INNOVATION LABS 2025

PRIVACY POLICY

Updated:  January 29, 2025

1. ABOUT US

Tech Lounge Association, a non-profit organization, headquartered at 313 Splaiul Independenței Str., Room EG106b, District 6, Bucharest, registered in the Registry of Associations and Foundations with no. 37/03.04.2013 (“Tech Lounge”), Calemis Association, headquartered in Iasi, 22 Mircea cel Batran Alley, Building R9, Entrance B, 2nd Floor, Ap. 9, registered in the Registry of Associations with no. 102/A/11.10.2016, Sole Identification No. 36634599, Learn, Build and Share Association, headquartered in Timisoara, 19 Aries Street, Room 206/207, registered in the Registry of Associations with no.  43/A/2015, Sole Identification No. 34430568, and Cluj Startups Association, headquartered in Cluj-Napoca, 20 Grigore Alexandrescu Street, registered in the Registry of Associations with no.  1124/A/2021, Sole Identification No. 44295566  are joint controllers with respect to your personal data.  This means that we decide the purpose and the way your personal data is processed, as specified in this Policy.

2. ABOUT THIS POLICY

This Policy describes how we collect and use the personal information you provide to us when you use our website or when you register to participate in our events.

3. WHAT DO WE UNDERSTAND BY PERSONAL DATA?

Personal data is the information related to a natural person and which can be used to identify that person such as name, email address, telephone number, social media usernames and profiles, location data, birthdate, info about your current or graduated studies or business titles.

This means that when you use our website or our registration forms for different events, we will collect certain information about you (“personal data”) which can identify you directly (name, email, phone number) or indirectly (IP address or another online identifier).

4. WHAT PERSONAL DATA WE PROCESS AND WHY?

                When you attend our hackathons, workshops, techtalks, and events

• We process your personal data (such as your name, surname, email address, telephone number, location, and any other information you voluntarily provide to us via the sign-up form) to register you as participant, mentor, jury, speaker or as volunteer to our events, workshops and hackathons, and to contact you to provide useful information in relation thereto (venue, speakers, agenda etc.), and to enable your access to training and development resources and to collaboration platforms.
• We process data such as your home address to send you prizes, goodie bags and other items related to your participation in our events as well as for billing purposes.

        The legal basis for processing your personal data is the consent you grant us when accepting our event terms and conditions.

• We may process your personal data (such as your name, surname, image, school/workplace), to promote you, your organization, the hackathon, Tech Lounge’s accelerator program, and any other current or future Tech Lounge events and programs.
• We may process your email and name to provide you with follow-up information after an event you have attended or to ask for your feedback; we may also contact you in relation to similar events that we organize or ecosystem opportunities as a member of the alumni community. You may at any time choose not to receive this type of communication.

The legal basis for processing your data for the purposes detailed above is the explicit consent you grant us when accepting that your data may be used for marketing purposes.

Please note that when the registration page is handled by a third party (eg. a service provider) your personal data is collected in accordance with that third party’s privacy policy, as made available upon registration.

For organizing these events we often use the services of different contractors which are data processors on our behalf, or which are data controllers themselves. Please check their privacy policies when registering to our events.

Photos and videos at our events

We may be taking pictures and video recordings of our events. Given that these events (even the ones organized online) are considered public areas, and that we do not intend to focus on you as an individual (unless you are a special guest, such as a speaker), we do this based on our legitimate interest to document our events and market their success.

If you have any concerns regarding the photos/recordings of you from an Event or if you want us to stop using photos/recordings of you in new material, please contact us at [contact[at]tech-lounge.ro]. We will then no longer use your personal data in new information material. We will also remove you from already published material wherever possible. You can always object to being photographed or recorded during the event by reaching out to our photographers or organizing staff.

Testimonials

We may process your personal information to post testimonials on our website or social networks but will first obtain your consent to use your name and testimonial.

Speakers & Mentors

We will process your image and voice (photos, videos), name, title, company, information about your professional life and education, as well as your presentation slides (if the case) if you attend one of our events as a speaker, mentor or jury. We may make this data public through our website, social media or other channels. We will ask for your consent to do so, however since our intention is to market our events, we may refuse to appoint you as a speaker if you do not agree to such use.

If you are a website visitor

To better understand navigational trends on our website, we may process the browser information, device used, IP address, and user experience on the website (see section 6 of this Policy for the analytical tools we use) based on your acceptance of cookies available on our website.

5. TO WHOM WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

        We sometimes engage contractors (such as eg. emailing or SMS service providers) to process data on our behalf. These contractors are bound by confidentiality and other contractual requirements to keep your data safe and secure. We may also share your data with our local event partners and sponsors, for the purpose of organizing and running the hackathon and the Innovation Labs program. When the law requires, your data may also be shared with public authorities.

