IMPROVE

What IMPROVE does

IMPROVE is an EU Horizon Europe-funded research consortium operating under Grant Agreement No. 101074010, focused on reducing domestic violence through the development of technological tools, training programs, and methodological frameworks. Launched in 2022 and concluded in October 2025, the project coordinated 17 partner organizations across 8 European countries and was legally hosted by European Research Services GmbH in Münster, Germany. The consortium spans police, social work, healthcare, legal, and academic stakeholders, positioning it as a multi-disciplinary intervention platform rather than a single-vendor product.

The project's core outputs include the AinoAid chatbot (a conversational AI support tool for domestic violence survivors, developed by Finnish partner We Encourage Oy Ltd and launched in Berlin in August 2024); a Training Platform targeting frontline professionals across sectors including law enforcement and the legal field; RAIMO, a structured risk assessment framework; a Checklist for Intervention; and the MICA method for multi-agency cooperation. The Training Platform and AinoAid chatbot are technically integrated with the broader VIPROM/IMPRODOVA platform ecosystem (VIMPRODO), creating interoperability with related EU-funded research infrastructure. AinoAid has reportedly been tested by over 30,000 users, providing a substantive real-world validation dataset.

IMPROVE operates on a non-commercial model. All deliverables are made freely available, and the sole source of funding is the Horizon Europe grant from the European Commission rather than user fees, licensing, or commercial sales. The project has received external recognition through the German Prevention Award 2026 and the European Security Innovation Award 2025. Because the project formally concluded in October 2025 and operates without a commercial monetization layer, this is best understood as a publicly-funded R&D program whose outputs are openly licensed rather than a commercial software company.

Name

IMPROVE

Legal name

European Research Services GmbH

Website

https://improve-horizon.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Domestic Violence Prevention Software

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Educational Support Services (611710), Child and Youth Services (62411), Security Guards and Patrol Services (561612)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Domestic Violence & Abuse Support Services (BPAGAEAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Threat Assessment, Violence Prevention & Behavioral Intervention Support (EDAEACAH), Alternative Dispute Resolution & Restorative Justice Programs (BPAIAFAL), Rule of Law, Justice & Corrections Support in Conflict Settings (BPADAFAI), Peace, Security Sector Reform & Stabilization Programs (BPADABAH)

Keywords

• Domestic violence prevention
• AI chatbot support
• Frontline responder training
• Victim assistance tools
• Policy acceleration methods

Headquarters

HQ city

Münster

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. EU Research Grant (Horizon Europe): IMPROVE is funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme under Grant agreement ID: 101074010. This is a non-revenue-generating research and innovation project. All outputs (AinoAid chatbot, training platform, publications) are made freely available. The project concluded in 2025 but its impact continues through AinoAid and the training platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

IMPROVE is a European Union Horizon Europe research and innovation project (Grant No. 101074010) that develops tools to combat domestic violence. Its core offerings include the AinoAid AI-powered chatbot and knowledge bank for 24/7 victim/survivor support, the IMPROVE Training Platform with sector-specific modules for police, health, social, and legal professionals, and the MICA methodology for accelerating domestic violence policy implementation.

Product overview

IMPROVE (Improving Access to Services for Victims of Domestic Violence by Accelerating Change in Frontline Responder Organisations) is a Horizon Europe research and innovation project that offers two primary product lines: (1) AinoAid - an AI-powered 24/7 chatbot and knowledge bank for direct victim support, and (2) the IMPROVE Training Platform - a comprehensive e-learning platform with 9 modules per sector (police, health, social, legal) plus supplementary tools including RAIMO for risk assessment and the Checklist for Intervention. The project also produces publications, comics, and dissemination materials to combat domestic violence across Europe.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AinoAid™: AI-powered chatbot and knowledge bank offering guidance, information, and assistance for people seeking help with close relationships, particularly domestic violence. Developed by We Encourage Oy Ltd as part of the IMPROVE project.

