Rules

The Altice International Innovation Award (AIIA) intends to distinguish, promote and support the technological talent while reinforcing Altice as an innovative company. The AIIA initiative starts at 28 of February 2019 and ends on November 13, 2019.

The aim of the initiative is to award projects from finalist students (Master’s or PhD) and startups in the incubation phase (up to 3 years), who present innovative projects in technological areas relevant to Altice International’s core business.

The initiative is applicable to the following countries:

1. Portugal;
2. France.

The AIIA initiative intends to recognise innovative projects, from two categories:

1. Master or PhD students living in Portugal or France;
2. Startups in the incubation phase (up to 3 years old) based in Portugal or France.

The following groups are not allowed to participate in the AIIA:

1. Employees of any Altice Group companies;
2. Service providers of any of the entities mentioned in point 1;
3. Any individual who is chosen to be part of the applications analysis and evaluation team.

All the applications must be submitted online by using the form provided on the AIIA website. Registration by any other means will not be considered unless there are proven situations of unavailability/error in the form whose causes are attributable to Altice Labs.

All the submitted information, as well as all the attached documentation, must be in English and, to better defend the project, you will need to submit at least the powerpoint presentation available here (use this link to download it), completely filled in with the asked information. Your application will be evaluated through it, and it will be one of the primary sources of information about it.

Under the partnership celebrated between Altice Labs and ANI (Agência Nacional de Inovação – National Innovation Agency) all Portuguese semifinalists are automatically qualified to the Born From Knowledge (BfK AWARDS), which aims to distinguish “knowledge-born” projects, as well as startups that stand out the most in R&D activities. Evaluation criteria and other details are available here. Please, read them carefully and make sure to check them in the documentation submitted along with the application.

By submitting an application, candidates fully agree to be bound by the terms and conditions set forth by this contest rules. Candidates must also be aware that:

1. The applications and documents submitted will not be returned to the candidates;
2. Candidates must bear all costs related to the preparation and submission of the application(s);
3. Requests for clarifications about the AIIA should be addressed to innovationaward@alticelabs.com. All responses will be given within a maximum of 5 working days, through the same channel;
4. Altice Labs reserves the right to change or cancel the AIIA by notifying all candidates by e-mail in the event of force majeure or in cases where applications submitted do not meet the minimum quality or creativity requirements;
5. The cancellation mentioned in 4. does not confer the right to the candidates for any compensation.

The projects submitted will be evaluated according to the following criteria and weights:

Startup Category
1. Creativity and innovation – 50%
2. Business model and growth potential – 30%
3. Impact on society – 20%

Academy Category
1. Creativity and innovation – 60%
2. Business model and growth potential – 15%
3. Impact on society – 25%

The evaluation scale to be used will be 0 to 5.

Submitted projects will be valued, among others, for the ability to:

• Engage customers by delivering delightful, personalised experiences based on data and content as well as by allowing the convergence of functionalities among different devices;
• Enrich services through premium content offerings;
• Connect customers to brands through cutting-edge digital advertising platforms/applications;
• Offer a truly unique value proposition, data-driven, measurable and multiscreen experience to brands, agencies and the media industry;
• Transform business models: building innovative products/UIs based on actual customer behaviours and diversified business models;
• Optimise corporate operations, digitalise key customer processes and channels.

Under the partnership celebrated between Altice Labs and ANI (Agência Nacional de Inovação – National Innovation Agency) all Portuguese semifinalists are automatically qualified to the Born From Knowledge (BfK AWARDS), which aims to distinguish “knowledge-born” projects, as well as startups that stand out the most in R&D activities. Evaluation criteria and other details are available here. Please, read them carefully and make sure to check them in the documentation submitted along with the application.

All valid applications received between February 28 and June 30, 2019, until 23 hours and 59 minutes (GMT), will be first evaluated by the local Committees that will be responsible for identifying 6 finalists per country (3 per category), in a total of 12 finalists. The evaluation period will occur between July 15 and September 27, 2019.

Applications received will be evaluated according to a qualitative and quantitative methodology procedure in accordance with the criteria set out in point 6 of this contest rules.

The shortlisted candidates, by category, will defend their idea in a 5-minute pitch to the AIIA international Grand Jury on the 13th of November, 2019, in Lisbon, Portugal. The Grand Jury will be responsible for selecting the two AIIA winners (one per category) that will also be announced on the 13th of November, 2019, in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Grand Jury will be responsible for the evaluation on the pitch day. Besides including some key persons from Altice Group, it will also be constituted by relevant personalities of the research and innovation system and social media of each of the geographies.

The Evaluation and Monitoring Committee main function is to ensure the proper functioning of the AIIA as well as to validate and evaluate all applications submitted. Each country will have a local committee. The Evaluation and Monitoring Committee will be constituted by members from Altice Labs (Portugal) and SFR (France).

