Hitze-Begleiter: Personal Heat Protection for NRW
A German-language health companion for NRW households that watches the regional heat forecast, learns who's vulnerable in your family (grandparent, baby, chronic condition), and pings you with personalized cooling actions, the nearest Kühlraum or Trinkwasser-Brunnen, and medication-heat warnings.
Families with elderly relatives, babies, or chronic conditions living in NRW during summer heat waves
- Personalized risk alerts based on age, medications (e.g., beta-blockers, diuretics), and chronic conditions
- Map of nearest kühle Orte — cooling rooms, Trinkwasser-Brunnen, and Badeseen with live water-quality data
- Daily check-in prompts for isolated elderly users, with caregiver notifications if missed
- WhatsApp and SMS push so it works for users without smartphones or limited digital literacy
NRW is in a documented heat emergency with tropical nights, thunderstorms, and reported hitzetote in nursing homes — exposing that generic public alerts aren't reaching the most vulnerable people in time.
RKI reports 1,230 Hitzetote in NRW in 2025 (4x the prior year) and now publishes a weekly heat-mortality report — confirmed by WDR — indicating real, documented need and public concern.RKI: Schon viermal so viele Hitzetote in NRW wie 2025 ↗Wochenbericht zur hitzebedingten Mortalität - RKI ↗
KATWARN and NINA explicitly do NOT issue heat warnings (Bild/Nordbayern), but the NRW government already operates hitze.nrw.de with municipality-level DWD warnings plus dedicated 'Hitzeschutz für Alle / Pflege / Medizin / Kommunen' sections, and DWD ships a free WarnWetter-App — leaving narrow room for a paid personal family version.Alarm am Smartphone: Darum warnen Katwarn & Nina nicht vor Hitze ↗Infoportal Hitze und Gesundheit (www.hitze.nrw.de) - LfGA NRW ↗Hitzewarnungen - LfGA NRW ↗
Direct-to-consumer willingness-to-pay looks weak: NRW's official heat portal and the DWD WarnWetter-App are free, German public-health apps rarely charge, and the affected audience (pensioners, families on tight budgets) is price-sensitive — likely a freemium with poor conversion or a thin B2B angle with Pflegedienste/Kassen.Hitzewarnungen - LfGA NRW ↗Wetter und Klima - Deutscher Wetterdienst - Hitzewarn-App ↗
RKI and the LfGA explicitly frame rising heat as a multi-year climate trend ('seit 2015 ist kein Jahr ohne Witterungsextreme'); demand will grow, but so will official state offerings, capping the private-app window.Infoportal Hitze und Gesundheit (www.hitze.nrw.de) - LfGA NRW ↗
Build is straightforward — DWD exposes free municipal-level heat warnings and APIs, geolocation/push are commodity, and the open-data landscape is rich; the real constraint is distribution and credibility against an official state brand, not engineering.Deutscher Wetterdienst - Hitzewarnsystem ↗