Entrant terms & conditions

1.1 Entries received by the relevant deadline will be assessed against the relevant eligibility criteria set out on the Challenge website (smartdata.challenges.org). The Challenge welcomes entries from UK based individuals (or groups of individuals) or UK registered incorporated entities (or groups of entities).

1.2 There is no requirement for entrants to partner or receive sponsorship to enter. To be eligible, entries must:

• be submitted by a UK based individual or UK incorporated entity, 
• hold a UK business bank account upon entry to the Challenge,
• Comply with the terms and conditions set out for the Challenge.

1.3 Entries which do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be accepted. The eligibility assessment will be conducted by Nesta with oversight from DBT. DBT reserves the right (in its discretion) not to accept late entries or entries submitted in languages other than English. Neither Nesta nor DBT are responsible for and may, in our discretion, disregard entries which are lost, incomplete, damaged or late due to computer, network or telecommunications failure based on third party telephone or data networks. 

1.4. DBT reserves the right to refuse an entry where DBT considers it to be inconsistent with these terms and conditions.

1.5. An organisation is not eligible to enter or participate in the Challenge: 

1. if it shares common ownership with Nesta, ODI or SDF, except where such a relationship is declared and measures taken to manage any risk of conflict have been approved by DBT; or 
2.  if any individual in the project team or any senior member of its staff is: 
   1. an employee of Nesta or DBT or an immediate family member of such employee; 
   2. an employee of ODI or SDF that is working or has worked on the research, design, administration, delivery and/or evaluation of the Challenge, or any immediate family member of such employee; or 
   3. working or has worked on the research, design, administration, delivery and/or evaluation of the Challenge, or any immediate family member of such individual, 

except where such a relationship is declared, and measures taken to manage any risk of conflict have been approved by DBT. 

1.7 You must declare the following in your entry in respect of Nesta, the ODI or SDF or any entities within the same group of companies as those entities:

• • any investment (of any kind) received of a value more than £100,000 in the past three years;
  • the names of any directors, officers or employees who are also directors, officers or employees of your organisation;

• any other situation which would reasonably create a conflict of interest or relationship between the participant and the aforementioned companies.

1.8 You can submit more than one entry to the Challenge, but each entry submitted must relate to a different initiative or innovation. You must bear all your costs of entering and participating in the Challenge, including any travel costs unless otherwise agreed. For more information about the Challenge and what participating in it involves, please see the Challenge website (smartdata.challenges.org).     

1.9 We will use the contact details you provide to contact you about the Challenge. All communications between you and us in relation to the Challenge must be in English. If you do not respond within 14 days, or if you subsequently withdraw or are withdrawn from the Challenge for any reason, another entry may be selected in your place, but there is no requirement or obligation for this to happen.

1.10 Eligible entries will be assessed against the assessment criteria set out on the Challenge website (smartdata.challenges.org). We may carry out due diligence against your entry. You agree to provide reasonable information in response to queries raised as part of our due diligence. DBT’s decision on the longlisting of entries and the amount of the Challenge awards (including in relation to queries on the assessment process) is final. DBT will receive recommendations from the Challenge assessors, the sector reviewers and the expert panel which it will take into consideration when making its decisions. However, DBT is not bound by the recommendations, and all and any awards are at DBT’s sole discretion. For the avoidance of doubt, DBT may at its sole discretion decide not to award any funding. Correspondence will not be entered into.

1.11 In consultation with Nesta, DBT may vary the form or substance of the Challenge (including deadlines and event dates) as it deems appropriate in the circumstances to ensure the Challenge objectives are achieved. DBT may terminate or suspend the Challenge if it judges that the Challenge will no longer achieve its objectives. In any event, DBT will conduct a review at the end of the Challenge to determine if proceeding to subsequent stages is viable.

1.12 Nesta, in consultation with DBT, reserves the right to vary these terms and conditions at any time. Variations will take effect from the date they are posted on the Challenge website so please check regularly to see the current version.

2.1 If you are awarded funds through the Challenge you will be required to enter into an award agreement before funds are payable. Funds can only be awarded to a UK-registered incorporated entity. Entries are subject to fraud checks. Any funds awarded by the Challenge must only be used to support Smart Data-enabled innovation for consumers and/or small businesses. You must comply with all reasonable monitoring requirements specified by Challenge Works to verify the proper use of such funds, and you consent to the sharing of all monitoring information with DBT and any third party DBT may in future appoint in respect of the monitoring of the Challenge. Funds are recoverable if there are breaches to the Terms and Conditions.

2.2 Subject to the terms within the award agreements, funds will be distributed as follows:

• Award winners will be awarded up to £5,000 (“the Award”). The purpose of the Award is to support Smart Data-enabled innovation for consumers and/or small businesses.

2.3 Neither Nesta, DBT nor any of their respective partners in the Challenge shall have any responsibility or liability to anyone however arising for the non-payment or delay in payment of any funds awarded through the Challenge.

2.4 Funding will be awarded in pounds sterling into a UK business bank account and the recipient is responsible for payment of tax and other charges.

2.5 Nesta and DBT reserve the right to impose additional conditions if in their sole opinion the Challenge has not resulted in sufficient public benefit in line with Nesta’s charitable objectives, the objectives of the Challenge and/or if this is required or appropriate to comply with other legal or regulatory requirements.

