About
An independent institute for integrative policy analysis
The Institute for Public Systems analyses how structural determinants shape the performance of public systems and the outcomes that follow for societies.
Who we are
The Institute for Public Systems (IPS) is an independent, non-profit policy institute based in Geneva. It was founded on 14 July 2026 as an association under Articles 60 ff. of the Swiss Civil Code and pursues exclusively non-profit goals of public utility.
Our purpose is to strengthen the analytical and governance foundations of equitable and resilient public systems. We do this through research, publication, convening, training and advisory work that is consistent with our independence.
Structural determinants. We use the term in its broad, political-economy sense: the economic, political, cultural and governance arrangements, including systems, laws and social hierarchies, that distribute power and resources and so shape the conditions in which people live. This is wider than, and includes, the public-health idea of the social determinants of health.
Public systems. Not health systems alone, but the full institutional architecture that mediates these determinants: health, social protection, education, statistics, regulation and the digital infrastructure of the state.
Context
Public systems under structural pressure
Rising inequality, demographic transition, climate-driven and epidemic health risks, digital transformation, and economic and armed-conflict instability are placing new demands on the institutions responsible for population welfare. These pressures interact. A single demographic shock becomes a fiscal problem for the health system, a disruption in the labour market and a question of social cohesion, all at once.
Yet the structural determinants behind these pressures are rarely integrated into institutional decision-making. Statistics offices, finance ministries, social-protection agencies and regulators each hold part of the picture. Structured analysis across them remains rare.
Multilateral institutions
Produce excellent sectoral analysis but are constrained by their mandates. Cross-cutting work sits awkwardly across organisational boundaries and is rarely sustained as a programme.
Academic departments
Produce rigorous research but are organised around disciplines. Integrative work is hard to sustain inside one department and is seldom translated into a form policymakers can act on.
Consultancies
Work by client-funded engagement. Analysis that nobody commissions does not survive in that model, and the questions that most need asking are often the least likely to be commissioned.
What the Institute adds
The Institute is designed for the space these three cannot occupy. It has a cross-sectoral mandate that no single ministry or agency owns, protected publication autonomy that frees it from the commission constraint, and a standing publication cycle that sustains integrative work as a programme and not a one-off product.
The value of this kind of analysis compounds. One well-chosen insight, for example on how housing quality conditions both health and educational outcomes, informs several sectoral systems at once and can reframe what siloed work would treat as unrelated problems.
How we work
Operating principles
Intellectual independence
Analytical work is free from political or donor influence. Publication autonomy is protected in every funding agreement.
Methodological rigour
Research follows transparent, reproducible, evidence-based standards. Methods, data sources and uncertainty are documented in every output.
Institutional neutrality
No partisan advocacy. The Institute contributes to informed dialogue across the political spectrum and across institutional perspectives.
Financial prudence
Growth follows secured funding. No structural deficit is planned, and no staff appointment is made without confirmed revenue.
Location
Why Geneva
Geneva hosts one of the world's densest concentrations of international organisations, statistical institutions, academic centres and policy networks. Being here allows sustained engagement with multilateral debates while remaining structurally independent of any government, donor or international organisation.
The Swiss legal framework for non-profit associations provides the neutrality and stability that credible long-term analytical work requires. The Institute is designed as a governance-led policy platform, not a founder-driven initiative.