We may also provide personal data to third parties in the following situations:

• to public authorities, auditors, or institutions competent to exercise inspections on Tech Lounge, which may ask us to provide information, based on their legal obligations. Such public authorities or institutions may be relevant data protection authorities or authorities for consumer protection
• to comply with a legal requirement or to protect the rights and assets of Tech Lounge or other entities or people, such as courts of law
• to third parties’ acquirers, if Tech Lounge’s business would be subject to a change of control or other similar procedure or acquisition and your personal data would be part of the transaction.

Please reach out to us to find out more details on the third parties we may share your data with.

6. WHAT ANALYTICS TOOLS DO WE USE?

        When you are visiting our website, we are using cookies, a small software file stored temporarily or placed on the hard drive of your device to allow a web server to identify your device and the web browser you use, to recognize you when you are visiting the site again. Cookies may also store preferences or other information about you.

7. IS YOUR DATA TRANSFERRED ABROAD?

Your data may be transferred abroad when we use processors (eg. mailing services providers) to organize our events. When we do so, we make sure that your data is kept and transferred safely, by respecting European legal requirements for data transfers.

8. HOW LONG DO WE STORE YOUR DATA?

Tech Lounge may store your data only for the period necessary, or as required by the law. If you have enrolled in one of our events, we will store your data  for an indefinite period (unless you ask for your data to be removed from the Organizer’s database) only for the purposes of sharing updates on future program events or other ecosystem opportunities.

We will make sure not to keep excessive or irrelevant data, such as data that is out of date. We will also constantly review the periods of time for which the different categories of data we process are retained.

After the duration of the processing expires and Tech Lounge no longer has legal or legitimate reasons to process your personal data, the data will be deleted in accordance with our procedures, which may involve archiving, anonymizing, or destroying it.

9. DO WE PROCESS PERSONAL DATA FROM CHILDREN?

Under certain circumstances we process personal data from children attending our workshops or educational programs, respecting all applicable legislation, and taking the relevant consents.

10. IS YOUR DATA SECURE?

        We care about the security of your personal data. Therefore, we implement appropriate and proportional security measures, in accordance with industry standards.

11. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T AGREE TO YOUR PERSONAL DATA BEING PROCESSED?

If you refuse to have your personal data processed, depending on your relationship with us, we might not be able to provide you with access to our events, products or services, to send you newsletters, information about our events or other offerings, and we won’t be able to enter into a contract with you, or otherwise interact with you as described in this Policy.

12. WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?

When we process your personal data, it is important to know that you have the following rights:

• The right of access to the personal data we process about you: you have the right to obtain a confirmation whether or not we process your personal data, and, if so, to have access to the type of personal data and to the conditions of processing, by sending us a request in this regard
• The right to request the rectification or deletion of personal data: you have the right to request, the rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal data which we have about you, or the erasure of your personal data in case (i) the data are no longer necessary for their original purpose (and no new lawful purpose exists), (ii) we initially process your data based on your consent and you withdraw your consent and therefore no awful ground exists anymore, (iii) you object and we have no overriding grounds for continuing the processing, (iv) the data have been processed unlawfully, (v) erasure is necessary for compliance with EU law or Romanian law, or (vi) the data were collected from children
• The right to request the restriction of processing: you have the right to ask for the restriction of processing in cases where: (i) you consider that the personal data processed is inaccurate, for a period enabling us to verify the accuracy of the personal data; (ii) the processing is unlawful, however you don’t want us to erase your personal data, but to restrict the use of data; (iii) in case we no longer need your personal data for the purposes we described in this Policy, but you are requiring the data for establishing, exercising or defending a legal claim or (iv) you have objected to processing pending the verification whether our legitimate grounds prevail;
• The right to withdraw your consent for processing, when the processing is based on your consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing undertaken until that moment
• The right to object to the data processing on grounds related to your particular situation, when the processing is based on legitimate interest and to object at any moment to the data processing for direct marketing purposes, including profiling
• The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects for your similarly affect you in a significant manner
• The right to data portability, meaning the right to receive your personal data, which you provided us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and the right to transfer those data to another controller, if the processing is based on your consent or the performance of a contract and is undertaken by using automatic means;
• The right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Authority (ANSPDCP) and the right to address to the competent courts of law.

You can always contact Tech Lounge at [contact[at]tech-lounge.ro] to ask for your rights regarding the processing of your personal data by Tech Lounge.

13. UPDATES TO THIS POLICY

This Privacy Policy may be changed and updated by us from time to time as it could become necessary. We will notify you of any substantial changes to this Privacy Policy and will ensure that the notification is made in a way which ensures that you acknowledge them, for example by use of the email address that you have provided to us, or any other appropriate means that ensure effective communication. If you do not agree with the changes, please contact us at [contact[at]tech-lounge.ro].

COOKIE LIST

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Below is a list of the cookies used currently on our website for statistics: