These terms of participation (the Award Terms) set out the eligibility conditions for applying for The Digital Top 50 Awards as described in more detail below (Awards). The Awards are organized by McKinsey & Company, Inc., Kennedydamm 24, 40476 Düsseldorf, Germany (McKinsey), 468 Capital GmbH & Co. KG, Wielandstraße 26/26A , 10707 Berlin (468 capital), Finsbury Glover Hering Europe GmbH (Finsbury Glover Hering), Berliner Allee 44, 40212 Düsseldorf (Finsbury Glover Hering) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Amsterdam office, Strawinskylaan 10, 1077 XZ Amsterdam (Freshfields), TeamViewer Germany GmbH, Bahnhofsplatz 2, 73033 Göppingen (Teamviewer), (McKinsey, 468 Capital, Finsbury Glover Hering, Freshfields and Teamviewer each an Organizer and together referred to as the Organizers). By clicking on the Accept button, you agree to participate in the Awards under these Award Terms with the Organizers, and agree to be bound by these Award Terms. In these Award Terms, "you" and "your" means you in your capacity as a Participant (as defined below). These Award Terms govern the administration of the Awards.
1. What are the Awards?
a) With the Awards, the Organizers wish to identify and recognize the best 50 emerging digital and technology companies in the European Union (the EU), the European Free Trade
Association (the EFTA) region, and the United Kingdom as described in more detail in these Award Terms.
b) Applications for the Awards can be submitted in four categories: Best Technology, Best Consumer Business Model Innovation, Best Enterprise Business Model Innovation, Tech
for Good - see the eligibility criteria below for details. Each applicant may compete in one category only.
c) Among all applicants that meet the eligibility criteria set out below (each a Participant), 50 Participants across all categories will be selected as the top 50 applicants
for the Awards (the Shortlist Participants). The Shortlist Participants will be publicly announced in October 2021 in advance of the Bits & Pretzels event.
d) One Shortlist Participant will be selected from each of the categories as a winner for that category, and these category winners (the Winners) will be announced at the Bits
& Pretzels Networking week.
2. What are the key dates for the Awards?
- Applications for the Awards can be submitted from 11:00:00 on September 1, 2021, Central European Time.
- Applications will only be accepted until 23:59:59 on October 17, 2021, Central European Time.
- The Shortlist Participants will be announced in Mid November, 2021.
- The Winners will be announced in an Awards ceremony at the Bits & Pretzels event, January 21-22, 2022.
3. Who can apply to participate in the Awards?
a) To be generally eligible to participate in the Awards, applicants must meet the following requirements:
i) applicants that are incorporated organizations must be registered in the EU, in an EFTA member state, or in the United Kingdom (or, if unregistered, have their principal
place of business there),
ii) individual applicants must be resident in the EU, EFTA, or the United Kingdom and be 18 years old or over on the date of submitting the application,
iii) individual applicants must not be employees, officers, or directors of any of the Organizers or their affiliates (or work for any of the Organizers or its affiliates in
any other capacity, including as a contractor or on a temporary basis), or be the immediate family or living in the households of any such persons,
iv) a digital product or service must be the central element of the applicant's business. Applicants will have to show fulfillment of this requirement by pointing to a publicly
available URL or App as part of their application to the Awards;
v) applicant must not have exceeded 100.000.000 (one hundred million) USD (United States dollars) in cumulative funding, and
vi) applicants may not participate in the Awards if any of the Organizers is a direct or indirect shareholder in the participating incorporated organization. Also, applicants
must not have received funding or consultancy services from any of the Organizers (?Funding/Consultancy Services?); for purposes of this requirement:
(1) "funding" means (i) any monetary contributions as well as non-monetary contributions without compensation at market terms and (ii) any loans or other financing facilities,
and
(2) "consultancy services" means paid-for professional service advice.
