FITKO hackathon “Automated income verification”

Income verification is a key bottleneck in the welfare system. Together with the Federal IT Cooperation (FITKO), we explored how to simplify and consolidate this process in a hackathon. The goal is to reduce the administrative burden and enable faster access to benefits.

Local authorities face a high administrative workload. At the same time, federal and state governments aim to streamline processes and use resources more efficiently. Income verification is a cross-cutting task across many social benefits and offers significant potential for simplification.

In collaboration with FITKO, we brought together experts from startups, federal and state administrations, and public institutions. Using parental leave benefits as an example, the team developed and tested solutions to significantly reduce processing times. One key outcome was the concept of a central income verification module, which was technically validated during the hackathon.

Based on these results, a three-phase approach was developed:

• Phase 1 – Pilot (MVP): Together with a partner state, the module is implemented for an initial benefit.
• Phase 2 – Iteration and rollout: The validated module is expanded and rolled out to additional benefits nationwide.
• Phase 3 – Long-term integration: The module is integrated into the federal IT ecosystem as part of the Deutschland-Stack. Building on NOOTS and FIT-Connect, it supports interoperability and the consolidation of cross-cutting processes.

• DigitalService and FITKO demonstrated effective collaboration between federal and state digital delivery units
• Collaborative hackathon: Experts from L-Bank Baden-Württemberg, ELFEConnect, the startup forml, and SPRIN-D worked together to share knowledge, create synergies, and address a cross-cutting administrative challenge