23 July 2026, by Janis-Marie Paul

Photo: Charlotte Nehlsen

The final presentations of the Data-driven Solutions for the Smart City Hamburg (D²S²C Hamburg) teaching project recently marked the successful completion of its ninth edition. The project is a joint initiative of Hamburger Hochbahn AG and the Hub of Computing and Data Science (HCDS) at the University of Hamburg, providing students with the opportunity to develop data-driven solutions for real-world challenges in public mobility.

Throughout the semester, interdisciplinary student teams collaborated closely with experts from HOCHBAHN on practical use cases in sustainability management and marketing.

AI-supported analysis of brand perception

Working together with Christina Heidrich from the Marketing department, one student team developed a prototype that analyses data from social media platforms and mobile app reviews. Using AI techniques, relevant information is processed and visualised in an interactive dashboard, enabling the analysis of brand perception and the early identification of emerging trends.

Supporting greenhouse gas emissions calculations

A second team collaborated with Levke Albertsen from Sustainability Management to develop a prototype that supports greenhouse gas emissions calculations. The solution uses AI to automatically categorise goods and products, improving emissions accounting and supporting sustainability reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Intelligent support for sustainable procurement

Together with Nienke Berger and Laureen Brive, another student team further developed a prototype designed to support sustainable procurement strategies. By combining intelligent search capabilities with an AI-powered chatbot, the system helps identify human rights and environmental risks along supply and production chains, supporting informed risk assessments during procurement processes.

The teaching project was supervised by Jan Krause & Benjamin Klinkigt, on behalf of HCDS by Heiko Bornhold and Marten Borchers.

Special thanks go to Anselm Fehnker from the Artificial Intelligence Center Hamburg (ARIC) for his valuable feedback and inspiring discussions during the final presentations.

HCDS would like to thank all students, project partners, and contributors for their commitment and looks forward to continuing this successful collaboration in the next edition of D²S²C Hamburg.