The extended data range provided free of charge by the FDZ-RV, which now also includes
longitudinal data, represents a considerable improvement in usage possibilities for research.
As the FDZ-RV data have now been used in numerous scientific disciplines by more than two
hundred and fifty researchers and an increasing number of presentations and publications are
being written on the basis of the data, the research data centre is becoming increasingly well
known in the scientific community. However, once the BMBF funding expires at the end of
2008, it will become difficult to provide the familiar standard of services to an increasing
number of researchers with fewer staff.
The services of the FDZ-RV and its plans for the future clearly show that the data research
centre has recovered the large data treasures of the German Federal Pension Insurance for
research use. The newly created institution is thus on the right path. It has considerably
extended possibilities for scientific analysis, while deepening the empirical knowledge in the
fields of pensions, demography and above all employment biographies.
4. Outlook
At the end of the phases funded by the BMBF, the research data centres are facing new
challenges. The Research Data Centre of the Federal Employment Agency at the Institute for
Employment Research has meanwhile been integrated into the Federal Employment Agency
with all capacities from the funding phase, and now carries out its work as an organisational
unit of the Federal Employment Agency at the Institute for Employment Research. The
Research Data Centre of the Pension Insurance has been established as a permanent institution
in the German Federal Pension Insurance, equipped with basic funding to meet the key
infrastructural needs. Additional third-party funding has to be obtained for research projects.
For the two Research Data Centres of the Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Offices
of the Lander, possibilities for establishment on a permanent basis are still under discussion.
The research data centres coordinate basic issues of data access for research purposes
among each other, and work in close conjunction on various projects to extend the range of
data available and the access routes. Further development of the data range will focus on
integrating statistics in the near future. The projects “Amtliche Firmendaten für Deutschland”
(official firm data for Germany - AFiD) and “Kombinierte Firmendaten fur Deutschland”
(combined firm data for Germany - KombiFiD) will extend the range of data in two
directions: AFiD will bring together economic and environmental data from the Statistical
Offices by means of the German Company Register (URS) on the microdata level. KombiFiD
11