase reads each company's own description of its business to decide whether it belongs among think tanks, so some rows will be adjacent to the category rather than pure plays. The description and RevenueBase Smart Search rating on every row are there so you can check each match yourself.
- Source
- The RevenueBase company graph: 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts resolved from primary sources, queried with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search available to every RevenueBase user.
- What qualifies
- Companies headquartered in Germany whose own description of what they do matches “think tanks”. Matching reads each company's description, not its industry code or its name.
- RevenueBase Smart Search
- RevenueBase Smart Search is how this list is assembled and how each row is rated. RevenueBase's data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to a category defined in a user's own words. Each row is rated strong evidence (its own description names think tanks), partial evidence (it names part of the category) or indirect evidence (the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile). The description supporting each rating is quoted on the row.
- What we exclude
- Companies whose own description does not clearly place them among think tanks, and records with no verified work email. Companies headquartered outside Germany are excluded even when they keep an office there.
- Match quality
- In blind human judging of this matching method, 86% of matched companies were on target. Expect roughly 1 in 7 rows to be adjacent to the category rather than a pure play. Every row shows the company's own description and its RevenueBase Smart Search rating so you can judge each match yourself. Read the full methodology: how the lists are built, how the judging worked, and what the figure means.
- Ranking
- Team size, largest first: companies are ordered by the number of professionals RevenueBase tracks at each one. Employee ranges shown are reported bands, for context.
- Verification
- Every listed company carries at least one verified work email, 172 across the full list. Contacts re-verify on a rolling cadence, and each contact's own verification date is shown inside RevenueBase.
- Refresh
- This page's figures were pulled from the company graph on September 22, 2026. Lists refresh periodically as the graph is re-checked.
- Corrections
- Wrong category, wrong headquarters, or a company that has closed? Use “Report an issue” on any row. Reports go to the RevenueBase Data Team and feed back into the company graph.
Think tanks by metro
- Think tanks in Berlin27
Frequently asked
What is RevenueBase Smart Search?
RevenueBase Smart Search is how RevenueBase decides which companies belong on this list and how strongly each one fits. Its data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to the category the list is about. Each row is rated strong evidence when the company's own description names think tanks, partial evidence when it names part of the category, and indirect evidence when the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile.
How many think tanks are there based in Germany?
RevenueBase identified 56 think tanks headquartered in Germany as of September 2026, matched on each company's own description of what it does rather than its industry code.
What is the largest company on this list?
Zukunftsinstitut Gmbh, headquartered in Frankfurt Am Main, tops this list with the largest team on record.
Which city has the most think tanks?
Berlin leads with 27 headquartered companies, followed by Munchen (4) and Munich (3).
How do I get contact information for these companies?
A free RevenueBase account lets you run this exact search and work the top results, verified emails and direct dials included. Upgrading unlocks all 172 verified decision-maker contacts tracked across these 56 companies.
How current is this list?
The list refreshes periodically as the company graph is re-checked. This page's figures were pulled on September 22, 2026.
Ready to reach these companies? Verified emails and direct dials for all 56 think tanks based in Germany. Start with a free account, no credit card.
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About this data
RevenueBase is a B2B data infrastructure company. Its company graph covers 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts, with emails verified on a rolling cadence rather than scraped once and left to decay. These company lists are generated directly from that graph with RevenueBase Smart Search, the same natural-language company search every RevenueBase user has: describe a market in plain words, get the companies that match, and add verified emails and direct dials for the people at them. It is the same data that powers RevenueBase's B2B data products, and a free account includes 500 credits to start. How these lists are built and judged.