CHESS IT INTERNATIONAL BV

Their core work

CHESS IT International BV (trading as XiMEDES) is a Dutch IT software company specializing in the design and development of digital mobility platforms that aggregate transport services into unified user-facing applications. Their work centres on Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) — the concept of combining public transit, ride-hailing, bike-sharing, and other modes into a single trip-planning and ticketing interface. In H2020 they contributed software architecture and application integration expertise to European consortia working on MaaS pilots and frameworks. Their involvement in successive MaaS projects suggests they maintain a live software product or platform rather than pure research capacity.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

XiMEDES entered H2020 through MASAI (2015), which was a technically-oriented project focused on the engineering challenge of aggregating disparate transport services and applications into a coherent platform. By 2017 they moved into MaaS4EU, which broadened the lens to include business models, policy enabling frameworks, and evidence-gathering for MaaS deployment — suggesting the team expanded from pure software engineering toward understanding the commercial and regulatory conditions needed for MaaS to scale. The trajectory is consistent with a company that built a product first and then sought to understand the market and ecosystem conditions for commercialising it.

XiMEDES appears to be moving from technical platform-building toward end-to-end MaaS ecosystem thinking — making them a useful partner for projects that need both working software and commercial deployment knowledge.

How they like to work

XiMEDES has participated only as a consortium partner, never as coordinator, which is typical of a specialist software SME that contributes a defined technical component rather than leading programme management. With 21 unique partners across just 2 projects they operated inside reasonably large consortia — consistent with major European MaaS pilots that typically involve transport authorities, operators, and technology providers. There is no evidence of repeated partnerships, suggesting they are comfortable joining new collaborative groups rather than relying on a fixed network.

XiMEDES has worked with 21 unique consortium partners spanning 10 countries, entirely through two pan-European transport research projects. Their network is broad for a two-project SME, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of MaaS pilots that involve cities, operators, and technology companies from multiple member states.

What sets them apart

XiMEDES occupies a narrow but well-defined niche: a Dutch software SME with verifiable, consecutive H2020 experience specifically in MaaS platform and service aggregation — not transport research in general. For a consortium building a MaaS pilot or digital mobility demonstrator, they offer a combination of working software capability and familiarity with European MaaS policy and commercial frameworks gained across two complementary projects. Their small size means they are likely flexible and responsive compared to large IT integrators, and their track record provides credibility that a pure startup cannot offer.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MASAI
  Their largest project by far (€612,219 EC funding, 2015-2018), MASAI tackled the foundational engineering problem of aggregating heterogeneous mobility services into integrated applications — the core technical challenge of MaaS.
• MaaS4EU
  A high-profile pan-European MaaS initiative (2017-2020) that went beyond technology to develop business models and an enabling framework, giving XiMEDES exposure to the full MaaS deployment cycle across multiple European markets.