On July 23, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy’s Digital Hub Initiative – together with the Dutch group The Next Web – hosted its first-ever “Start-Up Games.” The event saw innovative fledgling businesses pitching ideas to international investors. And the winner was Hamburg’s Breeze Technologies.

The environmental technology company uses smart algorithms to coordinate what it calls “hyperlocal” data gathered from sensors measuring pollutants like carbon and nitrogen oxides, ozone and particulate matter. It then makes recommendations to local governments, environmental scientists and companies about how to improve air quality.

The technology aims to fill a gap in monitoring in cities, where authorities usually maintain only a few air-quality measuring stations. Breeze is currently piloting its “citizen portal for air quality data” in the Rothenburgsort area of Hamburg and is hoping to expand to other districts and cities in the near future.