Rules and Regulations IAI 2018 - Innovate for an Accessible india

Rules and Regulations - NASSCOM Foundation IAI 2020

The following are the Rules and Regulations governing the NASSCOM Foundation’s Innovate for an Accessible India. We recommend that you go through them in detail before accepting the terms.

Awards thematic categories and definitions

The award’s thematic categories may be modified/split/merged or cancelled by the awards management and/or Jury based on the number & quality of entries received in any category. The decision in this regard will be final and non-contestable. Awards management will not entertain any queries in this regard.

If no Participant in a category is found to be worthy of inclusion by the Jury, the Award category may be cancelled by the Jury. The Jury may decide to add nominees in the category to maintain high standards of participation. The decision of the Jury in this regard will be final and non-contestable. The Awards management will not entertain any queries in this regard.

NASSCOM IAI award process & Call for Applications

Applicants can apply for the NASSCOM IAI award, by completing the necessary details on ‘Form A’ on the website www.iai.nasscomfoundation.org. Only applications submitted on the IAI website will be considered valid for the purposes of the IAI challenge.
The IAI team and / or the Jury have the right to nominate any person / organization in any thematic category to build the quality of applications in that specific category.
An Applicant can apply in more than one category subject to fulfilment of rules and regulations mentioned herein.
An Applicant can provide more than one entry in a thematic category if the entries are for different initiatives. A different application form needs to be used for each initiative.
If separate application forms are received for the same initiative, from different individuals / organizations, such entries will be treated as one entry.
There is no separate application form for the grant; all eligible projects by social enterprise and not for profits will be considered without bias for the grant.
There will be a 3-stage selection process with 2 juries – Initial and Grand Jury. The eligible, shortlisted applications will be submitted for Initial Jury, post which the Finalists will be shortlisted & invited to the Final or Grand Jury.

The IAI team has the right to reclassify application forms from one category to another, at its discretion.

Eligibility Criteria for participation in the IAI Program

Eligibility Criteria

Not for Profit

They should be Indian entities or foreign entities with a registered presence in India.
They should be registered under the Indian Trust Act,1882, Societies Registration Act, 1860 or as a Section 8, Companies Act 2013.
The innovation that is submitted for the award and grant must benefit Persons with Disabilities in India.
To be considered for the IAI award the innovation/programme must be in at least in the idea stage with a clear plan on next steps.
The Innovation must be to empower persons with disabilities across India.
The Innovation entered must be the original work of the applicant and a true innovation and/or a significant improvement on an existing technology, product, service, and production method or business model.

For Profit/ Social Enterprise

To be considered a Social enterprise your organisation should drive profits from pursuing only socially relevant activities and goals, with the profit being re-invested into driving social impact.
To qualify as a Social enterprise, for the purpose of the Social Innovation Award and Grant, the annual turnover of the applicant organisation must not exceed INR 10,00,00,000 (10 crore/ 100 million).
They should be Indian entities or foreign entities with a registered presence in India.
The innovation that is submitted for the award and grant must benefit persons with disabilities in India.
To be considered for the IAI award the innovation/programme must be in at least the idea stage with a clear plan for the next steps.
The Innovation entered must be the original work of the applicant and a true innovation and/or a significant improvement on an existing technology, product, service, and production method or business model

Student/Youth Entrepreneurs

The individual/group of individuals should be Indian citizens.
The innovation that is submitted for the challenge must benefit Persons with Disabilities in India.
If the applicant is an individual, he/she must be over the age of 18 to apply for the Award.
The innovation in question must be in prototype stage to be considered for the Award.
The Innovation entered must be the original work of the applicant and a true innovation and/or a significant improvement on an existing technology, product, service, and production method or business model

Start-up

An entity shall be considered a Startup if it fulfils the following conditions:

Upto a period of ten years from the date of incorporation/ registration, if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India.
Turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/ registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees
The Business is working towards innovation, development or improvement of products or processes or services, or if it is a scalable business model
The Innovation entered must be the original work of the applicant and a true innovation and/or a significant improvement on an existing technology, product, service, and production method or business model.

The IAI team may modify the eligibility criteria from time to time with retrospective effect.
The IAI team holds the right to disqualify any application that does not meet the eligibility criteria without assigning any reason whatsoever.

