Industrial Metaverse Hackathon

Rules and Terms

For any rules related to the Open Call of IntellIoT also study the GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS. 

Please also note that all eligible SME have to upload all requested information until October 13th, 12:00 and check-in at least 3 times with the IntellIoT team between October 10th and 13th, 2023 to be eligible to the final presentation and the Prize

Please also check out the General User Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of the TAIKAI Platform.

1. ORGANIZOR OF THE HACKATHON

IntellIoT is a pan-European research and innovation project funded by the European Union as part of the Horizon 2020 programme ICT-56-2020 “Next Generation Internet of Things”. 

This 3rd and final open call of IntellIoT aims to involve specifically Micro-SMEs to build applications, services and extensions on the IntellIoT technical framework within a special hackathon (“HackWeek") as well as a 1-month pilot programme (“HackMonth"). Altogether 4 Micro-SMEs will be selected via this hackathon to gain access to the IntellIoT framework within a 1-month pilot. To execute the pilot project grant funding of 7,000 Euro per SME will be issued.

IntellIoT's partner Startup Colors UG is responsible for the coordination of the Open Calls. 

Startup Colors UG is a company registered in Charlottenburg/Berlin under HRB 193567 (hereinafter referred to as the “Startup Colors”). The Challenge shall take place from 9 October until 13 October, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the “Challenge”). Startup Colors shall be considered as the organizer of the Challenge (hereinafter referred to as the “Organizer”).

2. DEFINITIONS

In this document:

“Prizes”: refers to the prizes awarded to the Winners at the end of the Challenge.

“Overview”: refers to the specifications determined by the Organizer, which may include the deadlines, the prizes, the guidelines and themes to be complied with by all Innovators contributions.

“Challenge”: refers to the challenge that is the subject of the Rules, as organized by the Organizer.

“Intellectual Property Rights” means all the following ownership legal rights, worldwide, whether registrable or unregistrable, and whether registered or unregistered, with respect to any designs, trade secrets, copyrights, works of authorship, neighboring rights, mask works, Know-how, Software and all the industrial rights, such as trademarks, industrial designs or patents;

“General User Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy”: designate the general terms of use of the TAIKAI’s website and its Privacy Policy, accepted by every Innovator during the creation of a TAIKAI user account and readable on taikai.network

“Projects”: refers to the Team and to all submissions, original ideas, documents or other materials (such as presentations, videos, code, websites, etc.) uploaded to the Website by Innovators in response and as a solution to this Challenge;

“Backers”: refers to the jury responsible for selecting the winning Projects.

“Innovator”: refers to any person registered in accordance with the Rules who takes part in the Challenge.

“Registration”: refers to the registration of an Innovator in accordance with the Rules.

“Rules”: refers to these terms, which apply to the Challenge.

“Team”: refers to the team of innovators (2 to 10 per team), created on the platform in order to take part in the Challenge.

“Winner” or “Winners”: refers to the members of the four  (4) Projects that reach the final stage of the Challenge and are ranked by the Backers as winning teams.

3. PURPOSE OF THE RULES

3.1. Rules are intended to define the terms and rules of participation in the Challenge organized by TAIKAI. Rules are destined to complete the General User Terms & Conditions and the Privacy Policy of the TAIKAI Platform, which can be downloaded through the links provided previously. In the event of inconsistency between these rules and regulations and those of the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy, these Rules will prevail.

3.2. The Innovator should be aware and agrees to the fact that the proposed Challenge calls on his/her wisdom, skill, and cleverness during extremely difficult trials. The Challenge shall not depend, even partially, on chance and luck under any circumstances, and can therefore not be considered as, or resemble a lottery.

4. CONDITIONS FOR ENTERING THE CHALLENGE

4.1. Participation in this Challenge is free.

4.2. The Innovator must read these Rules, and fully accept their terms in their entirety without reservation before its Registration and participation in the Challenge.

4.3. Participation to the Challenge is under the conditions of: 1. ) being a Micro-SME incorporated in the EU or one of the Horizon 2020 associated countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, UK and Ukraine; 2.) being a Micro-SME according to the definition of the European Commission with Staff headcount: <10; Turnover: <2m Euro or balance sheet total: <2m Euro.; 3.) being no subsidiary or affiliated party of one of the consortium members

4.4. The Innovator guarantees that he/she will abide by the rules mentioned above. The delivery of the Prize will be conditional upon the capacity of the Innovator to meet the conditions stated.

