How AI learning products for the IHKs emerge from existing content
How a regional inquiry became a technology partnership with the umbrella organization of Germany's IHK education landscape.
About the institution and contact person
The IHK organization is sitting on something valuable: years of robust training content, built by subject-matter experts. The problem is not content quality. The problem is the format: static, not interactive, and without feedback loops. Participants in professional training programs can no longer assume their questions can wait until the next in-person day. Organizations that ignore this will see it in completion rates.
“Today, our participants expect more than access to content. They expect real, personalized learning support.”
Sören Brune
Managing Director, DIHK Bildungs-gGmbH
How the collaboration started
The first contact did not come from the federal organization, but from IHK Berlin. While searching for an AI solution for its continuing-education offering, IHK Berlin discovered acemate. Instead of commissioning a regional standalone setup, they chose another path: acemate was introduced to DIHK Bildungs-gGmbH, the umbrella organization responsible for designing standardized education offerings for all 79 IHK chambers. Discussions followed, then an invitation to Bonn. At DIHK Bildungs-gGmbH headquarters, acemate demonstrated the platform using concrete materials: static text volumes from active training programs, as commonly used in the IHK education system. What initially started as three separate research ideas to explore language-model use cases in the IHK context took a different shape. They decided on one shared pilot project for nationwide acemate usage in real training programs.
“It provides the robust infrastructure so we retain full control over quality and our data while the solution integrates scalably into our existing sales channels.”
A pilot that answered the questions before they were asked
The requirement for acemate was specific: existing materials had to remain the foundation. Not a general AI system pulling from generic knowledge, but a tutor responding exclusively based on DIHK's specific course content. At the same time, the system had to integrate into existing sales structures and be scalable without complex IT projects. In summer 2024, the pilot started in around 40 IHK chambers. acemate was used in 37 programs across advanced vocational qualifications and certificate courses. The decisive factor was that scalability was designed from day one: unified standards, reproducible onboarding workflows, and clear quality criteria.
“The path from pilot to scaling was clearly structured. This enabled us to decide quickly, standardize, and roll out broadly.”
AILA: when acemate becomes a nationwide education product
The result was clear: around 90% of participants wanted to keep using acemate for the remainder of their program. The decision was made while the pilot was still running. In early 2026, the offering launched nationwide under the name AILA, Your Learning Assistant. All 79 IHK chambers now get access to an AI-supported learning infrastructure based on their own quality-assured content. DIHK Bildungs-gGmbH operates acemate as a white-label platform under its own product name and branding. What emerged is not a classic software license, but a technology partnership with a clear division of roles: DIHK contributes years of validated course materials; acemate provides the AI infrastructure to turn those materials into interactive digital learning products, offer them, and market them through existing commercial structures. For DIHK Bildungs-gGmbH, this created not only a more modern learning experience, but also a structural foundation for new revenue models in the continuing-education market. The potential of this partnership goes far beyond the pilot: every IHK using AILA can set its own priorities, launch new courses, and expand at its own pace on the same technical foundation. What started as an inquiry in Berlin is now a nationwide education product.
“With acemate, we were able to efficiently transform our content into AI-supported learning offerings.”