Terms of Use

1 General

1.1 Subject

The subject of these Terms of Use is the use of the "PPPI Innovation Platform" (hereinafter "Platform") web platform.

Upon registration, a User contract is concluded between the User and the operator of the Platform.

The use of any services offered on the Platform is only permitted in accordance with these Terms of Use. The User's general terms and conditions do not apply, even if they have not been expressly contradicted.

The User must expressly confirm that he or she accepts the Terms of Use when registering. The current version of the Terms of Use can be accessed via the Platform at any time.

1.2 Operator

The Platform www.ioeb-innovationsplattform.at is operated by Bundesbeschaffung GmbH as a service point for innovation-enhancing public procurement (hereinafter referred to as "Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement").

1.3 Definitions

"User" – any natural person who registers on the Platform.

"Entity" – a person other than the User on whose behalf the User is acting on the Platform.

"Public Sector Clients" – legal entities that conduct public procurement; this includes all public sector clients pursuant to Sections 4, 167 and 168 of the Federal Public Procurement Act 2018.

"Company" – legal entity that offers the production and supply of goods or the provision of services.

"Guests" – natural persons who are not registered on the Platform. Guests can view public content but cannot create content or perform other actions themselves. Guests do, however, have the opportunity to ask questions during the challenges without having to register.

"Services" – all interactive functionalities that are offered to the Users on the platform.

"Content" – all texts, images, graphics, links or other information deposited on the Platform by the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement or the Users which are to be made accessible to third parties.

"Innovation" – the realisation of new or significantly improved goods, services or processes, new marketing methods, new organisational procedures concerning business practice or workplace procedures.

Building on this definition, innovation-enhancing public procurement is understood as the use of new approaches in the procurement process and/or the procurement of new/better and more effective solutions ("Innovations") in relation to previously used solutions. From the perspective of PPPI, in addition to the degree of innovation, the applicability in public administration is relevant.

1.4 Costs

The contract of use between the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement and the Users is free of charge. No costs are incurred through the use of the Platform until revoked.

2 User account

2.1 Conclusion of contract/Registration

Upon registration, each User must set up a user account. For this purpose, at least a first name, surname, a valid email address and a password must be provided.

The email address will be used as the username.

Only natural persons with unlimited legal capacity may register as Users. Multiple registration is not permitted, each person may only be registered once.

The user must register for their user account with their correct and full name. The use of pseudonyms is not permitted.

2.2 Validation

After setting up the user account, a validation link will be sent to the User's email address. By clicking on the link, the registration is completed and a contract of use is concluded between the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement and the User.

From this point on, registration and use of the services on the Platform is possible.

2.3 Data

The User can enter different data in the user account. All data can be edited by the User at any time.

These data include:

• Access data
  • Email address* - also used as username
  • Password*
• Personal data
  • First name*
  • Surname*
  • Profile picture
• Organisational data
  Organisational data must be provided if the User works for another legal entity. In this case, the data of the represented legal entity shall be listed as organisational data.
  •  Name - the full official name of the organisation - no pseudonyms
  • Address
  • Telephone number 
  • Logo
  • Category - indicate whether the organisation is a 'public sector client' or a 'company'.

Data marked with * are mandatory fields and must be entered during registration.

2.4 User profile and public appearance

For all content created by the User, his or her first name and surname and, if stored, profile picture are displayed.

If a contact person is provided for content, other Users and Guests are given the opportunity to send emails directly to the specified address of the respective entered User and are thus given access to the email address.

2.5 Transfer of the user account

An entity has the right to have any user account associated with its organisation transferred to another person. This shall be done in compliance with the statutory provisions and, in particular, the provisions of data protection law.

For this purpose, an authorised representative of the entity shall send a written request to ioeb@ioeb.at to this effect.

The written request shall include the following:

• First name and surname of the User account holder
• First name, surname and email address of the new holder of the user account
• Proof of the requesting person's power of representation for the organisation concerned

The legal entity shall ensure the consent of the new owner of the User account as required by data protection law.