4.5. There is only one entry per Micro-SME in the Challenge

4.6. Innovators must form teams of 2 to 10 members.

4.7. Any Innovator and/or Team who doesn’t abide by the terms of the Rules during his/her Registration and at any time during the Challenge will be automatically and without previous notification, disqualified from the Challenge and shall not be awarded any Prize. In the case where a Prize would have been given to an Innovator and/or Team who doesn’t or didn’t comply with the Rules at the time of his/her Registration or during the Challenge, the Organizer has the discretionary right to demand the return of the Prize received.

4.8. The hackathon focuses on involving startups and SMEs, in particular Micro-SMEs, as per definition from the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/sme-definition_en).

Please, be aware that while checking the company’s status, if it is a Micro-SME, the linked parties of the company are also taken into consideration. SME status is calculated in accordance with the rules defined in the EU recommendation 2003/361.  As a summary, the criteria which define a Micro-SME are:

• Staff headcount in Full Time Equivalents (FTE) less than 10;
• Annual turnover less or equal to €2 million OR annual balance sheet total less or equal to €2 million. 
• IntellIoT partners and their related entities or entities in which IntellIoT partners have shares or other interest are excluded from participating in the hackathon. The existence of potential conflict of interest among applicants and one or more consortium partners will be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the winning SMEs from IntellIoT’s OC1 or OC2 are not eligible for OC3.
• Each proposal must be submitted by a single applicant, consortia are not allowed.
• Organizations must be legally incorporated in the European Union or in one of the Horizon 2020 associated countries to be eligible, for more information please see the attached links regarding the European Union member states (EU27) as well as countries associated with Horizon 2020. 
• All applicants must provide a PIC to proof the legally incorporation. Apply for a PIC for free within 48h.

5. REGISTRATION AND ACCESS TO THE CHALLENGE

5.1. For his/her Registration to the Challenge, each Innovator must open a user account on taikai.network and must indicate the following:

• A valid username
• A valid email address
• A valid password To validate his Registration, the Innovator must accept the General Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy provided by TAIKAI.

To complete his/her Registration in the Challenge, the Innovator must opt-in on the box indicating that he/she accepts the Challenge Regulations.

A confirmation email containing a confirming link is sent to the Innovator’s listed email address. Once his/her account is confirmed, the Innovator can freely participate and complete their profiles.

5.2. Any Registration containing wrong, dubious, or incomplete information shall not be taken into account and disqualifies the Innovator and/or the Innovator’s Team from the Challenge.

5.3. By registering, the Innovator accepts being contacted through email by the Organizer, for the duration of his/her participation in the Challenge.

5.4. Furthermore the registration form has to be filled with nothing but correct information. 

6. DURATION OF THE CHALLENGE

6.1. The Challenge shall take place from the 9th October till 13th October, 2023.

• The Challenge will be revealed and registration will begin on the 8th August, 2023 at 12 AM (CET).
• Registration for participation will close on the 8th October, 2023 at 12 AM (CET).
• Project submission will take place till 13th October, 2023 at 12 AM (CET). 
• Project evaluation will occur upon the 10-min project presentation on 13th October, 2023 at 3 PM (CET).
• Winners will be announced on 13th October, 2023 at 6 PM (CET).

6.2. Every date clearly defined in these Rules and the Challenge is in the Berlin time zone (GMT+1; CET), and refers to the year 2023.

6.3. Where necessary, due to operational requirements, the Organizer reserves the right to alter the duration of the Challenge by a reasonable amount of time, which will be conveyed to Innovators.

6.4. Please also note that all eligible SME have to upload all requested information until October 13th, 12:00 and check-in at least 3 times with the IntellIoT team between October 10th and 13th, 2023 to be eligible to the final presentation and the Prize

7. PRINCIPLE OF THE CHALLENGE

7.1. IntellIoT's 3rd and final Open Call is executed in form of a HackWeek. Between August 8th and October 8th, Micro-SME can register to qualify for the HackWeek which officially starts on October 9th, 17:00 with an online Kick-off. During the HackWeek eligible Micro-SME can work on four (4) predefined challenges. On October 13th, all results and achievements will be presented to an expert jury / external evaluators that will apply a central and transparent scoring system to evaluate the best applicants. On October 13th, one Micro-SME with the highest score per category / challenge will be selected.

7.2. The hackathon content as well as all corresponding documentation must be written or presented in English. Proposals submitted in any other language will not be evaluated. English is also the only official language during the whole duration of the hackathon and the pilot and, accordingly, any requested deliverables will be admitted only if submitted in English. 