3.1 To participate in the Challenge, you must:

• satisfy the relevant eligibility criteria and ensure that all information submitted by you is true, accurate and complete;
• submit an entry which is your own original idea and not copied from anyone else;
• have, or will obtain, all authorisations, consents and permissions necessary to submit your entry, carry out your proposal and comply with these terms and conditions;
• ensure that your entry will not infringe any intellectual property or other third party rights or breach any contractual obligation. We may withdraw your entry if we receive notice that it infringes any third party rights;
• act lawfully, ethically and in good faith and comply with the rules of the Challenge and any relevant laws, regulations, guidelines and codes of practice;
• comply with our reasonable instructions while participating in the Challenge, including in relation to health & safety and security;
• take reasonable steps to avoid, and procure that your partners take reasonable steps to avoid, any actual or potential conflict of interest with Nesta, DBT, our respective Challenge partners or our Challenge expert panel;
• immediately inform Nesta if you become aware of any potential or actual conflict of interest and provide Nesta and DBT with all information reasonably requested in respect of such conflict. If Nesta or DBT determines in its sole discretion that a potential or actual conflict has not been reasonably avoided or cannot be appropriately managed then you may be disqualified from the Challenge.

3.2 In addition, you must:

• at the time of submitting an entry to the Challenge and at any other point during the Challenge, declare and procure that your partners and participants declare any actual or potential conflict of interest with Nesta, DBT, ODI, SDF and/or the Challenge judges, and provide Nesta and DBT with all information reasonably requested in relation to such conflict;
• take reasonable steps, and procure that your partners and participants take reasonable steps, to manage any such conflict including (without limitation) by implementing such measures as Nesta or DBT may reasonably require. Where a conflict cannot be avoided and/or where DBT determines (in its sole discretion) that a conflict cannot be appropriately managed you may be disqualified from participating in the Challenge.

3.3 DBT, in consultation with Nesta, reserves the right at its sole discretion to remove you from the Challenge if you or your partners do not comply with these terms and conditions, if you or your partners cheat or behave in a way which is disruptive, inappropriate or potentially dangerous, if you or your partners fail to participate fully or do anything to damage the reputation of Nesta, DBT or our partners. DBT, in consultation with Nesta, reserves the right to require repayment of any funding awarded to you and/or your partners through the Challenge if you and/or your partners fail to comply with these terms and conditions and/or the terms of any Challenge award agreement including (but not limited to) mis-use of funding.

4.1 Please see the Challenge Privacy Policy for information about how we will use personal information for the Challenge.

5.1 Nesta, DBT and our partners may carry out publicity and promotion for the Challenge and publish our research and evaluation in relation to the Challenge. You agree, and you confirm that your partners agree, to the use of each of your organisation names and a summary of your entry in promotion and publications in any media and online and to participate in any other publicity reasonably required by Nesta or DBT in connection with the Challenge. Before publication, we will inform you of what we intend to publish. Nesta may ask you and your partners to support and/or participate in promotional activities related to the Challenge on reasonable notice.

5.2 Any public statements made by you or your partners in relation to the Challenge must acknowledge the support of Nesta, DBT and our partners and must be approved in advance by Nesta, in consultation with DBT. For the avoidance of doubt, you and your partners will not announce DBT’s decision on the outcome of your Challenge entry without the prior written approval of Nesta, in consultation with DBT.

5.3 In this clause “FOIA” means the Freedom of Information Act 2000 together with any guidance and/or codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner or relevant Crown body in relation to such legislation; and “EIR” means the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. You and your partners acknowledge that DBT is subject to the requirements of the FOIA and the EIR and may be required under the FOIA and the EIR to disclose information concerning you, your partners, your project and participation in the Challenge (including commercially sensitive information) without consulting or obtaining your (and/or your partners) prior consent. In these circumstances DBT shall, in accordance with any relevant guidance issued under the FOIA, take reasonable steps, where appropriate, to give you and/ or your partners’ advance notice, or failing that, to draw the disclosure to you and/or your partners’ attention after any such disclosure. DBT shall be responsible for determining in its absolute discretion whether any information is exempt from disclosure in accordance with the FOIA and/or the EIR.

6.1 To the extent permitted by applicable law, Nesta and DBT exclude all liability for any direct or indirect loss or liability, costs, claims, taxes, charges or expenses arising from your participation in the Challenge or your reliance on statements made or advice given by us, our partners or contractors. If you submit any materials or items as part of your entry to the Challenge, this is at your own risk. Neither Nesta nor DBT give any undertakings to keep safely, maintain or return any materials or items.

6.2 Without prejudice to Clause 7.1, each of Nesta and DBT’s maximum liability to you in connection with the Challenge (if any) is limited to £500. Nothing in these terms and conditions excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or fraudulent misrepresentation.

7.1  You must let us know as soon as possible if you expect to have received more than £315,000 in Minimal Financial Assistance subsidy (MFA) since 1 April 2021, including any financial awards made to you through the Challenge. Please note that this limit applies at the company group level and that you should count MFA (or EU de minimis aid) received from any public authority during this period, not just the Department for Business and Trade. A public authority giving you MFA will have notified you in writing that you were receiving Minimal Financial Assistance subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Please note, there is no restriction on entering the Challenge if you are over the MFA limit, but it is important that this is declared to us.

8.1 These terms and conditions shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and you hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Nesta, a company limited by guarantee with number 7706036 and registered charity with charity number 1144091. Registered address: 58 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0DS.