WEFA Inc traced an interesting path (see below for full details) from its predecessor in 1961 (the Economic Research Unit, discussed below), its initial launch in 1969 (as Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates Inc), to its ultimate merger with DRI (formerly Data Resources Inc.) forming Global Insight in 2001, and subsequent to that, Global Insight's acquisition in 2008 by IHS Inc.
The ERU, a research unit devoted to graduate economics education, was originally sponsored in 1961 by grants from five US corporations including, IBM, Bethlehem Steel, John Deere, Exxon and Sunoco.
Between 1961 and 1969 the number of sponsors increased to the point where a more efficient organization was needed [WEFA Inc] to manage the many projects that grew out of the operation of the Wharton Quarterly Model.
The predecessor of WAIFM was the Brookings Quarterly Model, originally funded by the Social Science Research Council.
The LINK project (also housed at WEFA Inc), which produced the world's first global macroeconomic model, was mentioned in Klein's citation for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1980.