Terms and Conditions

Please read the following terms and conditions before submitting your entry:

Eligibility

1. Any individual or group of individuals, whether incorporated or otherwise, regardless of age and nationality, who has an innovative idea that addresses energy issues in India (though not exclusively), is eligible to participate.

2. Participating or proposed ventures should be independent entities, meaning that they should not be a subsidiary of an existing corporation or have legal ties to a government body.

3. Existing non-profits can participate; however, they should propose a new venturing idea or a new plan to transform their existing solutions into a more sustainable solution.

4. Specific eligibility for Pre-pilot category

Any individual or group of individuals, whether incorporated or otherwise, with technology in the following stages of development may apply to the Pre-pilot category:

– There are paper studies to support the technology’s basic properties

– Technology concept / application formulated

– Proof of Concept stage/Active R&D has been initiated. This includes analytical studies and laboratory studies to physically validate the analytical predictions of separate elements of the technology

– Basic technological components have been integrated to establish that they work together

5. Specific eligibility Post-pilot category

Any individual or group of individuals, whether incorporated or otherwise, with solutions in the following stages of development may apply to the Post-pilot category:

– Technology has been put together and can be tested in a simulated environment

– Prototype is being tested in simulated operational environment or in a high-fidelity laboratory environment

– Actual system prototype is near completion or ready and has been demonstrated in an operational environment or is at pilot level

– Technology is proven and developed but not yet operational or applied anywhere

– Technology has been applied in its final form and is operational

Submissions and Participation

1. Submissions which are incomplete will be deemed void and disqualified from the competition.

2. Submissions should be the original work of the participant, and should demonstrate positive, sustainable and scalable social impact in India (though not exclusively in the region).

3. Participants who are ranked in the top 40 will be required to send at least one core member of the team for the final round in New Delhi. Financial assistance for such attendance will be provided for one representative per team for participants residing outside of New Delhi.

4. Finalists agree to the use of their names, photographs, disclosure of their country of residence, and co-operate with any other reasonable requests by the organiser relating to any competition publicity.

5. Finalists are required to submit a declaration of good standing and solvency at the final round, in the event that they are prize recipients. If there is any change in circumstance that invalidates their good standing and solvency, the team is to immediately inform the organisers.

6. All contestants own the rights to their ideas. Participants must properly acknowledge any trademarks, patented or copyrighted materials of others that are incorporated into the submission materials. Participants are responsible for obtaining any necessary permission before incorporating such materials into their submissions.

7. Submitted ideas are protected in the spirit of non-disclosure, and all submitted materials will be treated as company confidential. The only people with access to the entry materials will be judges and select members of the organising committee. Materials will not be distributed to any other party unless requested by a participant. No other provisions are made to protect intellectual property.

8. Participants are advised not to disclose critical information which would affect a successful filing of patent(s). All presentations are open to the general public, and some presentations may be videotaped. Attendance by media personnel is expected in the final round(s). Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by participants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged or presented in these sessions.

Prize

1. The winners will receive complete incubation support by the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC), located at Tata Power-Delhi Distribution Limited’s Smart Grid Lab in Delhi. No cash prizes will be awarded.

2. The incubation support will be for a period of 6-18 months (extendable further based on need and performance assessment), and the exact duration of each winner’s incubation period and the kind of support required will be decided on a case-to-case basis, based on the assessment of their needs.

Decisions regarding the winners

1. The selection of the teams to compete and the decision of the winners are at the sole discretion of the judges and the organisers from Social Alpha and partnering organizations. Best efforts will be made to make decisions in accordance with this Official Rules document.

2. Throughout any and all phases of the Challenge, all decisions of the judges are final.

Disqualification and Organiser’s Right to Amend Competition Rules

1. The organisers of the Challenge reserve the right to disqualify any Participant which is found to have violated the spirit of the competition guidelines and terms and conditions stated herein. Disqualified teams shall forfeit any and all prizes awarded to them.

2. The organisers reserve the right to amend these rules at any point before the Closing Date of the competition in line with the overall goal of the competition.

