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Effective date: 17 August 2026
Last updated: 18 August 2026
Version: 2.1
This privacy notice explains how GLOBAL INNOVATION FORUM LIMITED collects and uses personal information through inno-forum.org and, where we are responsible for the processing, through Innovation Forum events, hackathons, programmes, communications, related forms, microsites and participant workspaces.
Controller: GLOBAL INNOVATION FORUM LIMITED
Company number: 10010132
Registered office: Future Business Centre, Kings Hedges Rd, Cambridge CB4 2HY, United Kingdom
Privacy contact: [email protected] (please use “Data protection” in the subject line)
Please tell us if your contact information changes or if information we publish about you is inaccurate.
This notice applies where GLOBAL INNOVATION FORUM LIMITED determines why and how personal information is used. A third-party platform, event organiser, professional adviser, local organisation or other recipient may sometimes act as a separate or joint controller. Where that happens, its own privacy notice may also apply.
We may provide additional privacy information for a particular event, hackathon, programme, application form, microsite or participant workspace. That activity-specific notice supplements this notice by explaining the particular information collected, purposes, lawful bases, recipients, technologies and retention periods. It does not reduce your rights or the commitments in this notice. Where it gives more specific information, it applies to the relevant activity while this notice continues to apply to our general processing.
Our services may be of interest to students and young people. If you are under 18 and are unsure about providing personal information, please speak to a parent, guardian or responsible adult, or contact us before doing so.
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:
We do not ask you to provide more information than is reasonably needed for the relevant activity. Please do not send us sensitive personal information unless we have requested it and explained why it is needed.
Where information is needed to enter into or perform a contract, meet a legal requirement or provide a requested service, the relevant form or communication will identify it. If you do not provide required information, we may be unable to provide that service or complete the requested activity.
We normally collect information directly from you when you contact us, complete a form, create an account, use a related microsite or participant workspace, register for an event or hackathon, subscribe, apply to a programme or agree to be featured.
We may also receive information from:
Where the law requires us to provide additional information because personal information was obtained from another source, we will do so within the applicable period.
We use identity, contact, professional and communications information to answer enquiries, manage relationships, administer membership, partnerships and sponsorships, and keep appropriate records. We rely on steps requested before a contract, performance of a contract, and our legitimate interests in operating and developing Innovation Forum, depending on the circumstances.
We use registration, application, professional, participation and attendance information to organise events, hackathons and programmes; assess applications; allocate participants to teams or challenges; provide access to participant workspaces; send essential service and safety communications; and provide requested services. Essential operational communications about an activity are not direct marketing. We rely on steps requested before a contract, performance of a contract, legitimate interests in delivering and improving our activities, and legal obligations where applicable.
If optional accessibility or dietary information reveals health or religious beliefs, we will identify both an ordinary lawful basis and an applicable special-category condition. Where we rely on explicit consent, you may withdraw it. We limit sharing to those who need the information to make the relevant arrangements.
We use necessary identity, contact and transaction information for invoicing, accounting, tax, fraud prevention, legal claims and compliance with lawful requests. We rely on legal obligations and our legitimate interests in protecting our organisation and enforcing legal rights.
We send electronic marketing to individual subscribers where they have consented or where the products-and-services soft opt-in applies. That soft opt-in applies only where we obtained the contact details directly during a sale or genuine negotiation, market our own similar products or services, offered an opt-out when collecting the details, and provide a simple, free opt-out in every message.
Where electronic-marketing consent is required, consent is also our UK data-protection basis. Where a valid soft opt-in or lawful corporate marketing applies, we rely on our legitimate interests in communicating relevant Innovation Forum activities, subject to your rights and a balancing assessment.
Different electronic-marketing rules may apply to corporate subscribers. UK data-protection law still applies where a business address identifies a person. We identify ourselves, honour objections and maintain a minimal suppression record so that an opt-out is not accidentally reversed. You can unsubscribe using the link in a message or by contacting us. We do not rely on a charity-specific marketing exception unless our eligibility and every statutory condition have been verified.
We may publish information about current team members, advisers, speakers and contributors where this is needed to explain our organisation and activities. Before relying on legitimate interests, we must document the purpose, necessity, reasonable expectations and impact on the individual. Where that assessment has not been completed, we use another valid basis or do not publish.
Optional alumni profiles are intended to recognise former contributors and inspire students and innovators. We are reviewing existing alumni profiles and their supporting records. Before keeping an optional alumni profile, we will record the individual’s consent or a completed legitimate-interests assessment, as appropriate, and verify the information. We may temporarily remove or clearly mark information as historical while it is being checked. You may ask us to correct or remove your profile at any time.
Website and security technologies may be used to provide requested functions, maintain sessions, prevent spam and abuse, and protect our systems. A storage-and-access exception is available only where the particular technology and purpose meet the statutory conditions, such as strict necessity or an eligible security purpose. We document the basis separately from our UK data-protection lawful basis.