3 Management of data and contents

3.1 Data maintenance

The User is obliged to keep his or her data up to date. In particular, a valid email address must always be stored in the system.

The User must keep his/her personal access data (email address and password) safe. If the access data is lost or becomes accessible to a third party, the User must inform the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement immediately or - if possible - change his or her password independently.

3.2 Data processing

The User may not automatically read data from the Platform and may not store, process, change, pass on or misuse it in any other way without the consent of the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement.

3.3 Content posted by the User

Each User is responsible for the content he or she deposits on the Platform. The User must ensure that the content does not violate applicable law, the Terms of Use or morality. Likewise, care must be taken that no content is deposited whose publication infringes the rights of third parties.

Attention must be paid to polite and businesslike behaviour. Offensive or disruptive content is to be refrained from. This also includes the mass sending of data or repeat posting of the same content (spam).

The content on the Platform shall be designed in such a way that competitors are not portrayed badly, insulted or defamed. The sole purpose is to promote one's own product or service.

The content of other Users may not be used without their consent, unless this is already permitted by law.

3.4 Sharing content on other Platforms

This Platform offers the technical possibility to share content on other Platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter). However, the IÖB Service Point cannot guarantee that the necessary consents of the rights holders have been obtained. The sharing of content on third-party Platforms is therefore at the User's own risk.

4 Platform services

4.1 Dashboard

Every registered and logged-in User has access to their own dashboard.

This online cockpit offers Users a structured overview of all their activities on the Platform and the tasks currently pending in these activities.

4.2 Challenge

The "Challenge" service offers public procurers a range of services based on open innovation challenges and is a tool for market exploration. Corresponding Users publish current challenges of their organisation on the Platform and thus invite an unspecified number of individual companies or several cooperating companies ("consortia") to submit innovative proposals for solutions. Proposed solutions are products and services of the company that contribute in whole or in part to overcoming the published challenges.

4.2.1 Publish a challenge as a public procurer

Users who have registered as a representative of a public sector can start a challenge as a challenge sponsor. In the first step, the challenge sponsor first outlines online the key data of the challenge that is to be solved (e.g. title, description, question, market situation and desired outcome of the challenge).

The challenge sponsor then has the option to (1) discuss this description with an PPPI innovation expert and subsequently prepare further details for the challenge online. Alternatively, the sponsor has the option of (2) preparing the further submission of the challenge without consultation.

In the course of the further publication process, the sponsor will provide more details (including the challenge process from publication, call for submissions, benefits of the challenge and the further course of the project, criteria for the evaluation of the proposed solutions, jury for the evaluation of the proposed solutions). In addition, a person is to be designated as moderator to accompany the challenge from the time of publication until the result is achieved. This person is either selected from an existing pool or newly proposed for the respective challenge. The sponsor also has the option of uploading images, other documents and logos. Before the sponsor finally submits the challenge for publication, the sponsor has the option to check all the entered information on an overview page and, if necessary, to change it.

The challenge sponsor decides during the publication process whether the jury will be displayed with names or anonymised. The moderator is always displayed as the contact person for the challenge.

The challenge sponsor will have a summary of all the information entered about their challenge before it is submitted for review by the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement prior to publication.

At this point, the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement checks whether the submitted topic is suitable for a challenge. However, the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement is not liable for any consequences that may arise from a challenge; the challenge sponsor is liable himself/herself for any damage that may arise from the publication of the challenge.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement can refuse to publish the submitted challenge if it does not meet the objectives of the platform. In particular, challenges will be rejected which

• do not concern innovative solutions,
• are not sufficiently and/or clearly described or
• violate the law or morality.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement will provide feedback on the challenge submitted for publication within five working days. After a positive feedback, publication is carried out by the IÖB Service Point in consultation with the challenge sponsor.

As long as the challenge has not been published by the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement, the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement can set the challenge inactive upon written request of the challenge sponsor.

If the challenge is moderated by an external consultant (i.e. not by an employee of the IÖB Service Point), the consultant must complete a half-day training course before the start of the challenge, which provides information on how to use the Platform.

