A.    Application:

1.      Upon submission of your application and/or participation in this competition, participants hereby agree to accept and be bound by the competition rules. If you disagree with these terms, please do not participate in this competition.

2.      The Organiser of the PolyU International Future Challenge is The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Organiser”).  The Organiser reserves the right to decide whether to approve or reject applications, without admitting any liability for participants.

3.      By applying for the competition, participants must represent and warrant that all information and materials submitted with the application are their original work and that they have all the rights, licenses, permissions, and consents necessary for the submission, and that the information contained therein is accurate and complete. 

4.      The information and materials filled in and submitted must be true, legal, complete, and valid. In cases of plagiarism, misappropriation, or fraud, the participants shall bear all responsibilities and consequences.

5.      Participants are prohibited from making any political, violent, discriminatory, illegal, infringing, hateful, sexually suggestive statements, comments, or any information materials through the competition, or making any statements, comments, or any information materials that demean, defame, or harm the reputation of any sponsors or partners of the competition or the event. 

6.      Principal applicant (PA) and team members:

·         Each individual can participate in no more than three teams but can only serve as the principal applicant (PA) for one team.

·         A PA must be identified for each team, serving as the point of contact with the organizer.

·         If there are any changes to the PA or team members, the current PA must inform the Organizer and obtain approval.

·         All team members are required to sign a declaration that they duly authorise the principal applicant of the team to act on their behalf in relation to the Competition Application submission and agree to be bound by all actions taken by the principal applicant in relation to the Competition.

7.      Entry Requirements:

Each team must meet at least one of the following criteria:

·         Include one PolyU member (alumni/staff/student) with a minimum of 10% ownership in the proposed company.

·         Be an existing PolyU/ Mainland Translational Research Institute (MTRI) licensee or commit to licensing PolyU/MTRI’s intellectual property (IP) upon winning*

·         Be a PolyU MTRI incubatee or commit to incorporating a startup in a PolyU agreed location with a MTRI upon winning*

*   A letter of confirmation must be signed to formalize this commitment.

Applicants should refer to the specific eligibility criteria and entry requirements for each competition region, as additional requirements may apply beyond the general competition guidelines.

8.      Project Submission:

·         Each team can submit one project per industry domain.

·         Teams may apply for multiple industry domains/competition regions but will be entitled to only one award only if winning. Teams must decide whether to accept the award or continue applying for other industry domains/competition regions.

B. Competition Period:

1.       Upon submission of applications, participants agree to share their data with the Organiser for promotional and communication purposes in relation to the Competition and event.  For highly confidential and proprietary data, participants should specifically indicate to the Organiser for special handling of such data. 

2.       Photographs and videos taken during the competition event may be used for promotion and media coverage by the Organiser. Depending on the circumstances, the events may be conducted in person, online, or in a hybrid format. 

3.       The Organiser reserves the right to change the event dates and formats due to unforeseen circumstances and will provide updates/consultation to the participants when necessary. 

4.       By application, participants acknowledge and agree that the Organiser has the right to record the competition event (in any format) and broadcast, stream, or transmit the competition event in any manner (including but not limited to live streaming), allowing the public to attend, view, and/or watch the competition event (including the final and/or any preliminary rounds), either free of charge or for a fee. Participants have no right to edit, object to, or request the removal of these recordings or broadcasts, and you do not possess any rights, ownership, or interests in the recordings or broadcasts, in any form. All intellectual property rights subsisting in these recordings or broadcasts are owned by the Organiser and are the property of the Organiser. You shall have no claim to any compensation received by the Organiser from the public or any income derived by the Organiser from distribution, broadcasting, or licensing. 

5.       Participants shall bear all costs and expenses incurred concerning theirr application and/or participation in this competition event. 

C. Awarding process:

1.      The winning teams of the competition regions and Grand Final must register or have registered a company to receive the cash prizes.

2.      Before the final assessment, the shareholding structure of the new company or the company designated to receive the prizes must be confirmed during the Disclosure and Declaration exercise.

3.      After the competition, the Organizer will conduct due diligence with the winning teams, verifying the authenticity of the registration information, the eligibility of the team and team members, and reviewing the original documents while collecting copies.

4.      For those committed to being PolyU/MTRI licensees:
The winning teams’ company must sign a licensing agreement with PolyU/MTRI within one year after winning the award and meet the relevant requirements before applying to receive the award from the Competition Organizing Committee.

5.      For those committed to joining PolyU MTRIs:
The winning teams should register a startup in a PolyU-approved location where a PolyU Mainland Translational Research Institute is situated within one year after winning the award and meet the relevant requirements before applying to receive the award from the Organiser.

6.      After passing the due diligence, the award will be distributed.

7.      For any winning team that has not incorporated and met the requirements within the specified time set by the Organiser, they shall be deemed to have waived the award.

D. Intellectual properties (IP)

1.      Participants do not have any rights, ownership, or interests in the Organiser events, the website, or the Organiser content (excluding participants’ own content). 

2.      In general, the intellectual properties (IP) and materials made and created by an employee during their employment or students during their study at the educational institutions shall be vested in the employers or the institutions upon the making and creation, unless otherwise specified by the organisations’ rules.

3.      Participation in the competition shall not give a third party any rights or claims to these intellectual properties. But IP rights attached thereto generated by the participants during the Challenge process shall be vested in the participants.

4.      The participating teams shall carefully consider properly protecting their existing/newly generated IPs. The team and/or the company shall bear all the costs for such protection.

E. Others

1.      All the participants must conform to the rules enumerated above. The Organiser reserves the right to disqualify any team that fails to abide by the Competition rules.

2.      The Organiser reserves the right to interpret and change the Competition rules and other provisions and conditions. Participants shall not raise any objections to such interpretation and changes.