The policy of PESO is that teams will retain all the intellectual property rights to their entries. The PESO Challenge organizing team shall treat the business plans and executive summaries as the confidential property of the entrant teams and have implemented confidentiality procedures in order to ensure that all information is kept confidential. However, upon the request of interested parties, the PESO Challenge organizing team may provide public summaries of the business plans briefly describing the technology and/or innovation covered by the business plans, which description shall be pre-approved by the teams concerned.

The judges and mentors shall also agree to treat the entries as confidential and will sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose, not to use, and to excuse themselves in the event of a conflict of interest with respect to any competitor or business plan.

During the business plan competition PESO Challenge Entrepreneurship Competition ("the Competition"), in which I will participate as a mentor, judge or a member of the Competition administration, I hereby agree to the following:

1. Confidential information

1.1. Confidential Information means all information, knowledge, data and/or know-how and all associated documentation, regardless of form, which is shared with me by a Competition participant in the context of the Competition.

1.2. Confidential Information does not include information which:

(a) is by reason of general publication or the like, part of the public domain or readily available in the public domain otherwise than as a result of a breach of this Agreement;

(b) was known by the mentor, judge or member of the Competition administration prior to its disclosure or provision by the Competition participant; or

(c) is made available to the mentor, judge or member of the Competition administration by a third person who is not under an obligation of confidence to the Competition participant and who obtained that information other than as a result of a breach of an obligation of confidence owed to the Competition participant by any person.

1.3. All Confidential Information shall remain the property of the Competition participant and I acknowledge that all intellectual property rights over the Confidential Information belong to the Competition participant.

2. Commitments

2.1. To keep in confidence and protect and preserve the confidential nature of the Confidential Information and not to reveal to any third party, directly or indirectly, the Confidential Information during the validity of this Agreement .

2.2. To use the information only for preparation and execution of the Competition and only to pass on information to third parties with the explicit permission from the Competition participant, unless the involvement of a third party is needed for the execution of the Competition. A third party is anyone other than the participant revealing the confidential information.

2.3. To obligate third parties involved by me to protect the confidential and proprietary nature of the Confidential Information.

2.4. To return all the Confidential Information to the Competition participant, as well as any and all copies thereof, unless expressly waived in writing by the Competition participant.

2.5. To withdraw as mentor, judge or a member of the Competition administration if I have a conflict of interest with respect to any of the participants in the Competition. I will be considered to have a “conflict of interest” when I, or certain individuals and entities with whom I have a relationship, have a financial interest in the outcome of the Competition.

3. Validity

3.1. This confidentiality agreement refers to the information which I will receive during the period of the Competition. The obligation to maintain secrecy of such information, according to this agreement, applies to a period of 2 years from the end of the Competition.

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