Training on how to use the Platform is offered regularly by the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement. There is no charge for this training.

4.2.2 The challenge after publication

Upon publication, the challenge goes through several phases:

• Call and submissions: Companies submit their proposals for solutions
• Queries: Challenge sponsor sifts through proposed solutions and submits queries online
• Jury evaluation: A jury of the challenge sponsor evaluates all submitted solutions and ranks them.
• Announcement of the winners: The companies with the best rated solution proposals will be invited to a dialogue with the challenge sponsor.

Users and Guests of the Platform have the opportunity to support the challenge via a support button throughout all phases, starting with the publication of the challenge. The number of supporters is displayed in the challenge. The names of the supporters are not displayed.

Users and Guests of the Platform have the opportunity to forward the challenge by email and to share it on Facebook and Twitter. How often this has already been done is displayed on the Platform.

Upon written request of the challenge sponsor, the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement may, in justified cases, make changes to the contents of the challenge even after publication. The challenge sponsor must coordinate the changes in advance with the moderator and the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement reserves the right to be present at jury sessions or innovation dialogues taking place within the framework of PPPI challenges.

4.2.3 Submitting a solution proposal to a challenge as a company

Submission is only possible during the "Call and Submissions" phase and can only be made by registered Users who are assigned to a "company" in the user account (see Point 2.3). The submission is attributed to the respective company.

The proposed solutions are entered via an online form with the fields title, description and added value that are later publicly visible. Public attachments in "pdf" format (max. file size 2 MB) may also be submitted. There is a confidential input field for information that is not to be published. This information is only available to the challenge sponsor, the IÖB service office, the jury and the moderator. Moderator

The proposed solution can be created as a draft and (temporarily) saved and edited at any time. A title, description and disclosure of the added value of the proposed solution are mandatory fields for each submission. The submission is not finalised until you click on the "Submit" button. From this point on, the proposed solution can be viewed by all Users on the platform. From this point on, processing by the submitting User is no longer possible.

Submission is also possible by an association of companies ("consortia"). In this case, the User only has to be assigned to one member of the consortium. Appropriate image files (logos) can be uploaded to visualise the members of the consortium and will be displayed upon publication.

In the event of demonstrable technical problems with the submission on the Platform, the submitting User has the option of submitting the proposed solution by email to ioeb@ioeb.at or to the respective moderator. In any case, this must be done within a maximum of 15 minutes after the end of the Call and Submissions phase. The proposed solution submitted in this way will be put online by the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement within two working days with the submitted contents. In this case, the same requirements (mandatory fields) apply as for submission via the online form.

The proposed solution, including attachments and the submission date, will be displayed publicly on the platform. Excluded from this are the entries in the field that is expressly marked as "confidential" in the input mask.

The personal and organisational data of the submitting User are also displayed in the published solution proposal.

By submitting the proposal, the User therefore confirms that he or she holds the rights to all content of the submitted solution proposal required for publication and grants the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement the rights of use to this content, insofar as these are required for publication. Furthermore, any intellectual property rights remain unaffected by the submission; in particular, the challenge sponsor and the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement do not acquire any rights to implement the proposed solutions without the separate consent of the rights holders.

The challenge sponsor, the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement, the moderator and the challenge jury have access to all submitted solutions.

The moderators of a challenge named on the Platform at the time of publication of the challenge are the contact persons for any questions regarding the challenge. Submitting Users are required to adhere to this communication channel on the Platform.

4.2.4 The submitted solution proposal after publication

Users and Guests of the Platform have the possibility to support ("like") submitted solution proposals via a button. The number of supports is shown in the proposed solution. Registered Users can comment on submitted solution proposals.

Users and Guests of the Platform can forward submitted solutions by email and share them via Facebook and Twitter. The number of shared content is displayed on the platform.