Receipt of application forms

Participation in the Forum in any manner will be construed as an acceptance to the Rules and Regulations stated herein.
Form A must be submitted on the IAI website by midnight on 10^th May 2020 (any changes in deadline will be posted on the website).
Receipt of application forms after last date of receipt specified may be permitted only at the discretion of the IAI team.
The IAI team may not consider / be responsible for application forms that are in incorrect format / received late / corrupt etc.
Efforts will be made to adhere to the defined timelines. However, the defined timelines are subject to change based on circumstances.
Awards Management and its sub-contractors shall not be held accountable / liable for any disruptions / stoppages / interruptions or cancellation of the Awards or its ceremony or any part of its processes or public voting on account of any factors beyond its control.

Form Completion / Disqualification

Entries which are submitted without a declaration form may be disqualified from participation in the awards.
Entries will be accepted in English language only. The application form needs to be complete in all respects or it may be disqualified from participation in the awards.
Disqualification of entries is at the sole discretion of the IAI team / Jury, on a case-by-case basis.
If at any time, any information provided by any applicant is found to be incorrect in any manner, then the applicant will be disqualified from the awards.
If after the conclusion of the IAI awards process, any information provided by any applicant is found to be incorrect in any manner, then the applicant will be liable to return the award.
Determination of whether information provided by the applicant is incorrect or not rests with the IAI team.
The IAI team has the right to ask for documentary proof of information provided/ audit the information provided. If such a request is made and the applicant does not comply within 3 days from the date the request is made, the applicant could be disqualified from participation in the awards.

Screening of received application forms

Applications received will be collated under each thematic category for evaluation by the IAI team.
Determination of the award’s thematic category to which an application belongs, and eligibility for grant is at the discretion of IAI team and may be made in consultation with Jury members. The management reserves the right to make the final judgment in case of any ambiguity in rules / disputes over suitability.
Any clarifications required will be obtained through interviews with the Applicants on a best effort basis.
The IAI team would appoint experienced personnel to screen application forms to ensure eligibility criteria are met.
Eligible applicants will receive a Form B to complete and submit, within 10 days.
Only completed ‘Form B’ applications will be considered for the next stage of the Awards. All rules mentioned in Form Completion/ Disqualification’ section of the Rules & Regulations are applicable to Form B.

Shortlisting of projects for each Forum category

In the event no entries in a category are found to be worthy of inclusion in the Awards, the Awards category may be cancelled (final decision to be taken by the jury).
Up to 6 Finalists per category, will enter the final jury stage of the IAI awards.
Jury reserves the right to re-categorize any entry, which in their view was incorrectly categorized.
Jury’s decision on the shortlisting and disqualifications will be final and binding on all the applicants.

Announcement of Finalists

The names of the Finalists will be announced on the IAI website after the initial jury process in August 2020. (any changes in date will be posted on the website).
In case, the public makes any claims on the authenticity of the Finalists, the IAI team will follow the complaint management process as defined in these rules & regulations.

Complaint Management Process

In case of any dispute, complaint or claim relating to the Awards, the NASSCOM Foundation management will follow the following process:

The complaint must be received, in writing, from the aggrieved entity (‘Complainant’).
The complaint will be acknowledged by a formal e-mail or call from the IAI team.
The concerned Finalist/Winner (‘Defendant’) will be informed about the complaint. The defendant will be provided a period of five working days to send, in writing, their response to the complaint. In case no response is received from the defendant in the stipulated time period, it will be concluded that the defendant has no response to the complaint.
The IAI team will perform additional research, as required, via the internet & other sources.
A committee (subset of the screening jury or final jury, as relevant) will be formed to review the case.
The complaint, the defendant’s response and any additional research will be presented to the committee.
The committee will decide the course of action to be taken; The committee can decide to:
- Disqualify the application
- Withdraw the prize
- Re-award the prize or
- Take any other course of action

The decision of the committee will be communicated to all those concerned. The decision will be binding.

Validation of information provided

The IAI team may appoint independent agency or resource personnel to conduct field visits to the location of the project or telephone calls to all the Finalists and verify the details submitted by them.
The team shall not be responsible if the persons do not participate, are unreachable or do not agree to the conduct of the verification.
In such case, IAI management may, at its discretion, disqualify participation or continue in such other manner, as deemed fit.

