Virgin Earth
Challenge Guidelines
1.
Purpose and overview
The
purpose of the Virgin Earth Challenge is to encourage the development of
commercially viable new technology, processes and methods to remove
anthropogenic greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to improve the stability of
the Earth’s climate.
Entrants
must submit a commercially viable design (the “Design”) to achieve the net
removal of significant volumes of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases
each year for at least 10 years without countervailing harmful effects (the
“Removal Target”). The removal achieved by the Design must have long term benefits (measured
over say 1,000 years) and must contribute materially to the stability of the
Earth’s climate.
The
prize fund will be awarded to (or shared amongst) any entrants whose Design (in
the opinion of the judges) achieves or appears capable of achieving the Removal
Target and other criteria set out in paragraph 7 and which in the opinion of
the judges makes an outstanding contribution by way of innovation in the fields
of engineering or the other physical technologies or in the application of the
physical sciences, which is or will be for the benefit of the Earth’s climate.
Virgin
invites all interested individuals or teams to complete an Entry Form to
register to participate in the Virgin Earth Challenge. There’s an entry form
HERE.
2.
Guidelines and Participation Agreement
These
Guidelines (and the Participation Agreement (see below)) form the basis of the
rules that will govern the Virgin Earth Challenge. However, the Virgin Earth
Challenge will be subject to more detailed rules, terms and conditions. The
full rules, terms and conditions will be adopted within 60 days following the
official launch of the Virgin Earth Challenge on 9 February 2007. Such full
rules, terms and conditions will constitute a Participation Agreement to be
signed by all registered entrants who wish to compete in the Virgin Earth
Challenge.
3.
Publicity
3.1
Virgin
reserves the right to publish details of the entrants and/or winners of a cash
award (“Winners”) and any Design(s) on the virgin.com website and in other
promotional and publicity material as it considers appropriate, including
(without limitation) for the purpose of promoting the Virgin group. By entering,
entrants agree that they will be willing and available to participate in
publicity and promotional activities and events and/or press conferences and
that Virgin shall be entitled to use entrants’ names, photographs, country of
residence (but not full address) and other relevant information in publicity
throughout all media free of charge.
3.2
Entrants
shall not take part (or agree to take part) in any media coverage, or make any
press releases or other announcements regarding participation in the Virgin
Earth Challenge without the prior agreement of Virgin. No entrant shall refer
to the Virgin Earth Challenge or permit it to be referred to by any third party
for the purpose of promoting or publicizing any company or business other than
Virgin.
3.3
Any
entrant which goes on to implement or exploit any Design submitted to the
Virgin Earth Challenge shall reference the Virgin Earth Challenge (in a form to
be agreed with Virgin) in all relevant materials produced in connection with
the implementation and/or exploitation of such Design.
4.
How to enter the Virgin Earth Challenge
4.1
In
order to register to enter the Virgin Earth Challenge, each entrant must submit
a completed copy of the Entry Form (signed by all members of the team) to:
Virgin
Earth Challenge
120
Campden Hill Road
London
W8 7AR
United
Kingdom
4.2
An
entrant can submit an Entry Form registering to enter the Virgin Earth
Challenge at any time during the currency of the competition (see clause 9
below).
4.3
Entrants
who have submitted an Entry Form will receive a Participation Agreement which
is to be signed by all registered entrants who wish to compete in the Virgin
Earth Challenge. Only entrants who have submitted a duly completed Entry Form
will be entitled to enter into a Participation Agreement (when it is available)
and to compete in the Virgin Earth Challenge. Registration for the Virgin Earth
Challenge is not complete until receipt of a signed Participation Agreement and
any entrant who does not sign the Participation Agreement will not be eligible
to compete in the Virgin Earth Challenge.
5.
Submission of a Design
5.1
Only
Designs received from registered entrants who have signed a Participation
Agreement will be considered for entry into the Virgin Earth Challenge.
5.2
Entrants
must submit each Design entry in writing by post or by hand to:
Virgin
Earth Challenge
120
Campden Hill Road
London
W8 7AR
United
Kingdom
5.3
The
Virgin Earth Challenge is free to enter but each entrant shall bear the costs
if any of researching, preparing and submitting his/her Design(s).