The deliberations of the Grand Jury and the Evaluation and Monitoring Committee are final and binding in all its aspects and may not be disputed.

Candidates from the 12 finalist projects will be contacted by email on September 30, 2019, having to confirm their interest until October 7. In case of impossibility to attend the pitch moment, the vacancy will be filled by the next candidate in the ranking table. The non-attendance on the pitch will be considered a project elimination factor and, therefore, candidates for finalist projects must undertake to be duly represented at the said ceremony.

The announcement of the results of the AIIA will happen:

Through public announcement in an event (winner’s ceremony);

By notification, by e-mail to the candidates;

By publication on the award website.

The awards for the 2 winning projects, one for the academy winner and one for the startup winner, are:

1. Startup award – only 1st place:
   •  € 50.000 net of tax;
   • PoC with Altice Group;
   • Award trophy.
2. Academy award – only 1st place
   • € 25.000,00 net of tax;
   • Award trophy.

Together with the prize money, it will be offered to the winning startup the possibility to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to perform a proof-of-concept (PoC) in order to evolve its project technically and pre-commercially.

The duration period for the PoC will be 9 months extensible, if both parts wish so, to 12 months. During this period the startup will have access to the following items:

• Working space at ENTER, a coworking space from Altice Labs located in Lisbon (may be a space in France for French candidates);
• Project exposure to Altice Group;
• Technical support and mentoring (in areas like Systems architecture; HW and SW technologies; systems integration; product industrialisation, if applicable);
• Business support to better define/adjust the project business model.

Under the partnership celebrated between Altice Labs and ANI (Agência Nacional de Inovação – National Innovation Agency) all Portuguese semifinalists are automatically qualified to the Born From Knowledge (BfK AWARDS), which aims to distinguish “knowledge-born” projects, as well as startups that stand out the most in R&D activities. Evaluation criteria and other details are available here.

The winner of this honour (the project that best proves to be born from knowledge considering the program evaluation criteria) will receive a piece of art as well as a prize money of €5000.

The following dates should be taken into account by all candidates:

• February 28, 2019: release date;
• February 28 until June 30, 2019 (23h59 GMT): application period;
• July 01 until July 12, 2019: validation of all the received applications by local committees;
• July 15 until September 27, 2019: evaluation of all the valid applications by local committees in order to find 6 finalists per country (3 per category);
• September 30, 2019: shortlist closing:
• October 1 until November 12, 2019: preparation period of the pitch moment and final ceremony;
• November 13, 2019: Pitch to the Grand Jury and Winner’s ceremony (at Capitólio, in Lisbon, Portugal).

Copyright and industrial property rights over the candidates’ projects, as well as all technical documentation relating to them, are not transferred to Altice Labs or to any of the companies of the Altice Group.

Each candidate will be responsible for the protection of any potential copyright and industrial property rights related to their application and the documents that comprise it. Altice Labs and/or the companies of the Altice Group will not be liable for any failure of the candidates to protect any copyright and/or industrial property related to the applications.

Within the scope of the AIIA initiative, collecting and processing of personal data of the candidates in the application process is necessary to carry out all procedures inherent to the participation, Altice Labs undertakes to comply with the Personal Data legislation in force in the countries.

By completing the application form, the candidates expressly acknowledge to the storage and processing of the data entered for the above purposes. All data provided will be treated as confidential, stored and processed only for the purpose for which it was collected, and made available only to the person(s) responsible for dealing with it. Personal data will not be passed on to third parties or published or made available for general access without the candidate’s express written consent. Candidates are granted the rights applicable by law, namely, rights of access, rectification and erasure. Personal data referred to above should be stored no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data was processed.

Each candidate declares and warrants that:

• The application submitted complies with the requirements of originality and has not been plagiarized and that the information and data it provides are true, accurate and are not encumbered in any way;
• The application and all accompanying documents and information do not infringe any third-party rights, including copyrights and/or industrial property rights, and comply with applicable laws and regulations;
• The application does not contain any viruses or other potentially harmful programs or other material or information;
• It will act at all times lawfully, ethically and in good faith, and comply with all applicable laws and regulations;
• It authorizes, free of charge, Altice Labs or any of the companies of the Altice Group to use, totally or partially, its name, its image, animated or not, and the reference to the project in the events carried out under the AIIA, for the purpose of promoting and disseminating the projects developed, in any part of the world and by any means, as well as its insertion in promotions and promotional materials of Altice Labs or any other company or brand of the Altice Group.

Candidate undertakes to indemnify Altice Labs against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses suffered or incurred by Altice Labs or Altice Group companies arising out of or in connection with any third-party claim made against Altice Labs or Altice Group companies arising from breach of the warranties above.