4.2.5 Evaluation of the proposed solutions

When a challenge is published by the challenge sponsor, evaluation criteria will be announced. These are defined and weighted by the challenge sponsor and thus, in addition to the descriptions of the challenge and the vision for the future, represent important cornerstones to which every submission of a solution proposal should refer. The proposed solutions are evaluated by a jury after checking compliance with the formal criteria (time, format specifications, scope). The jury consists of employees of the organisation behind the challenge and can be supplemented by external experts.

The persons involved are obliged to treat the submitted solution proposals confidentially, unless it concerns content that has been published in the context of the challenge or are or become generally known for other reasons, were already known to the person before participating in the challenge or have come to the person's knowledge through a third party, without there being a breach of the duty of confidentiality incumbent on the person.

4.2.6 Announcement of the winners and innovation dialogue

Whether an innovation dialogue is planned will be announced with the publication of the challenge. Otherwise, the challenge ends with the announcement of the winners.

The companies or consortia that have submitted the solution proposals that were rated best by the jury according to the criteria announced with the publication of the challenge will be invited to the innovation dialogue by the challenge sponsor. In addition, the challenge sponsor can also invite companies or consortia whose proposed solutions have received outstanding evaluation results in individual criteria - regardless of the overall ranking.

In the course of the innovation dialogue, the jury, the challenge sponsor and the company or companies behind a submitted solution proposal discuss details of the solution proposal. The dates, locations and duration will be determined within the framework of the respective challenge.

The participants in the innovation dialogue are obliged to treat the discussions confidentially, unless the content is published as part of the challenge or is or becomes generally known for other reasons, was already known to the participant before participating in the challenge or has come to the knowledge of the participant through a third party without a breach of the confidentiality obligation incumbent on the participant.

It is up to the challenge sponsor to decide whether and to what extent it will provide the submitting companies with feedback based on the jury's evaluation.

The solutions proposed by the submitting companies (“Winners”) invited to the innovation dialogue by the challenge sponsor are marked as such on the platform. The completed challenge and the associated proposed solutions remain visible on the Platform. The name of the company and the submitting user as contact person are displayed with the proposed solution. The proposed solution is therefore a permanent advertising window for companies through which other organisations and those responsible for procurement can be reached.

4.3 Innovation Marketplace  

4.3.1 General

The Innovation Marketplace gives companies the opportunity to publicly present their innovations (innovative products and services) via a digital product showcase that can be viewed by Users and Guests of the Platform.

The marketplace is not an electronic shop and does not offer a purchase function, but serves solely as a presentation.

4.3.2 Prerequisites

It is important for inclusion in the Innovation Marketplace that the innovation at the time of submission is at least in the development phase of a prototype or small series and can be procured from the public sector.

Submissions are only permitted if the submitting user is assigned to a company that offers the relevant innovative service in Austria and has a branch in Austria.

Products and services that violate applicable laws or morality cannot be submitted. Also excluded is the submission of solutions regarding any type of weapon or other product specifically designed for military use.

4.3.3 Quick Check

As a first step, a registered User of the Platform carries out a Quick Check for the innovative solution to be submitted. This Quick Check consists of four questions that are answered online according to the submitter's self-assessment. The questions relate to the following aspects of the solution:

• Level of development: The innovative solution must be available at least in the form of a prototype or small series.
• Degree of innovation: The submission must at least demonstrate a significant improvement of an existing solution.
• Applicability: The innovative solution must be applicable in public administration.
• Suitability: The User must be legally qualified to offer the solution.

After submitting the Quick Check, the Platform automatically evaluates whether the solution is innovative in terms of innovation-promoting public procurement (cf. PPPI Guiding Concept 2012, p.18, 19) and whether a submission for the Innovation Marketplace is permissible.

If the result of the Quick Check is positive, the User is asked to submit details of the solution via an online submission form. If the results of the Quick Check are negative, the solution cannot be submitted for the "Innovation Marketplace".

The answers selected in the Quick Check are transferred to the submission form. In addition, the selection of the Quick Check carried out is saved in the system and assigned to the respective User. This data can be viewed by the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement.