Non-essential advertising, behavioural and similar storage or access technologies require consent. A statistical-purpose exception is available only where its legal conditions are met, including use solely for aggregate service-improvement statistics, no individual tracking or advertising use, appropriate provider restrictions, clear information and a simple, free way to object. Our cookie notice provides further information.
We may use relevant information to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, respond to complaints, cooperate with regulators or authorities, and comply with law. We rely on legal obligations and our legitimate interests in protecting legal rights and demonstrating compliance.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the purpose, necessity and impact on individuals. You can ask for information about a relevant assessment or object to the processing.
Our website may use cookies, pixels, tags, scripts and related technologies supplied by us or third parties. On the sampled privacy-policy page at the date of this notice, the source contained Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insight, Hotjar and CleanTalk technology. Their exact operation, purpose and prevalence across the wider website are being verified.
Some technologies may be eligible for a security, strict-necessity or statistical-purpose exception. Analytics, usability, campaign measurement and advertising technologies that do not meet an exception require consent. Silence, inactivity or continued browsing is not valid consent to non-exempt technologies.
Interim tracking notice: we are replacing the website’s legacy consent control and reconciling the deployed technology with the cookie notice. The privacy notice cannot by itself correct the technical control. Please see our cookie notice and contact us if you wish to object or have questions while this work is completed.
We share personal information only where necessary and proportionate. Recipients may include:
Depending on the activity, a recipient may be our processor, an independent controller or a joint controller. Processors must act under an appropriate contract and documented instructions. Separate or joint controllers are responsible for their own uses and should provide the relevant privacy information.
The exact provider and its role depend on the service, page and configuration. We are reconciling our current vendor and role register. The website technologies identified on the sampled privacy-policy page are listed in section 6; a collection form or platform should identify any separate controller that applies to that interaction.
Some recipients may store or access personal information outside the United Kingdom. UK law requires a restricted transfer to be covered by applicable UK adequacy regulations, an appropriate safeguard after any required data-protection test, or a specific exception.
We are reviewing our recipient-country-mechanism register and supporting documents. Before initiating or continuing a restricted transfer, the applicable current UK route must be recorded and verified. You may contact us to ask which route applies to your information or to request a copy of an applicable safeguard, subject to lawful redactions.
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, reporting, complaint and claims requirements. We consider the amount, sensitivity and risk of the information, the purposes, whether those purposes can be achieved in another way, and applicable legal duties.
Other periods and review triggers are set by our retention schedule and the relevant activity. You may ask us about the period that applies to your information. We may anonymise information so that it can no longer identify you and use the resulting information without further notice.
We use proportionate technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, loss or destruction. Access is limited to people and providers with a business need, subject to appropriate duties and controls. No internet service is completely secure, so please contact us promptly if you believe information or an account has been compromised.
Website, analytics, advertising and security providers may analyse technical or interaction information to produce statistics, measure campaigns, identify likely audiences, improve usability or detect spam and abuse. Depending on the configuration and identifiability of the information, this may constitute profiling. The relevant cookie and privacy information, consent or objection controls apply.
Our current review has not identified solely automated processing used by GLOBAL INNOVATION FORUM LIMITED to make decisions about you that produce legal or similarly significant effects. We are validating relevant vendor and account configurations. If such processing is identified or introduced, we will provide the information and safeguards required by law.
Depending on the circumstances and our lawful basis, you may have rights to:
You have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
To exercise a right, email [email protected]. A valid request made through another channel will still be recognised. We may need reasonable information to verify your identity and understand your request. We normally respond without undue delay and within one month. Where the law permits, we may extend that period by up to two further months and will explain this within the first month. We do not normally charge a fee, but the law permits a reasonable fee or refusal in limited circumstances, including a manifestly unfounded or excessive request.
The “Information Removal Request” form displayed below this notice may also be used to ask for erasure. Submitting it is a request, not automatic deletion: the right to erasure is not absolute, and we may need to retain information required by law, for legal claims, security or a minimal marketing-suppression record. We will assess the request and explain the outcome.
You can make a data-protection complaint by emailing [email protected] with “Data protection complaint” in the subject line. We will facilitate complaints, acknowledge them within 30 days, make appropriate enquiries, keep you informed without undue delay and tell you the outcome.
You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You do not have to contact us first. See ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or telephone 0303 123 1113.
Our website may link to websites, plug-ins or services operated by other organisations. We do not control those organisations’ uses of personal information. Please read the relevant privacy notice before providing information or enabling a connection.
We review this notice at least annually and when our purposes, technologies, recipients or legal obligations materially change. We will publish the updated version here and, where appropriate, draw significant changes to your attention. We will identify the effective date or last-updated date on activity-specific notices and review them with the related processing.