Products and services

• AinoAid Chatbot An AI-powered conversational chatbot and knowledge bank offering 24/7 accessible support for close relationships and domestic violence. It provides guidance, information on rights, and assistance to victims, survivors, and professionals seeking help with domestic violence situations.
• IMPROVE Training Platform A free online European training platform providing training materials on domestic violence for police, health sector, social sector, and legal sector professionals. Includes 9 detailed training modules per sector with teaching videos, case studies, and quizzes, available in 8 languages.
• RAIMO (Risk Assessment Integration Module) A modular tool presenting the four steps of the domestic violence risk assessment process from risk identification to follow-up. Familiarises users with risk factors, vulnerability factors, and multi-agency cooperation in risk management.
• Checklist for Intervention in Domestic Violence A practical intervention tool developed by Valencia's GAMA team to support law enforcement through every stage of domestic violence interventions, ensuring systematic, victim-centred response.
• MICA (Method for Identifying Change Accelerators) An analytical method to assess policy gaps and risks, developed by CNRS based on ISO guidelines on risk assessment and risk management. Identifies and maps policy gaps, reviews promising solutions, and prioritises areas with greatest potential for policy improvements.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30,000+ users engaged with AinoAid chatbot
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• VIPROM (Victim Protection in Medicine)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025VIPROM is a related EU project (2023-2026) developing curricula for medical practitioners on domestic violence. The IMPROVE training platform is part of the European training platforms VIMPRODO alongside IMPRODOVA and VIPROM, accessible via www.training.vimprodo.eu.
• Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei (DHPol) / German Police UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022DHPol serves as Work Package 6 Lead (Scientific coordination and project management) and is the project co-coordinator. As Germany's graduate tertiary education institution for senior police, DHPol provides scientific oversight ensuring all partners are aware of activities and take part in discussions on progress, problems, and planning.
• Yordas GmbH (YOR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Yordas leads Work Package 5 (Dissemination, engagement and exploitation), responsible for developing and delivering effective communication, dissemination and exploitation strategies to ensure awareness, understanding and action across all stakeholder groups. Yordas is a leading international provider of scientific and regulatory services.
• Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto (UDEUSTO)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Universidad Deusto serves as Work Package 4 Lead, focusing on enabling, improving and accelerating domestic violence policy implementation. Uses the MICA method to identify policy enablers and prioritise areas for policy change. Deusto has over 125 years of history and participates in many EC-funded research projects.
• Universität Münster / University of Münster (WWU)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022WWU is the third largest university in Germany. Their research group Cognition & Gender (Head: Prof. Dr. med. Dr. rer. nat. Bettina Pfleiderer) is associated with the Clinic of Radiology and specialises in sex and gender sensitive medicine and domestic violence. Contributes expertise on professional education and training for WP3.
• We Encourage Oy Ltd (WE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022We Encourage is a Finnish impact start-up leading the development of the AinoAid™ conversational AI chatbot in Work Package 2. They provide guidelines for structuring victim interviews, analyse conversational data, and make technical decisions regarding the chatbot platform, cloud base, machine learning model, and UX/UI design. AinoAid has received multiple awards including the German Prevention Award 2026.
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022CNRS is the largest governmental research organisation in France with 11,000+ tenured research scientists. CNRS developed the MICA method (Method for Identifying Change Accelerators) used in WP4 for policy gap assessment. CNRS also conducted research on the link between domestic violence and substance use on La Réunion.
• Police University College of Finland (Polamk)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Polamk is the only institute in Finland responsible for police training, recruitment, education, and further training, under the direction of the Ministry of the Interior. Located in Tampere, it contributes expertise on professional education and training for frontline responders.
• French Ministry of the Interior (MININT)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022The French Ministry of the Interior brings together the national police (150,000 officers) and national gendarmerie (100,000 military officers). They contribute to WP3 on training and have published a handbook on combating domestic violence (2022) distributed to all police and gendarmerie units.
• Valencia Local Police (PLV)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Valencia Local Police is the sole local police force in Spain involved in the IMPROVE project. They hosted the International Symposium on New Approaches to Combat Domestic Violence (June 3, 2025) and developed the Checklist for Intervention tool. PLV received Spain's national Good Practices award for their IMPROVE contribution.
• IMPRODOVA (Improving Frontline Responses to High Impact Domestic Violence)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018IMPRODOVA (2018-2021) was a predecessor EU project that designed the original training platform for domestic violence. IMPROVE expands on this platform to better reflect European multicultural populations, diversity of victims, and multiple forms of violence. The training platform is jointly accessible at www.training.vimprodo.eu.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• IMPRODOVA (Improving Frontline Responses to High Impact Domestic Violence): Direct predecessor EU-funded project (2018–2021) that built the original training platform for domestic violence frontline responders. IMPROVE explicitly expands on IMPRODOVA's training content to reflect European multicultural populations, and the two platforms are jointly hosted at training.vimprodo.eu — making them the closest direct peer.
• VIPROM (Victim Protection in Medicine): Related Horizon Europe project (2023–2026) developing curricula for medical practitioners on domestic violence. VIPROM, IMPROVE, and IMPRODOVA together constitute the VIMPRODO European training platform, making it a near-twin peer with overlapping scope in DV training.
• We Encourage Oy Ltd: Finnish impact startup that led the development of AinoAid™ within the IMPROVE consortium (Work Package 2) and holds the AinoAid trademark. Most directly comparable as the operational, commercial-style entity within the IMPROVE ecosystem that built and owns the chatbot technology.

Broad incumbents

• Refuge: UK's largest domestic violence charity operating the National Domestic Violence Helpline and providing tech-enabled support services including a website chat tool. Comparable as a large, established DV support organization with broader service portfolio than IMPROVE's specialist AI tooling.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: US-based 24/7 DV support service operating phone, chat, and text channels with extensive digital tools. Comparable as an incumbent digital DV support service operating at significantly larger scale than AinoAid, focused on similar victim-survivor support outcomes.

Emerging players

• Wysa: AI chatbot for mental wellness and emotional support with NHS partnerships and B2B licensing to employers and health systems. Comparable as a peer in conversational AI for sensitive health and wellbeing conversations, with similar commercial model of licensing to institutions — analogous to AinoAid's potential post-project trajectory.
• Woebot Health: AI-powered conversational mental health chatbot company using NLP for therapeutic interactions. Comparable as a peer in the AI-chatbot-for-vulnerable-populations space, with similar technology stack (conversational AI, NLP) addressing adjacent mental health rather than DV-specific use case.
• Chayn: Global open-source nonprofit creating trauma-informed digital tools and resources for survivors of abuse and gender-based violence. Comparable as an emerging tech-forward DV support organization focused on survivor empowerment through digital channels — directly aligned with IMPROVE's mission.

Others

• WAVE (Women Against Violence Europe): European network of specialist women's NGOs working to end violence against women, coordinating policy advocacy and capacity building across 46 European countries. Comparable as an adjacent ecosystem participant that IMPROVE's policy acceleration work (MICA method, WP4) interacts with.
• Victim Support Europe: European umbrella organization representing victim support services across the EU, focused on victim rights policy implementation. Comparable as an adjacent policy and advocacy stakeholder in the same DV/victim-support ecosystem that IMPROVE's training and policy tools serve.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/improveheu
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/improdova-project-7067791a6
• Xx.com/improve_heu

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about IMPROVE