智库行业现状报告2025

THE ON THINK TANKSSTATE OF THE SECTORREPORT 2025 AUTHORS:Camila UlloaEnrique MendizabalEstefanía Terán OTT COMMUNICATIONS TEAM:Andrea CabreraKshipra Ajrekar EDITING:Sophie Gillespie DESIGN AND TYPESETTING:Magda Castría PARTNER ORGANISATIONS:ACED (Benin), CAPRI (Jamaica), CAPS Unlock (Kazakhstan), Centre for a Smart Future / Colombo Urban Lab (Sri Lanka), Centro de Investigación de la Universidad del Pacífico (Peru), CIPPEC (Argentina), Espacio Público (Chile), Ethos (Mexico), Grupo FARO(Ecuador), IDEAS Malaysia (Malaysia), IDM Albania (Albania), Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights(Pakistan), Insight 21, Universidad Siglo XXI (Argentina), Institute for Government (UK), IPAR (Senegal), Madinah Institute (SaudiArabia), Nepal Policy Institute (Nepal), Nkafu Policy Institute (Cameroon), Quincy Institute (USA), Results for Development/ Governance Action Hub (USA), SDPI (Pakistan), STEAR (Belgium), Taejae Future Consensus Institute (South Korea), TheWilberforce Society (UK), Think Tank Lab (Germany) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are very grateful to those that make the Open Think Tank Directory andthis report possible; to users of the directory and the report for makingour work relevant; to our extended network of friends, colleagues, andfunders for helping us collect and make sense of the data; and to thinktanks themselves for engaging with us and responding to our consultations– especially our 25 partners, who are contributing to ensure higherrepresentation at the subregional level and enriching the global analysiswith their local insights. FUNDING The development and maintenance of the Open Think Tank Directoryand the annual State of the Sector Report has been, and remains, possiblethanks to many funders. The Open Society Foundations gave us the initialgrant that made the directory possible in 2016; the Regional ProgrammeEnergy Security and Climate Change Latin America from Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. funded a scoping of organisations in Latin America with aspecific focus on environment and climate change in 2017; UNICEF fundeda scoping of organisations working in their priority regions and issuesin 2019–2020; Robert Bosch Stiftung funded a scoping of organisationsworldwide focusing on topics related to migration, peace and security,inequality, and environment in 2019–2020 and now provides to the OnThink Tanks programme with long-term support; a mapping of think tanksin key markets for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2021–2022allowed us to gain insights on more think tanks; US State Departmentin Panama supported the scoping of data on think tanks in the USA andPanama in 2021; and, most importantly, long-term funding from the HewlettFoundation and OTT Consulting makes the management, improvement,updating, and analysis of the Open Think Tank Directory – and thedevelopment of the annual State of the Sector Report – possible. ABOUT THE REPORT6METHODOLOGY7MAIN FINDINGS8 INTERNAL DYNAMICS OPERATING ENVIRONMENT10 25 7.Unequal returns: Leadership salariesvary widely by subregion – and soarin better-resourced think tanks –but entry-level pay remains constantacross the board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 1.Growth optimism wanes:Think tanks with larger budgets andthose in wealthier democracies do notanticipate that the sector will grow. . . . .11 2.Think tanks report rising pressurefrom political polarisation: Most inLatin America & the Caribbean, leastin MENA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 8.Beyond scale: Fundraising remainsthe most-cited capacity gap for thinktanks globally – but this and otherself-reported needs are connected tostructural factors, not size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 3.Policy impact is strongest in bothelectoral democracies and electoralautocracies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 INNOVATION AND INCLUSION31 4.Think tank agendas largely alignwith public concerns, with keysubregional gaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 9.The emerging AI divide: Uptake isdriven by geography and context –not by organisational factors. . . . . . . . . . . . .32 FUNDING AND SUSTAINABILITY19 10.An uneven landscape: Subregionalcontext and international fundingdrive commitments to DEI policies,but implementation and results areinternally focused. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 5.Core funding: Highly sought after,hard to secure – and not a guaranteeof organisational growth or strategicstability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 6.Domestic money is not inherentlymore effective at supporting think tanksthan international money; think tanksneed smart responses to funding cuts,wherever they come from. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 CONCLUDING REMARKS36 REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES:INSIGHTS FROM OUR PARTNERS37 Aboutthe Report The On Think T