7.3. All applicants will have to submit an outline of their technology proposition describing how their approach is addressing the four defined challenges. They will have to describe how they intend to use the funding provided to realize optimal results during the 1-month pilot.    

7.4. Applicants are not allowed to submit multiple applications. In case that more than one application from the same applicant is submitted, only the one submitted first will be considered and any other will be rejected. 

7.5. All interested Micro-SMEs need to register via the hackathon platform Taikai. Proposals submitted by any other means will not be considered for funding.  

7.6. Please also note that all eligible SME have to upload all requested information until October 13th, 12:00 and check-in at least 3 times with the IntellIoT team between October 10th and 13th, 2023 to be eligible to the final presentation and the Prize

8. DELIVERABLES

8.1. The Project Deliverables must absolutely respond to the Challenge definition and rules described in the tab “Rules” on the Challenge page.

8.2. Within the hackathon platform, all applicants must provide information based on a predefined template, including the following sections:

 *relevant for eligibility / ** to be filled out during the HackWeek

8.3. Besides Project Description, participants should attach to the Project:

• Slide Presentation of the project and/or
• Screenshots, Image, Diagrams and Videos

8.4. All the attachments, video, and resources with more than 15Mb might be provided as links in the project description and also send via email to [email protected].

8.5. In the case of difficulty or failure to read the deliverable, Innovators from these Projects will be notified and are responsible for re-submitting before the step’s end date. If the deadline is passed, the Project at hand will be disqualified from the Challenge.

8.6. Innovators guarantee that the content of the Project consists only of their Team’s contributions and none others. If there are suspicions that contributions are from a third party, all Innovators from that Team may be disqualified.

8.7. Please also note that all eligible SME have to upload all requested information until October 13th, 12:00 and check-in at least 3 times with the IntellIoT team between October 10th and 13th, 2023 to be eligible to the final presentation and the Prize

9. SELECTION PROCESS

9.1. The evaluation and selection process of the hackathon is designed to create an open, accountable, multi-step selection process based solely on the merit of the submitted application. All submissions shall receive the same opportunity. 

9.2. Each eligible application shall be evaluated by a minimum of two independent and external experts. The experts will be individuals with experience in the fields of innovation linked to this hackathon and with the highest level of knowledge. In the Open Call #3, the evaluators will take over the role of HackWeek jurors. They will attend the final presentation / DemoDay on October 13th, 2023, and will also receive access to the submitted information on the Hackathon Platform Taikai on October 13th, 2023, between 12 and 3 PM CET.

All involved experts will sign a declaration of confidentiality concerning the evaluation process and the content of the proposals they evaluate. They will also declare their absence of any conflict of interest for the assigned tasks. 

The experts will apply the criteria outlined below to the concepts presented at the final day of the HackWeek: 

• Problem-Solution-Fit based on the chosen challenge (desirability): Will the proposed solution solve the identified challenge? 
• Level of Innovation / Technical Excellence: How innovative is the proposed technical solution? How applicable is the solution to the IntellIoT framework? Which provided technologies & data sets have been applied? Assessment of soundness of concept, quality of objectives and innovative elements of the proposal.
• Feasibility of Idea & Implementation: To what extent has the application already been implemented within the HackWeek? What is the quality, functionality, and stability of the developed “hacks”? Has the team the technical ability to finalize the implementation of the solution within the HackMonth? Are there enough resources to finalize the solution within the HackMonth? What working packages are defined for the HackMonth / 1-month pilot.  
• Impact and Business Approach: What is the long-term impact of the proposed challenge solution?  (viability) Demonstrate impact through examples showing specific future exploitation potential. Contributions should showcase ways to create added value to an existing IoT solution and enable next-generation IoT technologies across Europe.  
• Team Set-up / Diversity: What technical expertise does the team bring in? Assessment of the quality and relevant experience of the individual participants, quality of the team as a whole, including complementarity, balance and diversity.
• Economic Fairness: The provided budget of 7,000 euros should be adequate with the proposed work plan and should allow significant improvements of the first MVP during the HackWeek / 1-month pilot.
• Presentation / Pitch: Is the applicant able to present their achievements in an understandable and convincing way?