3. The indicated dates for the Challenge may be revised at any point of time by the Organisers. Any change in schedule will be suitably intimated on the Challenge webpage and on other relevant platforms.

Privacy Policy

Web Server Logs

When you visit the Site, our web server may record the following information in its server log:

– your IP Address,
– your username (if you have logged in as a registered user),
– the URLs you have requested to access,
– the dates and methods of requests,
– the status code of your requests,
– URLs of pages that referred you to the Site,
– number of bytes transferred, and
– your web browser and operating system platform.

Web server logs are retained on a temporary basis, during which time their contents are accessible to Site administrators, and then deleted completely from our systems. Unless required by legal process, we do not link IP addresses to any personally identifiable information. This means that user sessions will be tracked by IP address, but a user’s identity will remain anonymous.

In addition, we ordinarily do not disclose to third parties Site usage by individual IP addresses, but we may do so in very limited circumstances when complying with law or legal process, working with consultants assisting us with fixing or improving the Site, or monitoring and improving the security of our network.

User Registration

Social Alpha has adopted a user registration option for visitors who want to take part in our challenge. To obtain a user registration, you must submit your first name, last name, email address and phone number to Social Alpha, along with a username and password that you create for user authentication purposes. The Site will publish your first and last name alongside any content that you post. The personal information and other information that you submit to us will be used for evaluating your application for the challenge.

Google Analytics

Innovatealpha.org uses Google Analytics software to perform Site usage analytics. Google Analytics collects anonymous information from users to help Social Alpha track Site usage and referrals from other websites. These data are used primarily to optimize the website experience for our visitors, but we may use the data as well to assist us in developing marketing plans for the Site.

Information collected and processed by Google Analytics includes the user’s IP address, network location, and geographic location. Google Analytics acquires all its information directly from the user, by installing a cookie (see below) on the user’s computer. The Site does not share any information it collects with Google, and Google Analytics does not collect any personally identifying information such as names, contact information, social security numbers or financial information. Accordingly, we cannot use any information acquired by Google Analytics to contact you directly.

Cookies

Cookies are unique bits of computer data that many major websites will transfer to your computer the first time that you visit. Cookies are stored on your hard drive and may be later accessed by the website to track prior usage. As noted above, Google Analytics will install a cookie on the hard drives of Site visitors

Email

We will only record your email address if you submit it to us as part of the user registration process. We will only use your email address for the purpose for which you have provided it — i.e., to respond to a message from you or to communicate with you regarding your user account.

Disclosure to Third Parties

We will not sell, lend, or disclose to third parties any information collected from visitors, except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy or in the event we are required by law to do so (i.e. to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request) or enforce applicable Terms & Conditions or protect against any harm to Social Alpha our users or the public as required or permitted by law. We may disclose information to employees, consultants and agents who have a legitimate need to know the information for the purpose of fixing or improving the Site and monitoring and improving the security of our network or for assisting us in evaluating your application under the challenge. We also reserve the right to disclose this information when special circumstances call for it, such as when disclosure is required by law or court order or when disclosure is, in our sole discretion, necessary to protect our legal rights, including intellectual property rights.

Other Websites

This Site may contain links to other web resources, including websites of organizations other than Social Alpha and other sister concerns that may transact on behalf of Social Alpha. The websites of our sister concerns, and other websites to which the Site links may also collect user-identifying information directly from you once you proceed to browse those sites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of our advertisers, sponsors, vendors or other sites or businesses to which we provide hyperlinks or access. Please visit the relevant sites to review their privacy policies.

Data Security

We have in place physical, electronic and managerial procedures to protect the information we collect online. However, as effective as these measures are, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our database, nor can we guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.

Notification of Changes in the Privacy Policy

We will review our security measures and Privacy Policy on a periodic basis, and we may modify our policies as appropriate. We may also change or update our Privacy Policy if we add new services or features. If any changes are made, we will make appropriate amendments to this policy and post them at the Site. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy on a regular basis.