4.3.4 Submission form

Information on the solution must first be entered in the submission form, which is not public and only accessible to the PPPI expert jury. This information should, among other things, go into more detail on the aspects filled out in the Quick Check: degree of innovation, usability and social added value.

In addition, there is information for the "Digital Showcase", which serves to publicly display the submitted solution and contains the following information, among other things: Description (added value, advantages and areas of application), short description in the form of a teaser, indication of the industry as well as a product image as cover image. Optionally, additional images and files can be uploaded or the company's website, and YouTube and Vimeo videos can be embedded.

For the entire submission, only content that directly relates to the innovative solution may be submitted. Advertising for other products or services is not permitted, this applies in particular to the "Digital Showcase".

The submission can be saved at any time for later processing and accessed via the dashboard for further processing. In the dashboard of each User, all submissions created by him or her can be seen with their current status.

Click on the button "Submit" to submit the solution.

The data provided in the submission form will be processed by the IÖB Service Point as part of the further process in accordance with the following chapters. The User consents to this use of data by submitting it and must ensure that he or she has the necessary authorisations for such consent.

4.3.5 Completeness check and “Review” status

The submission is first checked for completeness by the IÖB Service Point. In case of incomplete submission documents or obvious errors, the submission will be reset and the User will be notified. The User shall remedy the deficiencies for the renewed submission.

If no deficiencies are found, the submission receives a digital showcase and the status "Review" until the next jury session.

Submissions with the status "Review" can be viewed publicly by all Users and Guests of the Platform. The status is highlighted with its own symbol.

4.3.6 PPPI expert jury session

Submitted solutions in "Review" status will be evaluated by the PPPI expert jury. The jury of experts will consider the entire submission and evaluate it according to the following criteria, with the weighting given in brackets as a percentage value:

1. Level of development (15%)
2. Degree of innovation (40%)
3. Operational capability in public administration (26%)
4. Environmental sustainability (6%)
5. Economic potential (6%)
6. Social added value (6%)
7. Suitability (1%)

If a solution is positively evaluated by the jury, it receives the status "PPPI awarded", i.e. the solution is innovative in the sense of public procurement promoting innovation (PPPI) and can be used in public administration.

Submissions with the status "IÖB awarded" can be submitted by all Users. and Guests of the Platform. The status is highlighted with its own symbol.

Negatively evaluated solutions receive the status "Rejected" and can no longer be viewed publicly.

4.3.7 Digital showcase

A "digital showcase" is created on the Platform for submitted solutions with the status "Review" or "PPPI awarded". This is generally publicly viewable for Guests and Users of the Platform.

In this showcase you can see

• Information on the solution: The data entered in the submission for the "Digital Showcase".
• Information about the company: The User's organisational data.
• Contact person: The submitting User is displayed as the contact person

The User is required to keep his or her showcase up to date. For this reason, the information in the digital showcase can be updated or supplemented by the User at any time.

Users as well as Guests have the opportunity to rate the innovative solution in the digital showcase by means of a star rating or to make a purchase recommendation. For both actions, no name is displayed, only the average overall rating or the number of purchase recommendations. 

Users have the option of forwarding the "Digital Showcase" by email and sharing it via Facebook and Twitter.

All registered Users can comment on the innovation in the digital showcase, provided they are registered.

PPPI awarded innovations that are already available for purchase in the Austrian Federal Procurement Agency's e-Shop are marked as such. You will be linked directly to the BBG e-Shop.

5 "PPPI awarded" seal

The submitting company is entitled to use the "IÖB awarded" seal free of charge for the submitted solution within the scope of its business activities in accordance with the types described below. The solution can thus be actively promoted as long as the innovation on the Platform has the status "PPPI awarded". The company may not pass on this right to third parties.

If possible, the "PPPI awarded" seal should be included in the company's relevant PR measures.

