1. Introduction

Founders at the University of Cambridge (“we”, “our” and “us”) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the Personal Data that we hold. This notice is intended to explain how we collect, use, and protect your Personal Data.

Founders at the University of Cambridge is a programme of events, training and acceleration run by Cambridge Enterprise Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Cambridge (the University). Reference to the University includes its spin-out and proto-companies and any reference to academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni are to those of the University.

Cambridge Enterprise Limited (Cambridge Enterprise) is a company registered in England and Wales with registered company number 01069886.

Cambridge Enterprise Limited is the data controller responsible for the personal information that you agree to share with Cambridge Enterprise Limited, directly or via the Founders at the University of Cambridge

The named person responsibility for data protection compliance for Cambridge Enterprise Limited is our Deputy Director. If you have any questions about how your personal information is being used, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact:

Cambridge Enterprise Limited, University of Cambridge

Hauser Forum, 3 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0GT

A full description of Cambridge Enterprise’s privacy and compliance policies can be found at https://www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/privacy-compliance/.

Please take a moment to read and understand Cambridge Enterprise’s policies. The Founders at the University of Cambridge policy supplements our other privacy policies and notices and is not intended to override them.

Founders at the University of Cambridge is committed to handling Personal Data fairly and lawfully and takes its data protection obligations very seriously. We ensure that we process Personal Data in compliance with applicable data protection laws, including without limitation, the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”).

This policy explains what personal information we gather about you when you visit our website and details what information is used.

2. What personal information will be processed?

The use of your personal information is necessary for the legitimate interests of Cambridge Enterprise in operating and improving this website, analysing its use and ensuring its security.

When you visit the Founders at the University of Cambridge website domain we hold certain information about you for service and security reasons. We use a third party service, Google Analytics 4, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We use Google Analytics 4, which does not log or store individual IP addresses. We use analytics to find out how visitors use our website and to improve its usability. The data is anonymised before it is stored and before we see or use it for analytics processing. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our site. For more information about how Google Analytics uses this information, please see the Google privacy policy.

We also collect the request made by your browser to the server hosting the website which includes the IP address, the date and time of connection and the page you ask for. We use this information to ensure the security of our websites and we delete it after a maximum of 3 months. We may use and disclose it as necessary in the event of a security concern or incident.

For more information about how we use cookies on our website, please see our Cookie policy.

Specific personal information collected on our website

Our website also collects some specific personal information and we use it in ways that are compatible with your individual rights and freedoms.  Where you enter your personal information into an online form on our website for any specified purpose, you will be told about the use we will make of that information (e.g. to send you newsletters or to enable your attendance at an event).

This website asks you to provide information about yourself in a number of places:

• Apply for a programme – We collect information from you when you register to apply for a programme. The information you provide will be used to process and manage your application. We may also contact you to undertake post-application evaluation. Please see How we use your personal information – Founders at the University of Cambridge for further information.We use Younoodle for online applications. Younoodle is a third-party service that is not owned or managed by Cambridge Enterprise. Please refer to Younoodle’s terms of service and privacy policy as we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies.
• Become a mentor – We collect information from you when you register as a potential mentor. The information you provide will be used to process and manage your application. We may also contact you to undertake post-application evaluation. Please see How we use your personal information – Founders at the University of Cambridge  for further information.
• Become an investor – We collect information from you when you register as a potential investor. The information you provide will be used to process and manage your application and/or related event bookings. We may also contact you to undertake post-application and/or post-event evaluation. Please see How we use your personal information – Founders at the University of Cambridge  for further information.
• Become a partner – We collect information from you when you register as a potential partner. The information you provide will be used to process and manage your application and/or related event bookings. We may also contact you to undertake post-application and/or post-event evaluation. Please see How we use your personal information – Founders at the University of Cambridge for further information.
• Join our community – We collect information from you when you apply to join our community. The information you provide will be used to process and manage your application and/or related event bookings. We may also contact you to undertake post-application and/or post-event evaluation. Please see How we use your personal information – Founders at the University of Cambridge for further information.
• Subscription preferences – We collect information about you when you opt-in to receive communications from us in connection with topics you have selected, such as news and/or events. The information you provide will be used to send you these communications. Your subscription preferences can be managed at any time. All marketing email communications will incorporate a link enabling you to unsubscribe from receiving further communications. You can also contact us directly to request that you are removed from our mailing list.
• Event booking – We collect information from you when you register to attend an event. The information you provide will be used to process and manage your event booking. We may also contact you to undertake post-event evaluation. Please see How we use your personal information – Founders at the University of Cambridge for further information. We use Eventbrite for online registration. Eventbrite is a third party service that is not owned or managed by Cambridge Enterprise. Please refer to Eventbrite’s terms of service and privacy policy as we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies. Where online transactions are required in connection with event bookings, these may be undertaken via the University of Cambridge e-sales system. For further guidance please refer to https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/

Founders at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Enterprise will keep a record of the details you provided and additional details provided by you.