Capacity Building and Mentoring

The shortlisting of the applications from For Profit/Social Enterprises and Not for Profit categories will be at the discretion of the Initial Jury.
Conducting mentoring workshops and capacity building activities through web conferences or any other medium will be at the discretion of the IAI team.
Some winners may have access to mentoring, even though they may not win a grant award. This will be at the discretion of the Jury.

Winner determination

The IAI team will contact the shortlisted Finalists for the NASSCOM IAI award. They will be informed of the next steps and details for the Grand Jury.
The Finalists would need to make presentations of up to 5 minutes in the specified format to the Final Jury, followed by up to 3 minute Q&A round. The Jury may decide to extend the time limits at its discretion.
The Final Jury would score / rank the Finalists based on the presentation and Q&A session.
Based on their evaluation of the entries, the Jury may decide to eliminate winners in a specific category.
The IAI team will reimburse the travel costs for the Grand Jury,
Conducting the jury presentations through web conference or any other medium will be at the discretion of the IAI team.
Applicants may be contacted for any additional information or / and conduct field visits to verify the information provided.
All information provided by the applicant will be confidential and will be used only for the limited purpose of evaluating the applicant.
In case it is not possible to contact any applicant, interview them, etc., that applicant will be disqualified from further participation.
The Jury’s decision is final and binding on all matters pertaining to evaluation and deciding the winners.
The shortlisted applicants must be a registered organization (except for applicants in the Student/Youth Entrepreneur category), in order to move to the Grand Jury stage.

The participant should not be a winner of the Award in any of the previous years for the same initiative/ innovation
Information provided by the Participant will be confidential and will be used only for the limited purpose of evaluating the Participant’s entry to these Awards.
The participant hereby irrevocably authorizes the Awards Management to use the data gathered during and/or the Awards in respect of the participants. This shall be the property of NASSCOM FOUNDATION and NASSCOM FOUNDATION shall be entitled to use the same in its communications including marketing promotions and advertisements along with/without NASSCOM FOUNDATION’s brand. Awards Management shall not be liable in any manner for any mishap, accident, injury or damages etc. of whatsoever nature, caused to the participants during the Awards. Further, Awards Management shall not be liable in any manner for any loss, damage, theft, or any other mishap caused during the Awards.

Information pertaining to application sent

At any time during the IAI award process, the team may contact the applicant for additional information if required, for the application form.
The IAI team will make the best possible effort to contact the applicants but shall not be responsible if the person does not reciprocate.
If a verification of an applicant is not possible due to any reasons, the IAI team may disqualify participation or continue in such other manner as deemed fit.

