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Education, Immigration and Innovation

The IW's Education, Immigration and Innovation Research Unit is researching how education and immigration contribute to securing skilled labor.

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The experts scrutinise the educational system from early-childhood teaching, primary and secondary schools right up to tertiary education. The focus is on both monitoring educational processes and policy developments as well as issues of funding and fairness with respect to the education system. Our economists analyse the contribution of migration to securing a skilled workforce, examine the importance of workers qualified in STEM subjects (science, technology, electronics and mathematics) for a country’s innovation performance and investigate whether such workers are sufficiently available to the labour market. The unit identifies potential bottlenecks and suggests how these might be removed.

Contact Persons

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Christina Anger

Dr. Christina Anger

Head of the Research Group Microdata

Tel: +49 221 4981-718
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Johanna Assoba

Johanna Assoba

Consultant „Make it in Germany”

Johanna Assoba
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Aiste Bergmeister

Aiste Bergmeister

Consultant "Make it in Germany"

Tel: +49 221 4981-738
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Rosalia Meztli Chino Flores

Rosalia Meztli Chino Flores

Consultant „Make it in Germany“

Tel: +49 221 4981-823
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Wido Geis-Thöne

Dr. Wido Geis-Thöne

Senior Economist for Family Policy and Migration Issues

Tel: +49 221 4981-705
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Carolina Guzman Martinez

Carolina Guzman Martinez

Consultant "Make it in Germany"

Tel: +49 221 4981-337
Maike Haag

Maike Haag

Referentin Patentdatenbank

Tel: +49 221 4981-224
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Alexandra Köbler

Alexandra Köbler

Consultant for skilled labor immigration

Tel: +49 221 4981-687 Alexandra Köbler
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Enno Kohlisch

Enno Kohlisch

Senior Economist for patent analyses

Tel: +49 221 4981-879
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Oliver Koppel

Dr. Oliver Koppel

Team leader patent database

Tel: +49 221 4981-716
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Kerstin Krey

Kerstin Krey

Head of Education, Innovation and Immigration Research Unit

Tel: +49 221 4981-833

Fax: +49 221 4981-99833

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Jeannette Michaelle Nintcheu

Jeannette Michaelle Nintcheu

Senior advisor for skilled labor immigration

Tel: +49 221 4981-872 Jeannette Michaelle Nintcheu
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Katharina Parfil

Katharina Parfil

Teamleader „Make it in Germany”

Tel: +49 221 4981-667
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Prof. Dr. Axel Plünnecke, Leiter des Clusters Bildung, Innovation, Migration

Prof. Dr. Axel Plünnecke

Head of Education, Innovation and Immigration Research Unit

Tel: +49 221 4981-701 @A_Pluennecke
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Vanessa Pohlmann

Vanessa Pohlmann

Consultant „Make it in Germany“

Tel: +49 221 4981-834
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Marlene Schimpf

Marlene Schimpf

Consultant "Make it in Germany"

Tel: +49 221 4981-869

All news

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Critical Choices: How Malaysia and Germany can Navigate Shifting Energy Geostrategy
External Publication 26. October 2026

Critical Choices: How Malaysia and Germany can Navigate Shifting Energy Geostrategy

Stewart Nixon* / Malte Küper in Policy Ideas

Malaysia and Germany, as constructive and reliable participants in globally interdependent energy (as well as trade and financial) markets, face an increasingly hostile, volatile, and uncertain environment surrounding energy choices.

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Fiscal Effects of Having Children
IW-Report No. 43 15. October 2026

Fiscal Effects of Having Children

Wido Geis-Thöne

The fiscal effects of children are relevant to various areas of policymaking.

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Event 14. October 2026 Alexander Radunz

Expert Workshop on the Industrial Accelerator Act

The German Economic Institute (IW) and Frontier Economics are pleased to invite you to a rapporteur & stakeholder workshop on the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) in Brussels.

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Universal entitlement, unequal provision: childcare in segregated German cities
External Publication 13. October 2026

Universal entitlement, unequal provision: childcare in segregated German cities

Matthias Diermeier / Jan Engler* / Melinda Fremerey / Leon Wansleben* in Journal of Social Policy

One mechanism driving persistent inequalities in childcare provision, despite rising investments and a substantial expansion of childcare facilities, may consist in the locational choices of providers, who eschew poorer neighbourhoods.

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A Comparison of Public Revenues Across the Federal States
IW-Report No. 41 12. October 2026

A Comparison of Public Revenues Across the Federal States

Björn Kauder

To ensure equivalent living conditions, the federal government influences the revenues of the states and municipalities. Under the fiscal equalization system, financially weak states receive surpluses in the distribution of sales tax revenues, while financially strong states must accept shortfalls.

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