As part of the company's public relations work (PR) and general communication measures as well as image advertising in all media available to it, the company is granted the following options for using the "PPPI awarded" seal:

• General integration of the "IÖB awarded" seal
  • on business papers, email signature, business cards, stationery etc.;
  • on their own website, with a mandatory link to the IÖB Innovation Platform;
• at trade fairs;
  • invitations, brochures, brochure stands, posters, beach flags etc.;
• sales promotions;
  • folders, flyers, leaflets, banners;
• • newsletters, banners;
  • advertisements;
• social media;
  • blogs;
  • Facebook, Twitter etc.

If the "PPPI awarded" seal is used in a way that is likely to damage the reputation of the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement, the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement will use all legally required means to indemnify itself.

5.1 Loss of the "IÖB awarded" status

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement is entitled - without prejudice to other claims - to terminate the award at any time if one of the following cases occurs:

• if there is a breach of these Terms of Use on the part of the company
• if the company misuses the "PPPI awarded" seal or if the business conduct of the company appears to be detrimental to the image of the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement.
• if, after a new examination, the jury comes to the conclusion that the solution can no longer be considered innovative in the sense of the requirements of the marketplace
• the company does not respond despite three documented attempts to contact it (email, phone calls, personal contact) on the part of the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement. The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement interprets this behaviour as a lack of interest in continuing the cooperation or as a seriousness in the submission.

A company that has been awarded the "PPPI awarded" seal may terminate the award at any time by notifying ioeb@ioeb.at in writing.

In these cases, the status of the submission will be set to "Rejected" and the corresponding digital storefront will be removed from the platform.

The loss of the "PPPI awarded" status for the submitted innovation means that the "PPPI awarded" seal may only be used by the User for a further three months. The right of use ends on the last day of the third full month.

6 News & Events (Functionality currently under revision)

Registered Users who are assigned to an organisation have the opportunity to publish their news and events on the Platform, provided that they are related to innovation, public administration and innovative procurement.

6.1 Formats

The following formats can be published:

1. innovative call for proposals,
2. challenge*,
3. project in the pipeline,
4. event,
5. PPPI funding programme.

*This does not mean challenges that have already been published on www.ioeb-innovationsplattform.at but Open Innovation Challenges from other innovation platforms.

Advertising products and services here is not permitted - the "Innovation Marketplace" service is exclusively intended for this purpose.

6.2 Submission and publication

The description and key data of the format to be advertised must be provided for the submission: In addition to the title, description, brief description and target group of the project, at least one date for the project (e.g. day of the event, last day of submission) and a contact for queries must be given.

The contact for queries is the submitting User. Alternatively, another contact person can be specified. For this purpose, the first name, surname and email address of the other contact person must be given. Optionally, a location can be specified, a cover photo and up to three logos can be uploaded and a website can be specified.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement publishes this content after checking that it is complete and factual.

6.3 Quality guidelines

The quality of the wording and the cover image used are the responsibility of the submitting User.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement checks the completeness as well as the objectivity of the content of each submitted format. At this point, objectivity means the “innovation reference” or the reference to “public administration” of the format to be advertised. The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement reserves the right not to release formats that deviate from the permissible context.

6.4 Representation

News and events are presented in a clear format on the Platform. It can be filtered by format.

For each format, the submitted content is displayed. In addition to a description of the format, this includes relevant key data on the format and the contact person.

The name of the company and the submitting user as contact person are displayed with the proposed solution.

6.5 Archive

Formats that are in the past can be viewed via the archive.

7 Termination

7.1 Termination by the User

The User may terminate the User contract and deactivate his/her User account at any time.

To do this, the User must send the termination by email to ioeb@ioeb.at.

7.2 Termination by the IÖB

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement may terminate the User contract with a notice period of fourteen days to the end of each month.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement reserves the right to terminate the User contract at any time with immediate effect or to block the User if he or she violates the Terms of Use.

7.3 Consequences of termination

Content entered by the User on the Platform remains in place and can still be accessed by third parties on the Platform. The first and surname will continue to be displayed for all content, but there will no longer be a link to the user profile. All data contained in the profile (e.g. profile picture) will be deleted.