General

The applicant understands and agrees that merely applying to the IAI award, the Forum does not entitle the Applicant to an award/grant or to any other form of consideration.
Applicant agrees that the Applicant is legally capable of entering and, if selected, participating in the Awards and agree to the Terms. Participant is competent (i.e. Applicants are of legal age and mental capacity) and eligible to enter into this legally binding agreement on Participant.
Applicant warrants and represents to the Awards Management that all information including any communications, software, photos, text, video, graphics, music, sounds, images and other material submitted or recorded in any manner by the Applicant or the partners of Awards Management including Awards Management for consideration for the Awards are solely owned by the Awards Management and do not infringe upon any other individual or organizational rights (including, without limitation, intellectual property rights). Applicant shall be completely responsible for handling any infringement or alleged infringement and shall indemnify the NASSCOM FOUNDATION, and the Awards Management from any claims, costs or damages from infringement or alleged infringement of the logo or trademark or the defence of a claim or any costs payable thereof.
Applicant must enter the Awards at their own will and the Awards Management are not in any way obligated or liable for any loss or costs that the Applicant may suffer or incur and nothing is payable to the Applicants for participating in the Awards or any event prior to or following the Awards.
The Applicants indemnify NASSCOM FOUNDATION, its employees, officers, contractors, partner or other persons used by them in relation to this Awards and hold them harmless against any loss, claim, demands, costs, damages, judgments, expenses or liability (including legal costs) arising out of or in connection with any or all claims, that may be brought against the Awards Management by any third party in connection with the Applicants participation in or winning the Awards, which is inconsistent with any of the warranties and representations made by the Applicants, or due to breach of these Terms and shall reimburse NASSCOM FOUNDATION for any loss, costs, expense, or damage to which said indemnity applies. NASSCOM FOUNDATION shall give the Participant prompt written notice of any claim or actions covered by this indemnity, and the Participant shall have the right, at its own expense, to participate in any such action.
Decision of Awards Management on all matters is final and binding on all Applicants and no correspondence will be entertained on the same.
The Applicant agrees to give full consent unconditionally for NASSCOM FOUNDATION to share any information provided by the Participant with agencies working with them with regards to the program, its recording and broadcasting and related activities including agencies involved with NASSCOM Foundation
Participation in the Awards will be taken as an acceptance of the Rules and Regulations stated herein.
Decision of the NASSCOM Foundation team and Jury on all matters is final and binding on all Applicants and no correspondence will be entertained on the same.
The process is not subject to review of any applicant. The management will not be liable or held responsible for loss of information submitted for participation on account of failure or delay by internet service provider.
All Applicants permit free of cost, the use of their name, information about them and their companies as sourced from public media, and factual information about their participation, in public media (for the build-up to the Forum, during the IAI process, etc.) and do not have any right to any revenues earned through intellectual property rights generated by the Forum, if any.
The management shall not be accountable / liable for any disruptions / stoppages / interruptions or cancellation of the IAI award. The IAI management and its contractors cannot be held responsible for matters out of its control and for force majeure reasons.
The IAI team reserves the right to make the final judgement in case of any ambiguity in rules / disputes. The management reserves the right to, at its discretion, withdraw or amend or add to the Rules of the Forum at any time, with prospective or retrospective effect, and does not take responsibility for any loss or damage that any individual or organization may suffer as a result of participating or attempting to participate in the Forum, the Forum being withdrawn or its rules amended.
Should an Applicant wish to withdraw from the award process, he / she can inform the team at any time, up to one week prior to the final award ceremony. No reimbursement/refund of costs borne by the Applicant would be made.
All disputes relating to or arising out of the Forum shall be subject to the laws of India, and shall be subject to the competent jurisdiction at Mumbai.
The Applicants agree that they shall hold harmless the NASSCOM Foundation management, its employees, officers, contractors, partner or other persons used by them in relation to these Forum and shall defend them against any loss, claim, demands, costs, damages, judgments, expenses or liability arising out of or in connection with any or all claims whether or not groundless, that may be brought against the Forum management by any third party in connection with participation in or winning the award.
In the event these rules do not cover any question or complaint in relation to the Forum, the same will be concluded on by the Jury (for winner determination issues) or IAI management (for all other issues).
If applicants are unclear as to the rules or any element of the Forum or have any queries/concerns pertaining to the Forum, they can email their questions, problems or queries to iai@nasscomfoundation.org or write to us at NASSCOM Foundation, Plot number 7 to 10, sec 126, Noida-201303
The IAI team shall endeavour to the best of its ability to respond thereto.
NASSCOM Foundation will not be liable for any claims / disputes made by the Applicants or Nominees in relation to the Forum.

Website

The website is only an informational website https://iai.nasscomfoundation.org/ for the Awards. NASSCOM FOUNDATION or its subsidiaries or holding entities are not liable or responsible for any action or decision taken by Applicant or anyone acting on Applicant’s behalf or under Applicant employment or under contract with Applicant. NASSCOM FOUNDATION shall not be under any obligation to Applicant and Applicant shall have no obligation or rights in relation to the Awards and shall have no claims whatsoever against the NASSCOM FOUNDATION relating to the selection process or the running of the Awards
NASSCOM FOUNDATION shall not be responsible for:
1. any delivery, failures relating to the registration or uploading videos/presentations;
2. any SPAM generated messages as result of Applicant accessing the Website;
3. Awards Management not receiving or rejecting any data;
4. any lost, late or misdirected computer transmission or network, electronic failures of any kind or any failure to receive entries owing to transmission failures or due to any technical reasons and
5. Other conditions/situations or failures beyond its control.

Disclaimers

Awards Management has no obligation to screen the entry material in advance, and is not responsible for monitoring entries for the purpose of preventing violation of intellectual property ownership rights, or violations of any law, rule or regulation. If Awards Management is notified of submissions or materials that may not conform to the Terms, it may investigate the allegation and determine in good faith and in its sole discretion whether to eliminate such an entry from consideration. The Awards Management has no liability or responsibility to Applicants or other users of the Website for performance or non-performance of such activities.