Germany’s Researchers Need Better Access to Data

The ifo Institute is calling for more data to be made available to researchers and hopes a proposed new law will help make this happen. “Improvements must be made to ensure fast access to high-quality, detailed research data,” said ifo researchers Andreas Peichl and Sebastian Wichert in Berlin on Friday. “This is essential for top research that is based on facts and thus suitable to inform policy decisions. Unfortunately, regulation of this area is considerably worse in Germany than in many other European countries.” For this reason, the ifo researchers are counting on the German government’s proposed new legislation on research data.

“It’s an opportunity to remedy existing shortcomings and encourage the provision of better official statistics,” Peichl says. Wichert adds: “In particular, we need basic permissions to combine available data from multiple institutions as well as with survey data. Pooling social security data from the Federal Employment Agency with company data from the Federal Statistical Office and research institutes such as the ifo Institute or the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) could pave the way for the first comprehensive research into the correlations between business success, economic expectations, and employment development.”

Peichl again: “Germany also needs to harmonize data protection regulations across government institutions nationwide. Up to now, there have been some staggering differences. Moreover, the existing research data centers should be expanded and enshrined in law. They ought to provide the additional data with the same high level of data and secrecy protection.”