8 Intellectual property

Registered Users have the right to use the Platform in accordance with these conditions. Beyond that, however, all rights of use to the Platform remain exclusively with the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement.

The Users grant the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement the right to use all information published on the Platform, insofar as this is necessary for the operation of the platform. In any case, this includes the right to display on the Platform itself, as well as publication in annual reports, information brochures and similar publications in connection with public procurement.

Furthermore, the copyrights and rights of use of the User or third parties to the content remain unaffected.

9 Disclaimer

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement is only liable for any damage caused by using the platform in the event of intent or serious negligence.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement is not obliged to check the data provided by Users. The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement is therefore not liable for damage caused by incorrect information provided by Users.

10 Indemnity and hold harmless

The User shall indemnify and hold harmless the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement for all disadvantages that may arise for the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement due to the infringement of copyrights, utility models, patents or other rights of third parties by the User. The obligation to indemnify and hold harmless relates to all expenses incurred by the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement arising from or due to circumstances for which the User is responsible.

11 Amendment of the Terms of Use

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement reserves the right to amend these Terms of Use at any time. The User will be informed of any planned changes to the Terms of Use via the email address he or she has entered in the system.

The changes to the Terms of Use come into effect one month after notification to the Users. From this point on, use of the Platform is only possible in accordance with the amended Terms of Use.

The new Terms of Use shall be deemed accepted if the User does not delete his or her User account before the expiry of this period.

12 Final provisions

12.1 Law

All disputes arising from or in connection with these Terms of Use shall be governed exclusively by Austrian law, excluding all further references to foreign law.

12.2 Jurisdiction

The exclusive place of jurisdiction for legal disputes arising from these Terms of Use shall be the relevant court in Vienna.

12.3 Severability clause

Should individual provisions of the contract of use be or become wholly or partially invalid or prove to be unenforceable, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. By way of the (also supplementary) interpretation, the regulations should then apply that correspond as closely as possible to the purpose of the ineffective provision. If the interpretation is inadmisstible for legal reasons, the contracting parties undertake to conclude supplementary agreements accordingly. This shall also apply if there is a gap in the implementation or interpretation of the contract of use that requires regulation.

13 Privacy policy of the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement

The personal data that Users provide during registration and when using the Platform and related services are processed in accordance with the relevant Austrian and European data protection regulations.

The legal basis for this is the need for processing to provide the Platform and process the services in accordance with the user contract and the consent of the Users during registration.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement only stores the data until the purpose for which it was collected has been fulfilled and any statutory storage and documentation obligations have expired.

For this data processing, processors are used with whom an agreement has been concluded in accordance with Article 28 of the GDPR.

The Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement uses extensive protective measures of a technical and organisational nature to prevent misuse of the data.

The relevant data in each individual case is passed on to the following recipients on the basis of the statutory provisions or contractual agreement:

1. Users and Guests of the Platform in the context of the publication of content, to the extent provided for in the Terms of Use;
2. Jury members and other participants in meetings and discussions expressly provided for in these Terms of Use - see in particular Points 4.2.5 and 4.3.6;
3. Other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter;
4. authorities and courts, insofar as the disclosure of data is required by law.

You can reach us at the following contact details:

Bundesbeschaffung GmbH
Lassallestrasse 9b, 1020 Vienna
office@bbg.gv.at

You can reach our data protection officer at:
Vergabekompetenzcenter@bbg.gv.at

Instructions on legal remedies from the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement

Users and Guests are generally entitled to the rights of information, correction, deletion, restriction, data portability and objection. To do so, they can contact the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement.

If Users believe that the processing of their data violates data protection law or that their data protection claims have otherwise been violated in some way, the Austrian Competence Centre for Innovation Procurementrequests that they contact their data protection officer as a matter of priority.

Data subjects have the right to complain to the competent supervisory authority in Austria.

Contact:

Austrian Data Protection Authority
Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna
Phone: +43 1 531 15-202525
Fax: +43 1 531 15-202690
E: dsb@dsb.gv.at
W: www.dsb.gv.at