Each criterion will be scored between 1 and 6 points and only entire points are allowed:

• 1 (Fail): Proposal fails to address the criterion or cannot be assessed due to missing or incomplete information. 
• 2 (Poor): The criterion is addressed in an inadequate manner, or there are serious inherent weaknesses. 
• 3 (Fair): While the proposal broadly addresses the criterion, there are significant weaknesses. 
• 4 (Good): The proposal addresses the criterion well, although improvements would be necessary. 
• 5 (Very Good): The proposal addresses the criterion very well, although certain improvements are still possible. 
• 6 (Excellent): The proposal successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion in question. 

Each evaluator will receive an equal amount of token provided by the platform Taikai. Each score will be translated into tokens which will be calculated into a joined score per applicant. This score will be used to create a ranking. The scores of each external evaluator will record via Taikai and will be published in form of a leadership board after October 13th, 2023. 

Per HackWeek challenge one (1) Micro-SME with the highest score - altogether four (4) Micro-SME in Open Call #3 - will be selected and invited to join the HackMonth. In case there is no eligible applicant in one challenge/category, a 4th SME will be selected besides the top SME per category based on the next highest score applying the overall ranking. 

9.3. The voting process is transparent and auditable as we use a token based voting mechanism to select the best projects, using an EOS.IO public blockchain, available at any time during the competition.

10. IMAGE COPYRIGHT

The use of photos or images must be free from copyright. In any case, the Organizer will not be held responsible for the use of Intellectual Property for which third parties have rights.

11. PRIZES

11.1. Prizes referred to in this section are given to Innovators if the following rules are met: The delivery of projects is in line with the quality standards of the different Jurys; Innovators accept and abide by section 12 on Intellectual Property for each Winner; Innovators accept and abide by the rules regarding the disclosure of information regarding Winners on section 13. No Prize can be delivered to the Winners if they do not meet these three conditions, as well as entirely comply with these Rules.

11.2. The deliverance of a Prize at the end of the Challenge is subject to, and is performed only when subjected to:

• The full abidance to the Rules determined for the Challenge;
• The presentation of documents from each Winner justifying that he/she respects the conditions stated on section 3.

11.3. Only project teams with complete information uploaded on the taikai.network website will be eligible for Winners and receive Prizes. Please also note that all eligible SME have to upload all requested information until October 13th, 12:00 and check-in at least 3 times with the IntellIoT team between October 10th and 13th, 2023 to be eligible to the final presentation and the Prize

11.4. Every Innovator acknowledges that the Prize cannot be replaced and/or exchanged for another Prize. It cannot be transferable, and Innovators are hereby informed that the sale or the exchange of the Prize is forbidden.

11.5. Every Innovator recognizes and accepts that the Organizer’s responsibility with regards to the Reward is its deliverance to Winners only. All extra costs related to Prizes will, unless otherwise stipulated in the Rules, be charged to the Winners. Neither coverage nor refund will be owed as such.

11.6. Winners will be informed by the Organizer about their Prize via email, at the latest, 5 days after the end of the challenge, to their accounts communicated upon Registration on the taikai.network. The Innovator commits to respect and follow the directions indicated in this email.

11.7. Winners of the 4 projects will be awarded with the following prizes:

• The 4 winning companies (1 per challenge/category) each gain access to the IntellIoT framework for a 1-month pilot/HackMonth to work with the IntellIoT partners. In addition, the selected organizations will receive financial support of up to 7,000 EUR for their efforts.

11.8. Payment conditions (please also read the Guide for Applicants)

• The beneficiaries will receive the funding as a fixed lump sum. The lump sum is a simplified method of settling expenses in projects financed from Horizon 2020 funds. It means that the grantee is not required to present strictly defined accounting documents to prove the cost incurred (e.g., invoices), but is obliged to demonstrate the implementation of the project in line with the milestones set for the project. Simply speaking it means that we will assess your progress and quality of your work during the final review, not your accountancy. The milestones (deliverables and KPIs) will be elaborated at the beginning of the 1-month pilot. 
• The lump sum does not release you from the obligation to collect documentation to confirm the costs under fiscal regulation. 
• In order to receive the grant, an individual Collaboration Agreement in accordance with Horizon 2020 funding rules has to be signed between the selected organizations and the IntellIoT consortium. SIEMENS AG, as the overall coordinator of the IntellIoT project, will be responsible for transferring the grants in accordance with the above-mentioned process, and the following installments:
  • After contract signature, a prepayment of 50% of the requested funding will be issued. 
  • One month after the end of the pilot phase and after the final review presentation plus the submission of a short 2-page Summary Report, the remaining 50% of the requested funding will be transferred. 
  • The Collaboration Agreement will include a set of obligations that beneficiaries have towards the European Commission. It is the task of beneficiaries to satisfy these obligations and of the IntellIoT consortium partners to inform beneficiaries about them. 

12. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

12.1. Definition "Intellectual property rights" refers to any Invention, any copyright or other rights over a brand or model and, more generally, any element that may be protected by international laws or conventions on intellectual property.

12.2. Any Project involving several Innovators constitutes a collaborative work.

12.3. As such, the Organizer is free to reproduce the Projects, to distribute them, to inform the public about them and to modify them. If the Projects are modified, altered or adapted, the Organizer may distribute the resulting derived work only in accordance with the terms agreed on these Rules.

12.4. Each Innovator guarantees that he/she is the co-owner and co-holder of the Intellectual Property Rights regarding all or part of the deliverables submitted as part of the Challenge for the Project of which he/she is a member, and that he/she has obtained all rights and permissions regarding all pre-existing elements and any elements for which he/she does not hold the rights if these elements are to be included in the deliverables of all voting phases. Each member of a Participating Team guarantees that his/her application is original and unprecedented, that it does not infringe upon the copyright of any third party, and that all the elements of which it is formed, as well as all pieces of information communicated in the application presentation document, are accurate, reliable and complete. It is compulsory for Innovators to indicate the source of any pre-existing elements (music, text, images, etc.) that are included in the deliverables.

Each Innovator ensures a good use of the deliverables provided by the Organizer, and as such ensures:

• that the deliverables submitted by the Team of which he/she is a member is original
• that it does not infringe on or imitate any copyright, patent, brand or any other intellectual property belonging to a third party,
• that it does not constitute an act of unfair competition or parasitical competition of any kind.
• that all the elements of which it is formed, as well as all pieces of information communicated in the deliverables, are accurate, reliable and complete.

Each Innovator indemnifies the Organizer and any present and future subsidiaries against any disturbance, action, claim, opposition, demand or eviction attempt from any third party.

12.5. During and after the end of the Challenge, the Innovators have the right to use and register the Intellectual Property resulted from the Projects created (e.g. code, algorithms, etc.) for their own personal and commercial use, as long as it may continue to be displayed as a project on the TAIKAI platform.

13. COMMUNICATION

13.1. Every Innovator authorizes the Organizer, in the case where he/she would be appointed Winner of the Challenge to use his/her last name, his/her first name, his/her twitter address, his/her city and region of residence, the name of his/her University/Startup or former University and his/her photograph, name in any promotional demonstration (except with the purchase of advertising space), including on the web sites of TAIKAI and any site or affiliated support, without that this use can legally give rise to any remuneration for 2 years maximum after the end of the Challenge.

14. LIABILITY

14.1. The responsibility of the Organizer cannot be engaged in case of breakdown or dysfunction of the used telecommunications network, whatever the cause is, which would have the effect of damaging or preventing the identification or the access of the Innovator on taikai.network or any other useful web site for the participation in the Challenge.

14.2. The participation in the Challenge implies knowledge and acceptance of the characteristics, limitations and risks of the internet network and the technologies which are linked to it, particularly in consideration of the performances, in response time, in the security of the software and the computer hardware towards diverse potential attacks such as viruses, logic bomb or Trojan horses and in the loss or diversion of data. Therefore, the Organizer cannot be held responsible for the damages caused to the Innovator because of these accepted characteristics, limitations and risks.

14.3. The Organizer cannot, in any case, be held responsible for any damage caused by the defect or the delay of delivery of the Projects, in particular for the refusal to consider late submissions, or for any damage caused by the impossibility to connect to the relevant websites or to upload/download correctly any delivery, the defect or the delivery time of any email sent during the Challenge, or for any damage caused by any hurdle preventing the Innovator attending or participating in the whole or part of the Challenge.

14.4. The Organizer cannot be held responsible in case of total or partial modification, suspension, interruption, adjournment or cancellation of the whole or part of the Challenge for reasons beyond their control. In such a case, the Organizer will inform the Innovators as soon as possible via the taikai.network or by any means it sees fit.

14.5. The Organizer cannot be held responsible for the consequences of a disqualification of an Innovator, and/or a Team, due to a violation of the Rules, and/or in case of rejection of a Project due to noncompliance with the Rules.

14.6. The Organizer shall not be liable for any trouble, action, claim, objection, claim related to the use of the Projects of the Organizer not foreseen by the Rules or in connection with the negotiation, execution or performance of contracts that the Organizer would sign with the Innovators.

