The Berlin Institute for Co-operative Studies (BICS) is an independent research organization that has been based at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 1992. Its main aim is the study of co-operative organizations, which are member-based collective action organizations governed by democratic rule and the principle of user-ownership.
The BICS is constituted by a number of academics that demonstrate a vivid interdisciplinary research interest in studying and finding solutions for a wide spectrum of problems relating to collaborative organizations. Academic members of the BICS research, lecture, and share expertise on the topic.


Celebrating the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025: Student Poster Exhibition Initiative
Celebrating the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025: Student Poster Exhibition Initiative Since 2007, the “Co-operation and Co-operative Organizations” course has been
Cooperatives as Change Agents for Value Change Development
Members of the institute participated in the Symposium “The Role of Value Chain Development in Agri-Food Systems Transformation” held on September 22-23,
Erasmus+: Good Marketing and Branding Practices in Agricultural Cooperatives
Duration: November 2024 until November 2026 Funded by: European Commission The specific objectives of our project are to create and disseminate 3
ICA CCR Research Conference 2025: Cooperative Identity – Who we are as a movement, a form of organization and as cooperators?
More than a hundred researchers and practitioners met at the ICA CCR Research Conference in Helsinki on the 12th to 13th of

GenoScience Newsletter 2024 Published
In the GenoScience Newsletter 2024, the Berlin Institute for Cooperative Studies and its Supporting Association present a summary of their work over

Prof. Dr. Marcel Robischon: Ausgezeichnet als einer der 100 wichtigsten Köpfe der Berliner Wissenschaft!
Our Institute Director, Prof. Dr. Marcel Robischon, has been honored as an outstanding “Communicator” in the Tagesspiegel series “The 100 Most Important

Kurze Impression der Forschung von BICS-Mitglied Jos Bijman in Burundi
Jos Bijman, associate professor of cooperative organisations at Wageningen University, has been advising different farmer cooperatives in Burundi. These cooperatives have been

Das IfG und seine Fördergesellschaft gratulieren ihrem Mitglied Prof. Dr. Franz-Theo Gottwald sehr herzlich zur Verleihung des Bundesverdienstkreuzes am Bande
On February 26, 2024, Bavaria’s Minister of Environment and Consumer Protection, Thorsten Glauber, presented Prof. Dr. Franz-Theo Gottwald with the Order of
