Rules, terms, and conditions

1. Any party entering the Challenge (whether an individual, group of individuals, single entity, or group of entities) must designate a single individual or entity as the “lead” (for entities, a point of contact affiliated with said entity must also be specified). All Entrant team members’ names and affiliations must be clearly identified in the Entrant’s submission for the Entrant to be eligible. Failure to follow this procedure as outlined on the Challenge Website will disqualify the Entrant’s submission. To be eligible to win a monetary prize in the Challenge, the lead individual or entity must maintain a primary place of operations in the United States.
2. All Entrant team members must be 18 or older to participate. Entrants are not eligible to win a monetary prize in the Challenge if any named team member is an employee, owner, director, trustee, officer or contractor of SFE, WFF, the Fiscal Agent, or the Administrator, is a Challenge reviewer or judge, is supporting the development or execution of the Challenge in any capacity, or is an immediate family member (spouse, child, step-child, sibling, step-sibling, parent, step-parent) or person living in the same household (whether or not related) of any individual described in this paragraph. Note: The members of an individual’s household include any other person who shares the same residence as such individual for at least three months out of the year.
3. Current or past recipients of grant or other non-contractual funding from SFE, WFF, Fiscal Agent, and/or the Administrator are eligible to win a monetary prize in the Challenge, provided they meet all other eligibility requirements and comply with all Official Rules herein.
4. Phase 1 is open to any individual, group of individuals, single entity, or group of entities that meet the above eligibility criteria and any other criteria set forth on the Challenge Website; however, Phases 2 and 3 will require the lead Entrant to be a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status as a public charity (excluding 509(a)(3) Type IIII supporting organizations that are not functionally integrated). Prior to receiving the prize money in Phase 2, any Phase 1 winner that does not already meet this requirement will be encouraged and receive technical support to seek out an eligible public charity with which to establish a partnership.
5. Eligibility to participate in any Challenge phase after Phase 1 is restricted to designated winners of the preceding Challenge phase, at the sole discretion of SFE and WFF.
6. In order to be eligible to receive a prize for any Phase, Entrants must have complied with all requirements to participate in relevant activities for that Phase.  For Phase 2, this will include participation in a virtual accelerator with at least one representative from each Phase 1 winner attending weekly virtual technical assistance sessions. For Phase 3, this will include participation in two in-person events: a “boot camp” in Fall 2024 to start the incubator and a Demo Day in Spring/Summer 2025 to present final concepts to judges, partners, and the public. These dates and format are preliminary and may be changed. Additionally, if selected as a Phase 1 winner, winning Entrants must agree to participate fully in Phase 2 to be eligible to receive the Phase 1 prize award. Likewise, if selected as a Phase 2 winner, winning Entrants must agree to participate fully in Phase 3 to be eligible to receive the Phase 2 prize award.

1. Entrants must own or have access at their own expense to a computer, an Internet connection, and any other electronic devices, documentation, software, or other items that Entrants may deem necessary to create and enter a submission.
2. Each Entrant agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, and regulations, and all Competition policies as set forth on the Challenge Website.
3. Use of Marks: Except as expressly set forth in these Official Rules, Entrants shall not use the names, trademarks, service marks, logos, insignias, trade dress, or any other designation of source or origin subject to legal protection, copyrighted material or similar intellectual property (“Marks”) of SFE, WFF, the Fiscal Agent, the Administrator, other Challenge partners, or collaborators in any way without such party’s prior written permission in each instance, which such party may grant or withhold at its sole and absolute discretion.
4. If the submission includes the work of any third party (such as third-party content or open source code), the Entrant must identify the work  , documentation of all appropriate licenses and releases for such third-party works. The scope of such licenses and releases must give SFE, WFF and the Administrator the ability to store, access, modify, reproduce, publish, post, link to, share, and display publicly (e.g., on websites) submission abstracts and other submission content on the Challenge Website, their respective websites, Internet or elsewhere, in perpetuity in compliance with Intellectual Property Section 1 below.  If the Entrant cannot provide documentation of such required licenses and releases, SFE and WFF reserve the right to disqualify the applicable submission, or direct the Entrant to secure the licenses and releases for the benefit of SFE, WFF, and the Administrator within three (3) days of notification of the missing documentation and allow the applicable submission to remain in the Challenge. In addition, SFE and WFF reserve all rights to pursue an Entrant for claims based on damages incurred by the Entrant’s failure to obtain such licenses and releases as further described in General liability release & indemnity below.
5. Individuals with disabilities who need accommodation or auxiliary aid in connection with the submission process should contact the Administrator via email at hello@LearningLandscapesChallenge.com, at least one week prior to the submission deadline. If an accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability is provided in connection with the submission process, the submission remains subject to all other requirements and limitations set forth in this announcement.
6. In each phase of the Challenge, an independent panel of experts will score eligible submissions according to the phase-specific official evaluation criteria specified on the Challenge Website. These scores will be used to determine monetary prize winners for each phase, up to a maximum number of winners as specified on the Challenge Website. SFE and WFF will make the final determination of winners, at their sole discretion.
7. Prizes to Challenge winners, as determined by SFE and WFF, will be distributed in a single electronic payment to each Entrant’s designated lead (individual or entity); any further distribution to team members is not the responsibility of SFE, WFF, the Administrator, or the Fiscal Agent and is at the sole discretion of the point of contact and/or authorized representative of the lead entity. In the event a dispute regarding the identity of the Entrant who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to SFE and WFF’s satisfaction, the affected entry will be deemed ineligible. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event will SFE, WFF, the Administrator or the Fiscal Agent be liable for any failure on the part of the Entrant lead to distribute the funds to team members.
8. Each Entrant participating in this Challenge must comply fully with all Official Rules, and participation in this Challenge constitutes each such Entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by the Official Rules. Winning any monetary or nonmonetary prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.
9. Phase 1 submissions must be submitted via the online submission form by 7:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Submissions received after this deadline will not be considered unless as provided in Section 10 below.
10. If an Entrant submits an entry after the entry deadline because of a technical problem with the Challenge Website, the Entrant must immediately contact hello@LearningLandscapesChallenge.com and provide an explanation of the technical problem experienced. The Administrator will accept the Entrant’s submission if the Administrator can confirm that a technical problem occurred with the Challenge Website and that the technical problem affected the Entrant’s ability to submit an entry by the entry deadline in Administrator’s sole discretion. The Administrator will contact the Entrant after a determination is made on whether the entry will be accepted. These extensions apply only to the unavailability of, or technical problems with, the Challenge Website. The Administrator will not grant an Entrant an extension if the Entrant failed to submit an entry in the system by the entry deadline or if the technical problem experienced is unrelated to the Challenge Website.
11. SFE and WFF may decide in their sole discretion to limit the number of prize winners, the dollar value of any prize, or issue no prizes depending on the number and quality of the entries.