14.7. In any case, the Organizer will not be held responsible for the delivery of the Prizes nor in case of impossibility for a Winner to benefit from his/her Prize for circumstances beyond Organizer’s control. The responsibility of the Organizer cannot be engaged in case of loss and/or deterioration of the Prize by post or any third similar service provider and more generally if the Winner does not receive his/her Prize. The responsibility of the Organizer cannot be engaged in case of incidents or of damages of all kinds, which could arise because of the enjoyment of the awarded Prize and/or because of its use.

15. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

15.1. “Confidential Information” is defined in this present Rules, is all the material or immaterial information of whatever nature, in particular administrative, commercial, scientific, technical, financial, fiscal, which was, is or will be communicated by the Organizer to the Innovator, directly or indirectly, and in a non-exhaustive way, orally, in writing, by delivery of paper or electronic documents. Information that is not confidential is:

• The currently accessible information or becoming accessible to the public without breach of the Rules from the Innovator,
• The information legally held by the Innovator before their disclosure by the Organizer,
• The information not resulting either directly or indirectly from the use of all or part of the Confidential Information,
• The information validly obtained close to a third party authorized to transfer or to reveal the information mentioned above.

15.2. For the duration of the Challenge and during a period of five (5) years after the end of the Challenge stated on section 6, the Innovator, under penalty of civil and / or criminal liability, commits to:

• Not using the Confidential Information for any other purposes than the participation in the Challenge in the conditions of the Regulations;
• Taking any necessary, useful and reasonable precaution to protect the Confidential Information;
• Not Revealing the Confidential Information to whomever, by any means whatsoever, except to the other members of his/her Team;

15.3. At the end of the Challenge, because of the emergence of their term indicated to Point 6 or of their cancellation, the Innovator will immediately have to put back to the Organizer all the Confidential Information, whatever their support is, obtained during the Challenge, under penalty of civil and / or criminal liability. The Innovator forbids himself from keeping copy in any form whatsoever, except with an on purpose, preliminary and written agreement by the Organizer.

16. RULES

16.1. The participation in the Challenge and the awarding of the Prize requires the acceptance purely and simply and the full respect for the Rules in all its terms. The Organizer reserves the right to disqualify, immediately and without compensation, every Innovator and/or Project not satisfying in full with the Rules.

18.2. The Organizer reserves the right to modify at any time the terms of the Rules, and during the Challenge without the requirement of notification to the Innovator, concerning the application and the validity of these modifications. The Innovator is invited to consult regularly the Rules. The Innovator gives up expressly any complaint or contesting linked to any modification brought to the Rules by the Organizer.

17. CANCELLATION AND SUSPENSION OF THE CHALLENGE

17.1. The Organizer reserves the right to cancel, shorten, suspend the Challenge without prior notice:

• In cases of greater force;
• If it appears that fraud has occurred in any form whatsoever;

17.2. The Organizer cannot be held responsible for cancellation or suspension of the Challenge according to the present Point and no allowance nor compensation will be due to the Innovator.

18. INDEPENDENCE

18.1. The Registration and participation in the Challenge are not, in any way, for effect to create a link of subordination between the Organizer and the Innovator.

19. CLAIMS

19.1. Any claim of the Innovator must be sent in writing during the last 30 days after the ending date of the Challenge.

19.2. Claims linked to the functioning of the website taikai.network must be formulated in writing at the following address: TAIKAI Building Connections, Av. Serpa Pinto 311, 4450-718 Matosinhos, Portugal

19.3. Claims linked to the progress of the Challenge and to the sending of the Prize must be formulated in writing at the following address: Startup Colors UG, Pettenkoferstr. 4c, 10247 Berlin.

19.4. At the risk of being rejected, any claim has to contain: Full contact details of the Innovator (name, first name, address, zip code, city, taikai login and e-mail); The identification of the concerned Challenge; The clear and elaborate presentation of the motives for the claim.

20. PRELIMINARY RECONCILIATION

20.1. In case of persistent dispute after the Innovator has made a complaint in accordance with Point 19, the Organizer and Innovators agree to submit their dispute to an amicable settlement before any court proceedings.

20.2. The party eager to initiate conciliation must inform the other party through a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt in which it will make him know his intentions and it will specify the cause.

20.3. If no agreement is reached between the parties within 30 days of the registered letter reception, parties regain their freedom of action.

21. APPLICABLE LAW

The Regulations and the Challenge are under the German law. You accept that any litigation related to the Challenge will be submitted exclusively to the Courts of Berlin.