b) Applicants applying for the Best Technology, must provide advanced technology services or products at the core of your value creation. Moreover they have usually achieved
product market-fit in the first markets and are focusing on the expansion of your business to new markets and on advancing products.
c) Applicants applying for the Best Consumer Business Model Innovation, must have the provision of products or services to consumers as the main focus of their value creation;
moreover have usually achieved product market fit in the first markets and are focusing on expansion of their business to new markets and advancing on products and/or services.
d) Applicants applying for the Best Enterprise Business Model Innovation must have the provision of products or services to to other businesses as the main focus of their value
creation; moreover have usually achieved product market fit in the first markets and are focusing on expansion of their business to new markets and advancing on products and/or
services.
e) Applicants applying for the Tech for Good must have as the main focus of their products or services having a lasting positive impact on society or environment at large by
solving a social problem.
f) Each applicant may only submit one application across all of the categories. Multiple applications from the same applicant will not be considered.
g) You acknowledge and agree that the final decision of who is eligible is not open to negotiation or dispute. There is no obligation for the Organizers to review applications
that do not comply with these Award Terms, nor any obligation to justify the decision.
4. How to apply for the Awards
a) Applications to participate in the Awards must be submitted through the online application form by 23:59:59 on October 10, 2021, Central European Time. Applications must be
in English.
b) All fields of the online application form must be filled out to participate in the Awards, unless indicated otherwise in the form. You agree to inform us without undue delay
about any changes in the information you have submitted in the online application form that occur between your application and the Awards ceremony at Bits & Pretzels event,
January 21-22, 2022.
c) By submitting the online application form, you warrant to the Organizers that you can validly represent your business for the application to the Awards and that you have all
internal approvals from within your business, its shareholders, any other competent supervisory body to submit the application, and/or any other party holding an interest in
your business. You further warrant to the Organizers on behalf of your company that:
i) you are and your business is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations both in relation to your entry into the Awards and with regards to the operation of the
business generally, in particular any applicable anti-bribery, import/export restrictions or embargoes,
ii) neither your company nor any of its shareholders, representatives, or employees, are party to any lawsuit or other legal proceeding concerning allegations that your
company, or any of its shareholders, representatives or employees, have in connection with your company?s business infringed intellectual property rights of a third party, have
misappropriated any third party's trade secrets, or are in violation of a non-compete or non-solicit obligation in favor of a third party, and
iii) your company has not been threatened with any lawsuits or other legal proceedings described in the preceding clauses.
5. What are the benefits for the Shortlist Participants?
From each Shortlist Participant up to one delegate will be invited to join the virtual Bits & Pretzels event from January 21-22, 2022.
6. What are the prizes for the four category Winners?
Winning the award boosts exposure and provides concrete benefits such as workshops from partners, an individual mentoring and consulting package, and various other
services delivered by the organizers. This could include any of the below prizes granted to the winners of the 2021 DT50 Awards:
7. What are the criteria for selecting the Shortlist Participants and category Winners?
a) All applications will be reviewed for fulfillment of the eligibility criteria set out in these Award Terms as well as for any indications that any of the warranties given in
the applications may not be correct. Only applications that have passed this review will be considered in the selection process for the Shortlist Participants and Winners.
b) A jury consisting of reputable individuals with in-depth knowledge and experience in digital B2B, B2C, and/or social projects or staff members selected by the Organizers and
including representatives of the Organizers (Jury) will apply the following criteria in selecting the Shortlist Participants and Winners, subject to the Jury's power to further
detail the criteria in its own discretion as described in Section 8:
i) In all categories:
- Degree of innovation of the Participant's digital product or service.
- Value added to the users by the Participant's digital product or service.
