KfW has recognised the Rulemapping Group as the Berlin regional winner, thereby nominating it for the national title. The award honours a start-up project that structures the law in such a way that people can review it and machines can execute it.
An award from all federal states
The KfW Start-up Award is being presented for the 29th time this year. It honours founders who transform an idea into a viable business model and showcases them as role models. A jury comprising representatives from KfW, funding agencies, the business sector, politics and the media assesses the projects in a multi-stage process based on their level of innovation, creativity and social or environmental responsibility.
The jury selects one regional winner from each federal state, making a total of sixteen. For Berlin, this is the Rulemapping Group. All regional winners are also nominated for the national title, which will be decided at the awards ceremony on 4 November 2026 in Berlin.
Law that machines can execute
The Rulemapping Group develops solutions for ‘Law as Code’: law that people can review and machines can execute. The Rulemapping method represents legal rules as ‘Rulemaps’ – a visual review structure in which every prerequisite can be traced right down to the individual element of an offence. An element of an offence is the individual prerequisite of a legal provision that must be fulfilled for a legal consequence to occur.
On this basis, AI classifies factual circumstances within the logic of the rulemap. The decision remains with the human, who can intervene at any point along the verification path. Procedures from application to decision, including the statement of reasons, can thus be automated. This reduces the workload for public authorities and regulated companies, whilst case handlers gain time to focus on complex cases.
An example of this is the automated building application review system ReBasE in Thuringia, which features more than 500 review nodes. In May 2026, the Conference of Digital Ministers also commissioned Thuringia to establish a nationwide real-world laboratory for ‘Law as Code’. In the private sector, the MedTech Regulatory Calculator – developed in collaboration with Dataciders – carries out authorisation and conformity assessments in the medical technology sector. The same method therefore underpins processes in both public administration and the private sector.
From Berlin
The Rulemapping Group was founded in Berlin in 2024. The founding team includes Till Behnke and Ina Remmers, who previously founded nebenan.de, as well as legal tech pioneer Prof. Stephan Breidenbach. Since then, ‘Law as Code’ has evolved from a niche topic into a key focus of government modernisation strategies: the Federal Government’s modernisation agenda identifies rulemapping as the solution for ‘Law as Code’. With the Rulemap Builder, experts have been able to apply the method themselves since November 2025.
The next event
The awards ceremony will take place in Berlin on 4 November 2026. The Rulemapping Group is entering the competition for the national title as the Berlin regional winner. The award recognises the entire team and the partners in public administration, academia and industry with whom Law as Code is being implemented.
About the 2026 regional winners: KfW Start-up Award 2026
