In conventional markets, supply and demand are balanced by finding the market price that balances each side. By contrast, in matching markets both buyers and sellers have strong preferences and the allocation – i.e. who gets what – is driven by mutual fit.

You may recognise this aspect in your world. Examples of this range from the matching of job seekers and employers, students to universities, children to kindergartens, people on dating sites, etc. Both sides must choose. But also both sides must be chosen. Non-monetary preferences may dominate the selection. Traditional business strategies and tools don’t work and new solutions are needed.

TWS Partners help public and private organisations use matching-market theory. We analyse requirements, propose suitable matching protocols, and apply algorithms. In our application of matching markets, we partner with one of the leading European research institutes in this field – the ZEW in Mannheim, Germany.