Introduction
The Agri-Tech Excellence Awards 2021 (the ‘’Awards’’) are administered by Agri-EPI Centre Limited, scheduled to be launched in May and conclude in September.
Below you will find the Terms and Conditions for entering The Agri-Tech Excellence Awards 2021. Please make sure you have read these before submitting an entry (“Entry”) which provides further details about the competition and an application form. Persons completing entries (“Applicants”) commit that they are authorised to do so and agree to be bound by, and comply with, these Terms and Conditions. “Organiser” means Agri-EPI Centre Limited, registered office: Agri-EPI Centre Midlands Agri-Tech Innovation Hub, Poultry Lane, Edgmond Newport, England, TF10 8JZ, Company Number 09922991.
You can only enter one category:
Category 1: Agri-tech Excellence demonstrated on a UK Farm
Category 2: Agri-tech Excellence demonstrated on an international farm (based outside of the UK)
Eligibility and process
The Awards are open to companies, including small to medium sized enterprises, self-employed pro-fessionals, and other organisations such as universities and publicly funded entities, that are based inside or outside the United Kingdom. Entries are free of charge.
The eligibility period for entries is between 25/05/2021 and 31/08/2021. The deadline for award entries is 31/08/2021 at 6pm. Award entries must be submitted online.
The Applicant acknowledges that participation will be partially or wholly virtually based and that participation does not entail any right to compensation of any kind or to reimbursement of any expenses incurred.
The Organiser reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to amend or cancel the Awards at any time.
Applicants declare that they, or the entity they represent, agree to the Terms and Conditions set out in this document and is responsible for continuing to uphold these Terms and Conditions upon selection as an Applicant.
Judging and awards
Agri-EPI will run an open and transparent judging process where Applicants will be able to see all aspects of the judging criteria ahead of time. Criteria used to judge entries will be: (a) Enhancement of Farm Productivity (b) Efficiency of Farm Business (c) Impact on Environmental Protections. All decisions related to judging of Entries are at the sole discretion of Agri-EPI Centre and are final and binding.
Shortlisted Applicants’ details will be shared with internal and external judges of Agri-EPI Centre. Winning entries will be announced at our annual conference entitled Farmer-Tech-Policy on Thurs-day 30 September. Winning entries will be displayed at the online event and on Agri-EPI Centre
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Website and press and PR publications which pick up the press; and as conditions of entry and/or acceptance of any award a licence is granted to Agri-EPI Centre for these purposes.
Descriptions of the winners’ submissions and those on the shortlist will be published in connection with the Awards. By entering, you agree to reasonable use of your organisation and/or publication name in promotional material and news reporting.
Information that is not related to, or part of publicity or public communications, supplied as part of entries will be treated as confidential and only used for the purposes of the Awards. It will be shared with third parties who are the judges to review submissions and shortlist the awards. By entering into the Awards you give your permission and consent for us to share your Entry with the judges as part of the shortlisting and judging process.
Judges have the right to determine the standard of an Award and to withhold an Award in any cate-gory if, in their view, entries are not of sufficient merit.
Judges may reallocate an Entry to a different category.
The judges’ decisions are final, and no judge will enter into conversation or correspondence about decisions that have been made.
There will be no prior disclosure.
The Entry must be the Applicant’s original work and must not be funded or compensated, in whole or in part, by any third party. However, the Entry may use publicly available APIs and data.
The Entry presented and submitted for judging, alongside any subsequent ideas discussed at the Awards will be immediately made publicly available and accessible in the public domain.
Agri-EPI will use full names and organisation details in press and promotion about the Awards. This does not include any know-how, trade secrets or information on the technology.
If Applicants do not wish to be contacted for any of the purposes outlined in clause 8 above they may opt out by contacting Agri-EPI Centre directly.
Responsibilities and Liabilities
Each Applicant confirms that it will act in good faith when complying with its respective obligations under these Terms and Conditions.
Each Applicant shall indemnify Agri-EPI Centre, in respect of liability resulting from acts or omissions of itself, its employees or its agents provided always that such indemnity shall not extend to claims for indirect or consequential loss or damages such as, but not limited to, loss of profit, revenue, contracts or the like.
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions limits or excludes any Applicant’s liability for negligence resulting in death or personal injury, fraud, or for any sort of liability that, by law, cannot be limited or excluded.
Applicants nor Agri-EPI will be liable for any use which may be made, reliance which may be placed, nor advice or information given, in connection with the results, activity, or Foreground IP generated from this work for commercial purposes.
