ZEW Spin-Off Wins 2nd Place
AwardsMatchingTools Successful at Mannheim Start-up Award
MatchingTools, a ZEW spin-off, took second place in the “Impact” category of the 2026 Mannheim Start-up Award (MEXI) with its KitaMatch software. The MEXI is organised by Mannheim’s Economic Development Agency and, with prize money of 10,000 euros, is one of the most generously endowed regional start-up awards in Germany. It was awarded on 17 September.
Professor Thilo Klein, scientific adviser to MatchingTools and researcher in ZEW’s “Market Design” Research Unit, is pleased: “The fact that KitaMatch is among the top three finalists in the Impact category confirms the value to society of our approach. We are delighted about this. The allocation of daycare places needs to provide certainty for families, so that they can do their planning at an early stage, while local authorities and daycare centres face a significant administrative burden. With KitaMatch, we have created a transparent procedure that systematically brings together parents’ preferences and allocation criteria.”
About MatchingTools and KitaMatch
MatchingTools develops rules-based software that digitally maps complex allocation procedures in public administration and identifies optimal solutions. KitaMatch, MatchingTools’ first product, systematically brings together parents’ preferences and childcare providers’ allocation criteria when allocating childcare places. This results in decisions that are transparently documented, can be clearly justified and provide legal certainty.
As a spin-off from ZEW Mannheim, MatchingTools is supported by the EXIST Research Transfer programme of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) and, for the first time, makes market design principles directly applicable to real-world matching processes. An algorithm-based procedure reduces the burden on municipalities and ensures an optimal and fair allocation of childcare places.