By participating in the Challenge, each Entrant hereby irrevocably grants to SFE, WFF, the Fiscal Agent and the Administrator the right to the use of their name, affiliation, city and state, likeness or image, and a short synopsis of their winning solution as a part of SFE, WFF, Fiscal Agent and/or Administrator’s promotion of this Challenge.

SFE and WFF reserve the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any Entrant who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Challenge, the Challenge Website, or other Challenge-related websites; to be acting in violation of these Official Rules; or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Challenge; or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person; and SFE, WFF, and/or the Administrator reserve the right to seek damages and other remedies from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law.

The Challenge Website may contain links to third-party websites that are not owned or controlled by SFE, WFF, the Fiscal Agent, or the Administrator. SFE, WFF, the Fiscal Agent, and the Administrator, do not endorse or assume any responsibility for any such third-party sites. If you access a third-party website from the Challenge Website, you do so at your own risk and expressly relieve SFE, WFF, the Fiscal Agent, and/or the Administrator from any and all liability arising from use of any third-party website content.

Attempts to notify Phase 1 winner(s) will be made using the email address associated with the Team Lead’s email account used to register on the Challenge platform. Challenge Parties, as defined in General liability release & indemnity below, are not responsible for email or other communication problems of any kind. If, despite reasonable efforts, a potential Phase 1 winner does not respond within three business days of the first notification attempt regarding selection as a Phase 1 winner (or a shorter time as exigencies may require), or if the notification is returned as undeliverable, that Entrant may forfeit the Entrant’s Phase 1 winner status and any associated prizes, and an alternate Phase 1 winner may be selected.

1. Entrants retain all ownership in intellectual property of submissions, as applicable, subject to the following licenses. By participating in the Challenge, each Entrant hereby grants an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free, non-exclusive worldwide license to SFE, WFF, and the Administrator to store, access, modify, reproduce, publish, post link to, share, and display publicly (e.g., on websites) submission abstracts and other submission content on the Challenge Website, their respective websites, Internet or elsewhere, in perpetuity.
2. By participating in the Challenge, each Entrant (including all individual team members and entities) represents and warrants that they are the sole author(s) or owner(s) of, or has/have the right to use, any copyrightable works or other materials that the submission comprises (the “Works”) including for purposes of the licenses granted to SFE and WFF hereunder; that the Works are wholly original with the Entrant (or is an improved version of an existing work that the Entrant has sufficient rights to use and improve); and that the Work does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party. If the submission includes any third party works (such as third-party content or open source code), the Entrant must provide documentation of all appropriate licenses and releases for use of such third party works, including for purposes of the licenses granted to SFE, WFF and the Administrator hereunder. If the Entrant cannot provide documentation of all required licenses and releases, SFE and WFF reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify the submission. In addition, to participate in the Challenge, each Entrant represents and warrants that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced non-exclusive licenses of Entrant rights to SFE, WFF, and the Administrator. Each Entrant further represents and warrants that its Work is free of (i) security threats and/or malware, (ii) any false or misleading content and/or (iii) any defamatory, obscene, or otherwise illegal content.
3. Each Entrant must clearly delineate any Intellectual Property (IP) and/or confidential commercial or financial information contained in a submission that the Entrant wishes to protect as proprietary data. Entrants are free to discuss their submissions and their ideas or technologies that they contain with other parties, are encouraged to share ideas/technologies publicly, are encouraged to collaborate or combine with other teams to strengthen their solutions, and are free to contract with any third parties subject to Entrants’ obligations under these Official Rules. Entrants should be aware that any agreement signed or obligation undertaken in regard to their participation in the Challenge that conflicts with these Official Rules may result in disqualification of the Entrant’s submission.

