1.1 Who we are and why do we require your information?
ProtoAtlantic is an INTERREG Atlantic Area project, under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). ProtoAtlantic will be required to collect, process and use certain types of information about people and organisations. Depending on the service being sought or provided the information sought may include ‘personal data’ as defined by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) and may relate to current, past and future users. In addition, ProtoAtlantic may need, from time to time, collect process and use certain types of personal data to comply with regulatory or legislative requirements or as otherwise reasonably required for the performance of our functions.
1.2 Why do we have a privacy statement?
This privacy statement, together with our cookie policy is designed to help you to understand why we capture the personal information and how we process it. ProtoAtlantic has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy and to assure you that in all your dealings with ProtoAtlantic that we will endeavour to ensure the security of the data you provide to us. ProtoAtlantic creates, collects and processes a significant amount of personal data in various formats on a daily basis. This data may be submitted by you through application forms or our website or through correspondence with you. ProtoAtlantic’s commitment is that the personal data you may be required to supply to us is:
- Obtained lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner
- Obtained for only specified, explicit and legitimate purposes
- Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose for which it was obtained
- Recorded, stored accurately and securely and where necessary kept up to date
- Kept only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was obtained
- Kept in a form which permits identification of the data subject
- Processed only in a manner that ensures the appropriate security of the personal data including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing.
Occasionally we may be required to contact you. When you provide personal data to ProtoAtlantic, it may be shared with the project partners as long as such internal sharing is relevant, proportionate and reasonably necessary for the performance of our statutory functions. ProtoAtlantic may also share your information with other organisations where necessary and permitted or required by applicable law, including other public authorities and bodies. Personal data may also be shared with third party data processors responsible for supporting ProtoAtlantic’s operations. The main legal basis for processing your personal data is that such processing is (i) necessary for us to comply with our legal obligations and/or (ii) necessary for us to carry out our tasks in the public interest and/or in the exercise of official authority vested in us.
Additionally, we may process data to the extent it is necessary in the performance of a contract with you. In limited circumstances, we may process personal data based on your consent. We will retain your personal data only for as long as we require it for the performance of our functions, after which time it will be deleted by appropriate and secure methods. In the unlikely event that we are required to transfer your data outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) we will only do so where we can secure the transfer with appropriate safeguards and where we have a legal right to do so. For further details of the specific purposes for which we collect and process personal information (including any internal sharing of such data) and our legal basis for such collection and processing, please contact our Data Protection Officer, contact details are provided at the bottom of this Privacy Statement.
1.3 Data Protection Policy
ProtoAtlantic has a detailed Data Protection Policy which outlines how we are committed to ensuring that we comply in full with our data protection obligations in respect of our processing of any personal data which we receive and that we only use such data to the extent reasonably required for the performance of our functions.
1.3.1 What personal data do we need?
The types of personal data you may be asked to supply to us can be categorised as follows:
- Your contact details to allow for efficient communication;
- Details of your personal circumstances which you may need to provide to us as part of your application for a service offered by ProtoAtlantic;
1.3.2 Contact Details
In order to communicate with you, you will be asked for contact details. You do not have to provide all contact details but providing more, such as email, phone, address, makes it easier to communicate.
1.3.3 Record Retention
For further details of the specific retention periods of the personal data we collect please contact our Data Protection Officer. The ProtoAtlantic Data Protection Officer can be contacted as protoatlanticEU@gmail.com
1.3.4 How We Keep Your Information Safe
To protect your information we use appropriate security measures which include computer safeguards, secure files and buildings. We have established a range of cyber security and data privacy controls and our staff our provided with training in data protection. All of the third parties with who we share personal data are expected to adhere to the same standards that we hold ourselves to. We will use our reasonable endeavours to ensure that personal information is kept as secure as possible.
1.3.5 Your Rights
You have the following rights, in certain circumstances and subject to applicable exemptions, in relation to your personal data:
- the right to access the personal data that we hold about you, together with other information about our processing of that personal data;
- the right to require us to rectify any inaccuracies in your personal data;
- the right to require us to erase your personal data;
- the right to request that we no longer process your personal data for particular purposes;
- the right to object to our use of your personal data or the way in which we process it; and
- the right to receive your personal data, which you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to require us to transmit that data to another controller.
Please note that to help protect your privacy, we take steps to verify your identity before granting access to personal data. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please submit a request to our Data Protection Officer outlining the specific details of the request:
All valid requests will be processed without undue delay and in any event within one month of receipt of the request. This period may be extended by up to two further months where necessary, taking into account the complexity of the request or the number of other requests we may have received at the same time. If this is the case, we will inform you of any time extensions. In circumstances where a request appears to be manifestly unfounded or excessive, we will inform you of this in which case we will either decide not to fulfil the request and the reasons why or we will propose administrative fees in accordance with the GDPR if you wish to progress the request.
1.3.6 Right of Complaint to the Data Protection Commission
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the response you received from ProtoAtlantic in relation to your request, then you are entitled to make a complaint to the Data Protection Commission which may investigate the matter for you.
The Data Protection Commission’s website is www.dataprotection.ie or you can contact their Office at:
Lo Call Number: 1890 252 231
E-mail: info@dataprotection.ie
Postal Address: Data Protection Commission, Canal House, Station Road, Portarlington, Co. Laois. R32 AP23.
1.3.7 Cookies
Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. You can set your browser not to accept cookies and also remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.
The Website uses Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors use the Website. The Cookies used by this product collect information in an anonymous form and are used by many different websites. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. If you wish to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, please visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
1.3.8 Other Websites
Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy statement only applies to this website and the services operated by ProtoAtlantic. When you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.
1.4 Changes to our privacy statement
We keep our privacy statement under regular review and we will place any updates on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on 14th May 2018.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
This privacy statement and all issues regarding this website are governed exclusively by Irish law and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts.
What is ProtoAtlantic’s policy on intellectual property protection?
Protection of intellectual property rights (ex. patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, etc.) of the applicant’s concept is the applicant’s responsibility alone. If applicants have an idea or product that they might want to patent, we strongly recommend they speak to a lawyer before submitting information about their idea to ProtoAtlantic.
Information applicants include in their submission will be shared with the project partners, who will review their application. Please note that project partners do NOT sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). Therefore, applicants should not include any information in their application that could be harmful to their company should that information be disclosed.
Successful applicants may have the opportunity, through ProtoAtlantic, to pitch their idea to potential investors. Applicants should note that very few investors (Venture Capitalists or "angel investors") will agree to sign an NDA before even hearing your initial pitch.
It is up to the applicant to determine the right balance between sharing enough information to get people interested and to give their idea/company credibility - and sharing information that could potentially be damaging to their company if it were to be disclosed.