- Ability to scale the Participant's business and to compete with other offerings in order to create sustainable growth of the Participant's business.
ii) In the Tech for Good category:
- Potential to have a lasting impact on society or environment with a socially or environmentally-oriented digital product or service that is scalable in order to benefit the
largest number of people in the most meaningful way.
c) The Organizers or the Jury may require additional information from you to properly assess your application, your business or your compliance with these Award Terms. If so,
you will be contacted through the contact details provided by you to request (i) an interview to discuss your application and/or (ii) that you provide further supporting
documentation. If you are unable to comply with such request within the reasonable time frame requested by us, your application may be rejected.
d) The Jury will base its selection on: the information provided in your application; other information provided by you; and any other information about you, your company
and/or your company's business that is available to the general public.
e) Selection of the successful Shortlist Participants will be at the Jury's absolute discretion.
8. Selection of the Shortlist Participants and Winners by the Jury
a) The Shortlist Participants and Winners for each category will be selected by the Jury, without recourse to any court of law.
b) Prior to the selection of the Shortlist Participants and Winners of the Awards, each Jury member will confirm to the Organizers that he or she (i) is not a direct or
indirect shareholder of any of the Participants and (ii) has not provided Funding/Consultancy Services to any of the Participants.
c) If a Jury member resigns or is excluded from the selection process by the Organizers because they have not confirmed their objectivity and independence as set out in the
preceding paragraph, the Organizers may either replace that jury member with another eligible candidate or leave the position vacant.
d) Prior to commencing the assessment process and selecting the Shortlist Participants and Winners of the Awards, the Jury will define the details and procedure of assessing
the Participants at its discretion, taking into account the general criteria set out in Clause 7 b) as well as the purpose and spirit of the Awards as set out in the Award
Terms.
9. Information submitted with your Award application and privacy policy
a) For the purposes of this clause: (i) “Confidential Information” means information that one party discloses to the other party under these Award Terms, and that is marked as
confidential or would normally be considered confidential information under the circumstances. It does not include information that the recipient already knew, that becomes
public through no fault of the recipient, that was independently developed by the recipient, or that was rightfully given to the recipient by a third party without
confidentiality obligations; (ii) "Business Sensitive Information" means the applicant's Confidential Information which, if disclosed, would provide the applicant's competitors
with a competitive advantage over the applicant; and (iii) "Highly Confidential Information" means the applicant's Confidential Information which is highly sensitive and, if
disclosed, would cause substantial harm to the applicant.
b) The recipient of any Confidential Information will not disclose that Confidential Information, except to the members of the Jury and - if Jury members chose to use the help
of assistants - to elected staff assisting the Jury, affiliates, employees and professional advisors who need to know it and who have agreed in writing (or in the case of
professional advisors are otherwise bound) to keep it confidential. The recipient will ensure that those persons and entities: (i) use such Confidential Information only to
exercise rights and fulfil obligations under these terms and conditions, and (ii) keep such Confidential Information confidential. The recipient may disclose Confidential
Information when legally compelled by a court or other government authority or if required to do so by law. The recipient may also disclose Confidential Information during the
course of litigation, so long as the disclosure is restricted in the same manner as is the confidential information of other litigating parties.
c) Except for the limited use rights under these terms and conditions, neither party acquires any right, title, or interest in the other party's Confidential Information.
d) Although the Organizers will take all reasonable endeavors to keep confidential any Confidential Information that you disclose to us in your application, we request that you
keep any such disclosures within your application to a minimum and, in particular, that you do not disclose any Business Sensitive Information or Highly Confidential
Information within your application. If, following a request for further information, you wish to disclose such information to us, you will discuss this with us and you may be
required to enter into a separate non-disclosure agreement before we receive such information. You will always label such information as being "Business Sensitive" or "Highly
Confidential". If you submit Business Sensitive Information or Highly Confidential Information other than in accordance with this Clause 9 d), there is no obligation for us to
review the information.
e) We will process your personal data in connection with the Awards in accordance with our Privacy Notice
10. Use of the Awards in communications of the Organizers and the Participants
a) If you have been selected as a Shortlist Participant or a Winner, you may use the name and logo of the Awards for communicating your achievement. Any such use must be in
compliance with all applicable laws and include a clearly visible indication of the year and category in which you were selected as a Shortlist Participant or as a Winner.