By participating in the Challenge, each Entrant hereby agrees that:

1. THE CHALLENGE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OF COMMITMENTS OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE SUCCESS OF ANY ENTRANT OR THAT ANY PRIZES WILL ULTIMATELY BE AWARDED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL SFE, WFF, THE ADMINISTRATOR, OR THE FISCAL AGENT (AND EACH OF THEIR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OWNERS, CONTRACTORS AND AGENTS) (COLLECTIVELY, THE “CHALLENGE PARTIES”) BE LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY  (INCLUDING DEATH), LOSSES,  CLAIMS, AND/OR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST SAVINGS, LOSS OF DATA, DAMAGE CAUSED TO A COMPUTER, COMPUTER SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS AND PROGRAMS AND THE DATA THEREON, REPLACEMENT COSTS, OR ANY SIMILAR DAMAGES, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE ARISING FROM ENTRANT’S PARTICIPATION IN THE CHALLENGE OR ANY CHALLENGE-RELATED ACTIVITIES, OR FROM ENTRANT’S ACCEPTANCE, RECEIPT, POSSESSION, USE OR MISUSE OF ANY PRIZE OR RECOGNITION.  THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE CHALLENGE PARTIES SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY THE ENTRANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CHALLENGE, WHICH IS ZERO DOLLARS  OR $100 IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE LIABILITY CANNOT BE COMPLETELY WAIVED.
2. The Entrant will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Challenge Parties from and against all third-party claims (including without limitation, claims brought by another party in Entrant’s team or another Entrant), actions, or proceedings of any kind and from any and all damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses arising from, or related to, Entrant’s participation in the Challenge including but not limited to (i) Challenge activities, prizes or recognition, (ii) patent, copyright or  trademark infringement, and/or (iii) and breach or alleged breach of any representations, warranties, and covenants of the Entrant related to the Challenge as set forth in these Official Rules, Challenge application or elsewhere on the Challenge Website.
3. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, SFE, WFF, the Fiscal Agent, and the Administrator are not responsible for incomplete, illegible, misdirected, misprinted, late, lost, postage-due, damaged, or stolen entries or prize notifications; or for lost, interrupted, inaccessible, or unavailable networks, servers, satellites, Internet Service Providers, websites, or other connections; or for miscommunications, failed, jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected computer, telephone, cable transmissions or other communications; or for any technical malfunctions, failures, difficulties, or other errors of any kind or nature; or for the incorrect or inaccurate capture of information, or the failure to capture any information.
4. These Official Rules cannot be modified except by SFE and WFF in their absolute discretion. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Official Rules shall otherwise remain in effect and shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein.

Entrants are required to identify and address privacy and security issues in their proposed projects and describe specific solutions for meeting them. In addition to complying with appropriate policies, procedures, and protections for data that ensures all privacy requirements and institutional policies are met, use of data should not allow the identification of the individual from whom the data was collected.

By participating in the Challenge, each Entrant hereby agrees that occasionally, SFE, WFF, and the Administrator may also use the Entrant’s information to contact the Entrant about prize challenge and innovation related activities, and acknowledges that the Entrant has read and accepted the Privacy Policy published on the Challenge Website.

Nothing contained in these Official Rules shall be deemed to constitute the Entrant a legal partner, joint venturer, employee, or agent of SFE, WFF, the Administrator, or the Fiscal Agent other any purpose.

These Official Rules shall be construed and governed by the laws of the State of New York without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of New York or any other jurisdiction). Access or use of the Challenge Website is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of the Official Rules

These Official Rules (which include the Privacy Policy) control the relationship between Entrant and SFE, WFF, the Administrator and the Fiscal Agent and represent the entire agreement among us with respect to your participation in the Competition. They do not create any third-party rights. If any part of these Official Rules is unenforceable, that will not affect the other terms. If an Entrant does not comply with any of the Official Rules and SFE, WFF, the Administrator or the Fiscal Agent does not take action to enforce them right away, that does not mean that we are giving up our right to take action in the future. We may take any actions necessary for us to comply with applicable laws and to enforce our rights hereunder.

SFE, WFF, the Administrator and the Fiscal Agent reserve the right to modify these Official Rules in our sole discretion at any time. Any modification to the Official Rules will be effective immediately upon posting by us. Your continued participation in the Competition after the posting of such modifications, with or without notification, constitutes binding acceptance of such modified Official Rules.