Terms of Participation 2022

Content of Terms as of 11.04.2022 08.07.2022

1Organiser of The Copernicus Masters

The Copernicus Masters is organised under an ESA contract by Anwendungszentrum GmbH
Oberpfaffenhofen (“the Organiser”) and is supported by various prize-awarding partners (“the Partners”).

2

Objective of The Competition

The Copernicus Masters is designed to support the development of Copernicus-related entrepreneurshipby eliciting and rewarding projects and business ideas that make use of Earth observation data primarily
generated under the Copernicus programme. The Copernicus Masters 2022 is calling for proposals between
11 April and 11 July 13 July 11:59 PM CEST (extended) in different categories (“the Challenges”) and (“thePrizes”).

3

Right to Participate

Enterprises, scientific institutions, and individuals of legal adult age are entitled to participate in theCopernicus Masters 2022. Applications will be accepted from anywhere in the world except for the ESASpaceLeap Challenge. The ESA Space LeapChallenge accepts proposals only from enterprises, scientificinstitutions, and individuals of legal adult age having a permanent residency, their headquarters ornationality in countries that have signed a Copernicus cooperation agreement on Copernicus data accessand Earth observation data exchange. Namely: the United States, Australia, Ukraine, Chile, Colombia,Serbia, African Union, India and Brazil. Plus Eastern Partnership Countries: Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine,Armenia and Azerbaijan.

4Submission Period 2022

Participants are requested to electronically submit their contributions from April 11, 2022 until EOD (11:59
p.m. CEST) July 11 July 13th, 2022 (extended). Please refer to the procedure described below.

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5Challenges and Prizes in 2022

Descriptions of all of the Challenges in the Copernicus Masters 2022 are available at https://copernicusmasters.com/. Each Challenge focuses on a specific topic, and therefore offers a different reward. The
dedicated evaluation criteria for each Copernicus Masters Challenge can also be found on the dedicatedlanding pages of the challenges. They will determine the winning proposal.
The Copernicus Masters Regional Prizes represent either a region or a country. The participants may choose
their desired Copernicus Masters Regional Prize additionally to the Challenge based on the reward offeredby the Copernicus Masters Regional Prize partners as the Copernicus Masters Regional Prizes do not have aspecific focus. Every Copernicus Masters Regional Prize has its own landing page to inform the participant
about the benefits of the Prize Partner and the reward. They are available at: https://copernicusmasters.com/#Regional-Prizes

6Procedure

The competition will be organised and carried out exclusively in English via a secure online idea databaseaccessible at www.copernicus-masters.com. Registration at this site is required to create a user account, which
may then be used to submit innovative business ideas to any of the Copernicus Masters Challenges andadditionally to any Copernicus Masters Regional Prizes. When creating an account, participants will be asked
to provide contact details, which the Organiser will use to inform them of all matters related to theCopernicus Masters and any other issues the Organiser deems relevant to participants in the competition.
After registering, participants will receive a confirmation link they can use to log in and enter their details.
To start your submission, participants will be required to choose the Challenge & Prize to which they would
like to submit a proposal and answer all of the mandatory questions in an online questionnaire.
The following specification clarifies the procedure to apply:••

Participants can ONLY select one Partner Challenge and, with the same entry, additionally choose
ONLY one Prize Partner if they desire
It is possible to enter more than one idea using the same personal account, but participants may
not enter the same idea for different Challenges & Prizes

New Challenges and Prizes may be added while the competition is underway. Any additional Challenges andPrizes will be announced on www.copernicus-masters.com, which will always reflect the most current
status.
Participants must submit their idea and complete the mandatory sections of the database no later than
11:59pm hrs. CEST on 11 July 2022 13 July 2022 (extended). Only those ideas that contain all the mandatory
information will be considered for evaluation. Ideas will automatically enter the evaluation phase when youhit the submit button in the database. Participants will receive a notification of submission from theorganiser. However, participants can still edit their entry at any time until the closing of the database. Inthat case it is important to again click the submit button to make sure your latest version goes intoevaluation. The entry will then be submitted to a dedicated panel of experts appointed to the chosen
Challenge and Prize. Each of the experts tasked with evaluating the ideas submitted will be required tocommit to a non-disclosure agreement with the Organiser before the ideas are put forward for evaluation.
The evaluation of the ideas is an anonymous process. Each idea will receive its own identification number.
During the evaluation process, the experts will only be able to see this ID. In each Challenge and Prize,www.space-of-innovation.com© AZO – Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen

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however, a small number of finalists may be invited to deliver a personal pitch or participate in a phoneinterview. This will, of course, require disclosure of the participant’s name, but he or she will already havebeen nominated as a finalist at this stage.
Participants acknowledge that their contact details will be passed on to the respective Challenge sponsor
and Prize sponsor to which they have registered their idea/solution, after the database has been closed
and the winners chosen. This partner may then contact participants to determine whether they areinterested in moving forward with the ideas submitted.