b) If you use the name and logo of the Awards as set out in the preceding clause, you must use them 'as is', i.e., you are not permitted to use a modified version of the name
or logo of the Awards. Any use of the name or logo must be in accordance with any guidance issued by the Organizers, including any updates or modifications issued from time to
time.
c) If your use of the name and logo of the Awards (including the continued association such use fosters in the mind of the public between you and the Organizers) negatively
affects the reputation of any of the Organizers and/or of the Awards, the Organizers may immediately prohibit you from any further use the name and logo of the Awards by
written notice.
d) The Organizers may use the names and logos of the Shortlist Participants and Winners, as well as quotes, photos, and videos from the the Bits & Pretzels Networking week in
any communications related to the Awards.
e) The Organizers may publish details of all funding awarded, descriptions of the Winners' businesses and the name of successful Participants as deemed appropriate in their
absolute discretion. The Organizers will aim to inform Winners or Participants in advance of any such publication.
f) The Winners are responsible for complying with (and will procure the compliance of any shareholder, director, employee or partner with) all applicable laws in respect of
receiving the prize, including (i) all applicable commercial and public anti-bribery laws and (ii) all local laws in the country in which you or any shareholder, director,
employee or partner resides, is registered, is incorporated or operates, as applicable.
11. Intellectual Property Rights
a) Except as expressly provided herein, as between you and the Organizers, you retain ownership of your intellectual property rights in and to your application and any
subsequent information or materials provided by you to us as part of the application process (collectively, 'Application Materials'). Any information that you provide to the
Organizers will be used only in accordance with these Award Terms to the extent necessary to assess your application. By submitting your application, you grant the Organizers
and their affiliates a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, sub-licensable, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, and royalty-free license to use, have used, import, export
and otherwise provide, transfer, deliver, or dispose of the Application Materials for the purposes of administering the Awards and/or ensuring your compliance with these Award
Terms. You will not (and you will procure that any of your shareholders, directors, employees or partners do not) assert, and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, you
waive (and you will procure that any of your shareholders, directors, employees or partners waive), any moral rights in the Application Materials.
b) Nothing in these Award Terms grants you any rights to or interest in any intellectual property rights of the Organizers.
c) Notwithstanding Clause 11 a), you acknowledge that the Organizers, their affiliates, and its and their directors, officers, employees and contractors (including members of
the jury) may independently (i) create, develop or purchase products, services, information or materials, or (ii) work on, sponsor or commission projects, related to or similar
to the subject matter of your application.
d) It is important to us that all applications are made with due respect to the rights of third parties. You confirm you have obtained all necessary agreements, releases,
licenses, and approvals to disclose the Application Materials to us and to grant the license at Clause 11 a) (including, for collaborative projects, from any collaborators).
You confirm that submission of the Application Materials will not infringe any third party rights (including intellectual property rights) or put you in breach of any
confidentiality obligations.
e) You agree to indemnify the Organizers, its affiliates, and its and their directors, officers, employees, contractors (including members of the Jury) and users against any
liabilities, costs, claims, losses, damages or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) suffered or incurred in relation to a claim from a third party that your application
or the use, reproduction or implementation of any part of your application (including any Application Materials) infringes or misappropriates any third party rights (including
intellectual property rights).
f) Except for claims for breach of contract under these Award Terms, you covenant and agree that you will not (and you will procure that any collaborators and their and your
affiliates do not) bring any claim, action, or proceeding in any forum against the Organizers, its affiliates, or its or their directors, officers, employees, contractors
(including members of the Jury) or users, for any infringement (including inducing infringement and contributory infringement) or misappropriation of any intellectual property
or proprietary rights that are related to or associated with information you provide to us (including the Application Materials) in respect of any act or omission occurring
during the time period beginning on the date of submission of your application and ending (i) for the Winners, three years after their receipt of the prizes and (ii) for all
other Participants, three years after submission of their application, under the laws of any jurisdiction worldwide.
