About waveImpact
We built the consultancy we’d have wanted as clients ourselves.
Most Responsible AI consultancies promise a lot and aren’t auditable themselves. Vendor lock-in, untested methods, opaque pricing, interchangeable marketing language. waveImpact is built differently — purpose-first, methodologically open, evidence-oriented. This page explains how that’s meant — and what it is not.
Why we exist
Values claims and technical practice drift apart.
Values-driven companies — B-Corps, mission-led firms, family businesses with a clear purpose — communicate convincingly what they want to be. In the same organization, AI is running in recruiting, in credit pre-checks, in customer segmentation, in supply-chain risk scoring. These systems make decisions about people, often without a documented fairness check, without an explainability analysis, without clear accountability.
That gap between external communication and technical practice can’t be closed by generic compliance advice. Big-firm practices bring tools that protect their own business models. Pure tech consultants deliver method without a values anchor. What’s missing is the bridge between the two — scientifically grounded method paired with a clear values stance and a language that executives understand.
For companies entering Europe, that bridge has a second span: the regulatory and procurement expectations of the European market. waveImpact was founded to close both gaps — for organizations that mean their own standards seriously and are willing to enforce them in the engine room.
What we believe
Four principles that explain our behavior.
Values aren’t aspirations. They’re operating rules we let ourselves be measured against — in choosing clients, in pricing, in tool selection, and in every single recommendation a report contains.
Purpose-First
We start with the what, not the how. What does your organization want to be? Which values are binding, which stakeholders matter, which risks are unacceptable? Only then do we derive the technical practice — not the other way around. A compliance solution that doesn’t fit your values isn’t protection; it’s a burden.
Evidence-Orientation
Every claim in our reports must be reproducible. Method beats charisma — in consulting as in science. If we say a model is fair, we show the calculation. If we say a compliance gap is closed, we show the documented artifact.
Strategic Independence
We don’t sell tools we live off. Our recommendations follow the needs of your case — not the commission structures of a software partner program. Open-source-first isn’t just a technical detail; it’s a stance against vendor lock-in.
Hanseatic Directness
Clear prices, clear methods, clear language. Anyone selling trust can’t hide behind acronyms or consultant-speak. The merchant tradition of our home city of Bremen isn’t folklore to us — it’s an obligation.
We don’t work on
Engagements that contradict our values.
- × Pure compliance-stamp engagements with no values intent (“we just want a checkmark on the audit question”)
- × AI for employee surveillance or algorithmic management against workers’ interests
- × Surveillance applications for state or commercial mass surveillance
- × Manipulative profiling systems for political, ideological, or consumption-manipulating ends
- × AI-enabled greenwashing — where AI is only a marketing label on unchanged practice
This list isn’t a moral lecture. It’s a practical aid: both sides save time and frustration when the conditions of a collaboration are clear from the start.
Where we’re going
A European practice of Responsible AI.
waveImpact has a long-term ambition beyond the single engagement. We want to prove that European Responsible AI practice is not only regulatorily necessary but commercially advantageous — and so pave the way for other consultants, other industries, and other countries to follow the standard.
GDPR is the example of how European regulation became a global standard. We believe the EU AI Act has the same potential — if it’s understood not only as a compliance burden but as a design framework for trustworthy AI. For companies entering Europe, that’s the difference between treating the market as a wall and treating it as a credential. Our job is to live that second reading in every engagement.
Scaling by headcount is not our goal. Depth, reproducibility, and contributions to the open knowledge base are. Whitepapers, blog articles, and open-source methods aren’t a marketing by-product but part of the core — because trust in consulting comes from the quality of freely accessible work, not from the marketing.
Values without documented practice are marketing promises. Anyone who sells trust has to make their claims provable — for their clients, and for themselves.
— Dr. Valentin José Mayr · Founder
About the founder
Dr. Valentin José Mayr — Doctor of Business Administration (Data Science), certified AI Compliance Manager (IHK), 20+ years in digital transformation.
Get concrete
In 30 minutes we’ll see whether our values fit your organization — and what we can concretely contribute.
The occasion
Values and technical practice are drifting apart.
Value-driven small and medium-sized enterprises—B Corps, ECOM-certified companies, family businesses with a clear purpose—effectively communicate to the outside world what they aspire to be. At the same time, within the same company, AI is being used in recruiting, in preliminary credit checks, in customer segmentation, or in supply chain risk scoring. These systems make decisions about people, often without a documented fairness review, without an explainability analysis, and without clear accountability.
This gap between external communication and technical practice cannot be bridged by generic compliance consulting. Big Four firms provide tools that protect their own business models. Pure tech consultants deliver methodology without a values-based foundation. What is missing is the connection between both worlds—scientifically grounded methodology, paired with a clear set of values and a language that executives understand.
waveImpact was founded to bridge this gap—for a target audience that takes its own standards seriously and is ready to enforce them even in the engine room.