7

Awarding of Prizes

The expert teams of each Challenge and Prize will select, at their discretion, their own winning idea. Inaddition, one overall winner of the competition 2022 will be selected by an international experts teamamongst all Challenge and Prize winners, under the supervision of a legal counsel. The Organiser and thePartners shall assume no liability whatsoever for the outcome of the selection process. This outstanding
entrant will be awarded a cash prize to the value of EUR 10,000.
The awards ceremony for the Overall Winner 2022, the Copernicus Masters Regional Prize winners, and theCopernicus Masters Challenge winners will take place in late 2022 (exact date and place tbd).

8Prize Money

AZO will pay prize money to Challenge and Prize winners or persons authorised by them according to thecompetition terms and conditions and in the name or for the account of the respective contracting
authority. The prize money will be paid in the currency of the contracting authority or organiser using theexchange rate of the bank executing the transfer at the day of payment. Bank charges will be covered by
the recipient. Any resulting tax obligations which are caused or affected by the receipt of prize money are
to be beared by the recipient himself.

9Confidentiality

Measures have been taken to ensure the confidentiality of the ideas submitted in the Copernicus Masters
2022. The transmitted ideas will be protected against any access by unauthorised third parties. The experts
and all other personnel assigned to organise the competition and evaluate the submissions will also berequired by contract to treat all matters as confidential.
All of the personal data of the participants will be treated confidentially and may only be passed on to thegroup of persons named by the Organiser. Please refer to the link to the data protection policy
https://email.azo-space.com/asset/30:azoprivacypolicyen2018finalpdf
During the awards ceremony, the awarded ideas will be made public along with the names and contact
details of the prize winners.
By participating in this competition and accepting any of the prizes awarded, all participants acknowledge
that the Organiser and initiators may use their names, addresses, comments, likenesses, photos (incl.
photos taken of the winners at the Awards Ceremony), and descriptions of their ideas in publicity or
advertising concerning the competition or otherwise in any medium now known or hereafter devised(including the Internet or other interactive networks) at any place or time without further compensation orright of review, and agree to waive their rights with respect to any such publicity and advertising.

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Once an idea has been publicly recognised, the Organiser, Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen
and the Partners shall take no further responsibility regarding the further cooperation of the respective
winner with any of the Partners, regional management organisations or members of the expert panels. This
also includes cases in which no cooperation between a winner and the respective partner or regional
management organisation materialises despite the award in question.

10 Rights
Participants shall retain the intellectual property rights to their respective ideas. Whether participantsrealise their ideas themselves or with a partner of their choice is left to their discretion. Participating in theCopernicus Masters 2022 will not grant participants any additional rights to their respective ideas.
Prior to entering the competition, participants are advised to notify their employers (if applicable) of theirideas in case they were developed in connection with said employment. If chosen as the winner of any
Challenge or Prize or both, an idea will be made public; any intellectual property protection (if the idea was
not previously protected by a patent) may thus be rendered void or otherwise lost. As a result, the idea may
become common property. Participants are therefore strongly advised to protect their ideas adequately,such as by applying for a patent, utility model, or another form of intellectual property protection.
Despite all of the efforts made to keep the participants’ ideas and information confidential prior to their
publication, participants hereby understand and acknowledge that neither the Organiser nor the Partners
shall assume any liability for any damages resulting from their ideas or information becoming public.
By entering the competition, participants affirm that they are the sole owners of all rights pertaining to theideas they submit and that their participation will not violate the rights of any third party. Should any thirdparty rights nonetheless come to light, participants further affirm that neither the Organiser nor thePartners shall be held liable for any amount of resulting damages or claims. The Organiser and Partners shallthus be exempt from any third-party claims.

11 Miscellaneous
Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen takes no responsibility regarding the provision of therewards offered by any of the competition partners. This also includes the payment of cash awards or theconduction of in-kind services. The fulfilment of the services offered is the sole responsibility of therespective challenge partner or prize partner.
The decisions made concerning the competition’s awards shall not be subject to dispute in a court of law.
The decisions rendered by the experts involved in the different Challenges and Prizes shall be final andbinding for all participants in all aspects of the competition. Participants shall have no right to be provided
with any justification for the experts’ decisions.
Each winner shall be responsible for rendering any and all federal, state, local, provisional, and other taxes.
Winners who are to be awarded a cash prize must submit to the Organiser an official document (signed bytheir employer) stating that they (and not their company) are to receive said prize.
The Organiser reserves the right to modify the present terms, including any of the deadlines set forth herein,at any time.
Participation in this competition shall be subject to German law. Place of jurisdiction shall be Munich,Germany.

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12 CONTACT
For more information on the competition, please visit: www.copernicus-masters.com.
If you have any further questions, please send them to support@copernicus-masters.com.

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