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Applicant names must not be connected in any way with the names of organisations or registered trademarks or use expressions that incite violence or are discriminatory, obscene, or represent any form of defamation. Failure to comply will result in disqualification.
The express undertakings and warranties given in these Terms and Conditions are in lieu of all other warranties, conditions, terms, undertakings and obligations, whether express or implied by statute, common law, custom, trade usage, course of dealing or in any other way. All of these are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
In entering into this agreement, the parties have not relied on, and shall have no remedy in respect of, any statement, representation, warranty, understanding, promise or assurance (whether negligently or innocently made) of any person other than as expressly set out in this agreement.
The liability of each Applicant under these Terms and Conditions shall be several and shall extend only to any loss or damage arising out of their own breaches.
Intellectual Property (“IP”)
All rights (including Intellectual Property Rights) and title in and to any Background IP rights, as in IP that belonged to a Applicant before and at the start of the Awards, will remain the property of that Applicant. These T&Cs do not affect the ownership of any of their Background IP rights and ownership of Background IP shall not be affected by its use in connection with the Awards.
Each Applicant (being a Licensor) grants to Agri-EPI Centre (being Licensees) a non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free licence to use the Licensor’s Background IP (subject to any existing obligations and rights restrictions of third parties) where necessary for the purpose of undertaking the Awards during the period of the Awards, but not for any other purpose, including commercial exploitation.
Applicants shall be responsible for the registering and protecting any and all new IP they generate during Awards activity (“Foreground IP”) or thereafter, in the case of Award winners during the product launch programme referred to on the website or otherwise.
In the event that Foreground IP is generated, each Applicant grants to Agri-EPI Centre Limited a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use their Foreground IP for the purpose of carrying out the Awards.
Each Applicant hereby:
– declares that their Entry in no way violates, in whole or in part, the intellectual or industrial property rights of others and releases Agri-EPI Centre, other Applicants and their partners from any and all responsibility, liability, or request for compensation for damages that should be made by any third party;
– acknowledges that their Entry is the property of the Applicant, and takes full responsibility for ensuring such rights of ownership, intellectual property and originality within the limits of the law (e.g. filing of patents and other such registrations as appropriate);
– acknowledges that any publication by Agri-EPI Centre of the their Entry on websites or social media will result in the same being visible to the public and that Agri-EPI Centre Limited assumes no responsibility for any use and/or abuse of the idea and/or any development of the idea and/or related project by any party coming into contact with said idea online or on social media and hereby waives any right to demand compensation for damages from Agri-EPI Centre Limited for any reason.
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Confidentiality
Confidential Information (meaning any information exchanged between the Applicant and Agri-EPI Centre Limited) shall be kept strictly confidential by the Applicants, regardless of whether such information is marked as “confidential”. The Applicant agrees that it shall use at least the same degree of diligence to protect the Confidential Information as it uses to protect his/her own confidential and sensitive information (being no less than a reasonable level of diligence). The Applicant will not disclose any Confidential Information to anyone. The Applicant agrees that it will not use the Confidential Information for any purpose other than participating in the Awards.
This obligation will not apply, or will cease to apply, to the extent that any Confidential Information:
– is or becomes available to the public other than as a direct or indirect result of a disclosure in breach of these terms or any confidentiality undertaking given by any other person;
– is already known to the receiving Applicant prior to disclosure by the disclosing Applicant and such prior knowledge can be evidenced by the written records of the receiving Applicant;
– is or becomes known to the receiving Applicant by disclosure from a third party other than where such disclosure is itself subject to an obligation of confidentiality;
– is not required to be treated as Confidential Information, as expressly confirmed by the disclosing Applicant in writing; or
– is required to be disclosed by any Applicable Law or the order of a court of competent jurisdiction, governmental or regulatory authority, or any other person or body having a legal right or duty to have access to or knowledge of the Confidential Information, for example, due to Freedom of Information law.
Any and all personal information obtained by the Awards will be treated in accordance with Agri-EPI Centre’s privacy policy. Applicants will be contacted in connection with the Awards, and unless otherwise indicated may also be contacted by Agri-EPI Centre about other relevant activities and opportunities.
Publicity and use of media
The Applicant grants to Agri-EPI Centre, its affiliates and agents acting on behalf of the Awards, a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide right to refer to the Applicant and/or the Entry and to use images and/or video/audio footage taken at the Awards activity and/or showing the Entry in any publicity materials and for promotional purposes at any time (including but not limited to Agri-EPI Centre websites or other media). Applicants consent to their images being gathered and stored for this purpose and also agree that should any material be considered commercially sensitive then they will inform Agri-EPI in advance or at the time during the Awards or thereafter.