We will collect:

• Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number

For further information on the specific types of data we collect for the areas listed above, please refer to How we use your personal information

We maintain:

• A record of your enquiry form and supporting documents
• A record of your electronic communications with us, including feedback, questions for and information provided by Cambridge Enterprise or Founders at the University of Cambridge
• A record of any communications (including electronic) with and feedback from your interactions with the academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and other persons external to the University facilitated by us
• A record of your preferences to receive marketing communications with us for any opportunities that we offer

We may collect your communications with third parties, for example where a third party application such as Younoodle is used by you to apply for a programme or event. We record, store and securely transmit your personal information in paper and electronic formats, in email and voice recording. We limit access to your personal information to your personal information to our employees and those at the University who have a need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We may combine the information you submit with other information we have collected from you, whether online or offline, and on your usage of our website.

We may collect certain information automatically as you navigate around our website.

Please see our Cookie Policy and How we use your personal information for further details.

3. What is the purpose of processing?

We will process your personal information for a range of contractual, statutory or public interest purposes, including to:

• Verify your credentials
• Process and manage your use of our website
• Respond to your messages submitted through our website or via any other communication
• Manage your account for marketing, including customising the type of communication we send to you according to your preferences
• Protect our legitimate interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests

We are committed to respecting the information you trust us with and to making sure that we keep it safe. Our websites collect very little personal information and we use it in ways that are compatible with your individual rights and freedoms.

The use of your personal information in the ways described above is necessary for the legitimate interests of Cambridge Enterprise in operating and improving its websites, analysing their use and ensuring their security, or is carried out with your consent when you accept certain cookies.

Where we do need to collect any additional personal data not listed above via our website, you will be told at that time about the use we will make of that information. For example, you may need to complete an online form in order for us to send you newsletters, to join our community, or to book to attend an event.

4. What is the legal basis for processing?

We set out in the table below, details of the lawful basis for which we process your personal information.

If we require your consent for any specific use of your personal information, we will collect it at the appropriate time and you can withdraw this at any time. We will not use your personal information to carry out any wholly automated decision-making that affects you.

Purpose – Legal basis for processing including basis of legitimate interests

• To manage our relationship with you from when you visit our website – a) Performance of our agreement with you; b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation; c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and persons external to the University use our services)
• To measure or understand the effectiveness of the information on and engagement with our website – Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and persons external to the University use our services, to develop them, to commercialise intellectual property, and to inform our marketing strategy
• To interact with our business teams – Necessary for our legitimate interests or to perform our obligations under our agreement with you (to ensure that opportunities are addressed in an efficient and effective way)
• To protect the vital interests of academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and persons external to the University using our services – Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to protect the vital interests of academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and persons external to the University
• To protect our vital interests – Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to better serve academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and persons external to the University)
• To collect and share any necessary feedback submitted via or relating to our website – Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to better serve academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and website users)
• To comply with our legal obligations concerning the services we provide – Necessary for compliance with a legal obligation (in order to disclose your personal information to legal or regulatory authorities, with whom we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to comply with any legal obligation, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni and third parties)
• To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) – (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the contect of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise); (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation

5. Links to other websites

Our website may include links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control those third-party websites and not responsible for their privacy policies or statements.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to any website operated by a third party. If you visit a third party website, please read its Privacy Notice or privacy statement to find out how it uses your personal data.

Date Notice Last Updated — 16 November 2023

Cookies

The web pages of founders.cam.ac.uk are run by Cambridge Enterprise and from time to time will set cookies on your computer, if you give consent.

About cookies

Cookies are small files which sit on your computer and record specific interactions between you and this website, and in some cases, other websites. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of the website which helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website, and also allows us to improve our site. This information is sometimes shared with third parties.

First party cookies are set by Cambridge Enterprise. Third party cookies are set by other companies, such as analytics providers. Cookies may be ‘essential’, which enable the services we offer, or ‘non-essential’, which help us to understand how our services are being used (analytics). Session cookies expire (are deleted) when you close your browser session, whereas persistent cookies remain until they either expire or are actively deleted by you via your browser settings. Expiration dates are set in the cookies themselves and may vary in length, depending on the purposes of the cookie.

Below is more detail about the cookies we use, what they record and who the information is shared with.

Necessary cookies

These cookies do things like keep the website secure and accessible. They always need to be on. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions and is not recommended.

Site usage measurement / analytical cookies

Site usage measurement cookies allow us to analyse anonymised navigation patterns, to learn how people use our website and to make it better.

We would like to use Google Analytics cookies to help us to improve our website. These cookies store anonymised information about how you use our website, such as how you got to the website, the pages you visit and how long you spend on each page.

How to disable cookies

Your web browser will have an option you select which will limit or block cookies. Below are links to popular web browsers, and how to block cookies using them.

• Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari
• Other web browsers