# dataMatters

> dataMatters GmbH is the DSGVO-compliant smart-city partner for German municipalities (Kommunen, Stadtwerke, Stadtverwaltungen). We turn real-time city sensor data into sovereign AI apps: from the sensor to the app. Based in Cologne (Köln), Germany. Formerly senseering GmbH, a spin-off of RWTH Aachen University founded in 2018.

## What we do
- Vom Sensor zur App ("from sensor to app"): we build the whole stack for a city, from on-site installation through data capture, refinement and AI to app delivery.
- Target group: German municipalities, municipal utilities (Stadtwerke) and public administration, especially small and medium-sized cities.
- Differentiator: digital sovereignty. Data is hosted in Germany, processed under GDPR/DSGVO, with Edge AI instead of cloud, and no transfer to the USA or China. "Smart City made in Germany / made in Europe." Details and FAQ: https://datamatters.io/souveraenitaet.html (EN: https://datamatters.io/souveraenitaet.en.html)

## Smart-city use cases
- Smart Waste: ultrasonic fill-level sensors plus AI route planning avoid empty collection runs. With Stadtwerke Hürth: about 20% cost savings and about 30% CO2 reduction.
- Stadtgrün & irrigation (Urban Tree Intelligence): soil-moisture and climate sensors detect drought stress in trees and green spaces and trigger on-demand irrigation.
- Parking & traffic: real-time occupancy and traffic flows reduce search traffic; cameras anonymise on-device (Edge AI deletes faces and number plates locally).
- Water levels & flood protection: real-time gauge and sewer-level monitoring with threshold alerts.
- Air & environmental quality: particulate, CO2, noise and climate sensors for low-emission zones and citizen information.
- Heat protection (Hitzeschutz), energy monitoring, anomaly early-warning, public transport (ÖPNV) analysis.
- Sovereign AI & CityApp: local RAG assistants and a citizen app bring municipal data GDPR-compliant to administration and citizens.

## Products and ecosystem
- urbanOS: the friendly operating system for the smart city, 100% programmed in Germany and DSGVO-compliant. https://urbanos.datamatters.io/
- Urban Data Platform (UDP) and urbanCockpit: the municipal data space and KI-driven dashboard.
- LoRaWAN (Helium): wide-area IoT network coverage. https://helium.datamatters.io/de
- Local RAG (Nova): sovereign, GDPR-compliant local AI assistants. https://urbanos.udp.city/apps/nova
- Blog: https://blog.datamatters.io/

## Recognition and proof
- Milesight IoT Impact Award 2025: smart waste management in Hürth with Stadtwerke Hürth. Up to 21% fewer collection kilometers per week and 61% fewer complaints. https://www.milesight.com/iot/success-stories/iot-smart-waste-management-in-a-german-city
- In service across German municipalities including Neuss, Hürth, Dormagen, Dülmen, Senden, Lüdinghausen, Nordkirchen and the Coesfeld district. Reference projects include Stadt Neuss and the Landesgartenschau Neuss 2026 (myLAGA app) via the cityPilot / CityApp platform.
- Handelsblatt Best IT Employer 2024, BMWK INVEST Seal 2024, Deloitte Fast 50 and Forbes AI 50 nominee 2024, FOCUS Innovation Champion 2023/2024, RWTH Spin-off Award 2019.

## Contact
- Website: https://datamatters.io/
- Email: mail@datamatters.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/datamattersgmbh
- Book a call: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/TalkToDaniel@senseering.de/bookings/