12. Right to cancel or modify the Awards
a) The Organizers reserve the right in their absolute discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Awards or cancel or amend the terms of the application process at
any time including:
(i) if the Awards is not capable of running as planned, for example because of tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, printing errors, cancellation of
the the Bits & Pretzels Networking week event or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Awards;
and (ii) in the event of circumstances beyond the Organizers' reasonable control.
13. Exclusion from the Awards
a) In case any information submitted as part of the application process or in an update according to Clause 4 b) is not correct, the Organizers may exclude your company from
further participation in the Awards. The same applies if any of the warranties given under Clause 4 c) is not fulfilled or are breached by you. The Organizers also reserve the
right in their absolute discretion to disqualify any applicant: (i) who tampers with the application process or any other part of the Awards or the website available under www.dt50.org, (ii) who submits harmful material (including any virus or malicious code) to the Awards e-mail alias, or (iii) whose
conduct is contrary to the spirit of these Award Terms or the intention of the Awards.
b) If the Organizers become aware after the Awards ceremony that any of the information or warranties mentioned in the preceding paragraph that was material
for the selection of a specific Shortlist Participant or Winner was materially incorrect at the time of the Jury's decision, the Organizers may retroactively exclude the
relevant Shortlist Participant or Winner from the Awards. Any and all rights of the relevant (former) Shortlist Participant or Winner to use the Awards in communications under
Clauses 10 a) and b) shall cease immediately.
c) The Organizers reserve the right to claim their actual damages incurred due to any misinformation in the event that you are excluded from the Awards under Clauses 13 a) and
b).
14. Limitation of Organisers' liability
a) In case of intent (Vorsatz) or gross negligence (grobe Fahrlässigkeit) on the part of the Organizers or by the Organizers' agents in performance of this agreement
(Erfüllungsgehilfen), the Organizers are liable pursuant to statutory law. The same applies in case of breach of fundamental obligations (wesentliche Vertragspflichten) of the
Organizers' under these Award Terms. However, to the extent any breach of fundamental obligations is not intentional (vorsätzlich), the Organizers' liability for damages shall
be limited to the typically predictable damage.
b) The Organizers' liability for culpable (schuldhaft) damage to life, body or health shall remain unaffected.
c) To the extent any liability of the Organizers for ordinary negligence (einfache Fahrlässigkeit) is not excluded by Clauses 14 a) and 14 b), the Organizers' liability shall
be limited to the aggregate amount of EUR 5,000.
d) Any liability of the Organizers not expressly provided for in Clauses 14 a) through 14 c) is hereby excluded.
15. General terms.
a) These Award Terms shall not grant any rights to, and are not intended to operate for, the benefit of any third parties.
b) The Organizers will not be liable for failure or delay in performance to the extent caused by circumstances beyond their reasonable control.
c) The Organizers will not be treated as having waived any rights by not exercising (or delaying the exercise of) any rights under these Award Terms.
d) These Award Terms do not create any agency, partnership or joint venture between the parties.
e) These Award Terms set out all terms agreed between the parties and supersede all other agreements between the parties relating to the subject matter of these Award
Terms.
f) To the extent that there is any inconsistency between information on the Awards website available under www.dt50.org or any other source
of information, these Award Terms shall apply.
g) If these Award Terms are translated into any other language, and there is a discrepancy between the English text and the text of the other language, the English text will
prevail.
h) These Award Terms shall be governed by, and be construed in accordance with, the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to principles of conflicts of
laws.
i) To the extent legally permissible, the Regional Court of Berlin, Germany shall be exclusively competent for all disputes and claims arising out of these Award Terms, or
relating to the breach or invalidity thereof.
If any term (or part of a term) of these Award Terms is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the rest of these terms will remain in effect.