Applicants are not allowed to publish or distribute similar material belonging to other Applicants without the other Applicants consent in the first instance, followed by the consent of Agri-EPI as the organiser of the Awards.
Nothing in these terms and conditions shall prevent the submission of a thesis to examiners in accordance with the normal regulations of any academic Applicants.
By accepting an award, winners agree to display Awards marketing material on their website and premises.
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Termination
Agri-EPI Centre shall be entitled to terminate a Applicant’s inclusion in the Awards at any time should their activity be seen to be in breach of these Terms and Conditions or whose continued participation is not in the best interests of the Awards.
Data Protection
The Applicants acknowledge that in carrying out the Project ‘Personal Data’ (as defined under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation) (DPA) may be collected and transferred between them and so shall observe and comply with Data Protection Legislation accordingly. The Applicants further acknowledge that they will be data controllers in respect of all data collected by them but may also become data processors when dealing with data passed to them by another Applicants.
The Applicants agree that where they are in possession of such Personal Data they shall:
– only process such Personal Data as is necessary for the Project and will make no independent use of data received from another Party unless expressly permitted by that Applicant by way of prior written consent;
– only process such Personal Data with the explicit, informed consent of any individual to whom any data relates;
(a) act at all times in accordance with the informed consent and with the disclosing Applicant’s reasonable instructions and requirements;
(b) ensure that all personal data is kept securely and in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 Act and the General Data Protection Regulation;
(c) maintain all appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to guard against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss, damage or destruction;
(d) take all reasonable steps to ensure the reliability of its staff that will have access to such personal data including explicit confidentiality Terms and Conditions with those staff;
(e) not export any Personal Data outside of the UK or European Economic Area without the consent of the subject.
The Applicants will ensure that all necessary data consent and information sheets issued in connection with the Awards acknowledge all Applicants as data controllers and contain appropriate information regarding the use and exchange of such data between the Applicants.
Each Applicant shall indemnify the other Applicant(s) for any breach of the DPA and the General Data Protection Regulation and/or this term which renders a Applicants(s) liable for any costs, fines, claims or expenses howsoever arising.
Anti-corruption
Applicants shall not, in providing taking part in the Awards, or otherwise in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, engage in any activity, practice or conduct which would constitute an offence under sections 1, 2 or 6 of the Bribery Act 2010; it has in place at the date of this and will maintain in place during the term of these Terms and Conditions adequate procedures designed to prevent any associated person from undertaking any conduct that would give rise to an offence under section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010; and at the written request of the other Applicant or Agri-EPI, during the term of these Terms and Conditions, it will confirm in writing that it has complied with its undertakings under this term and will provide any information reasonably requested by the other Applicant or Agri-EPI in support of such compliance. Breach of any of these undertakings in this term
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shall be deemed to be a material breach of the overall Terms and Conditions and participation in the Awards shall be terminated.
Anti-slavery
Applicants shall procure that its personnel shall: comply with all applicable law relating to slavery and human trafficking including but not limited to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Anti-Slavery Requirements; not take or knowingly permit any action to be taken that would or might cause or lead the Agri-EPI or another Applicant to be in violation of any Anti-Slavery Requirements; and at Agri-EPI’s or other Applicant’s reasonable request and cost, provide any reasonable assistance to enable it to perform any activity required by any regulatory body for the purpose of complying with Anti-Slavery Requirements. Breach of any of these undertakings in this term shall be deemed to be a material breach of the overall Terms and Conditions and participation in the Awards shall be terminated.
No Partnership
These Terms and Conditions will not create any partnership or joint venture between any or all of the Applicants, nor any relationship of principal and agent, nor authorise any Applicant or party to make or enter into any commitments for or on behalf of another Applicant or party.
Assignment
These Terms and Conditions or any of the rights or obligations hereunder may not be assigned or otherwise transferred or sub-contracted by any party other than to their respective Affiliates, in whole or in part.
Contract (rights of third parties) Act 1999
With the exception of Agri-EPI, a person who is not a Applicant in the Awards will have no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or the Contracts (Third Party Rights) (Scotland) Act 2017 to enforce any term of the Awards.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms and Conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and each of the Parties submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Entire Agreement
These Terms and Conditions, together with Applicant entries, constitute the entire agreement of the parties. These Terms and Conditions may not be modified, amended or rescinded, in whole or in part, except by written amendments signed by both parties.