5.4
The
number of Design entries per entrant is not limited.
5.5
The
Design submission should be sufficiently detailed and clear to enable the
judges to analyze properly and to form a view on all elements of the Design
including the method and any possible side effects of exploitation of the
Design.
5.6
By
entering the Virgin Earth Challenge, each entrant agrees to be bound by these
Guidelines and the Participation Agreement (once signed).
6.
Entries
6.1
Entries
will not be returned.
6.2
By
entering, each entrant confirms that the submitted Design is original, is the
entrant’s own work, is not in breach of any obligation of confidence, is not in
violation of any applicable laws, does not infringe any other third party
rights of whatever nature and that the entrant has all rights and permissions
necessary to submit the Design to the Virgin Earth Challenge and to exploit (or
grant rights to exploit) the Design anywhere in the World. Each entrant hereby
indemnifies Virgin and the judges against any and all loss, damages or
liability which they might incur by reason of any breach or alleged breach of
this paragraph or these Guidelines.
6.3
Entrants
shall be solely responsible to ensure that they take appropriate steps to
protect the intellectual property rights in their Design whether by way of
applying for patent, design or other registered intellectual property right
protection or otherwise.
7.
Criteria
7.1
Entries
will be judged according to the following criteria:
(a)
ability of the Design to achieve the Removal Target;
(b)
technical viability;
(c)
commercial viability;
(d)
effectiveness and efficiency;
(e)
scalability;
(f)
harmful effects and/or other incidental consequences
of the solution;
(g)
other contributions to the reduction in environmental
greenhouse gases;
(h)
longevity of effects; and
(i) any other criteria which the
judges decide in their discretion are relevant.
7.2
Entrants
may be required to provide further information to assist the judges in
assessing the Design and each entrant agrees to fully co-operate with the
judges. Information which is not in the public domain and is marked by the
entrant as confidential shall be treated as confidential by Virgin and the
judges.
7.3
Any
cash awards (“Awards”) will be awarded at the discretion of the judges. The
decision of the judges shall be final and no correspondence will be entered
into.
8.
Judges
8.1
Judging
of all submitted Designs will be conducted by a panel of judges comprising Sir
Richard Branson, Sir Crispin Tickell, Al Gore, James
Lovelock, Jim Hansen and Tim Flannery (provided that if any judge shall be
unable to judge the entries, such judge(s) may be replaced by an alternate
judge(s) selected by agreement of the remaining judges).
8.2
The
judges reserve the right to take external advice and guidance from The Climate
Group and/or such other experts as they consider appropriate.
8.3
No
judge shall (a) have personal or financial interests in, or be an employee,
officer, director, or agent of any entity that is a registered participant in
the Virgin Earth Challenge (or sponsor or financier of any such participant);
or (b) have a familial or financial relationship with an individual who is a
registered participant or participant sponsor.
9.
Challenge duration
9.1
The
Virgin Earth Challenge will open on 9 February 2007 (the “Opening Date”).
9.2
The
Virgin Earth Challenge shall be open for an initial period of 3 years from the
Opening Date and the deadline for submissions shall be 8 February 2010 (the
“Closing Date”).
9.3
Within
180 days after the Closing Date, the judges shall judge the entries submitted
by the Closing Date.
9.4
If
the judges consider that the criteria have been met and that one or more
entries should win some or all of the prize pool, Awards will be awarded and
the Winners will be announced by Virgin in accordance with these Guidelines.
9.5
If
some or all of the prize pool has not been awarded following judging of the
submissions, the Virgin Earth Challenge shall re-open for a further period and
the “Closing Date” shall be extended accordingly to 8 February 2011. The judges
shall repeat the judging process in accordance with paragraphs 9.3 and 9.4.
9.6
If
some or all of the prize pool has not been awarded following judging of the
submissions as set out in paragraph 9.5, the Virgin Earth Challenge shall
re-open for a further period and the “Closing Date” shall be extended
accordingly to 8 February 2012.
9.7
The
Virgin Earth Challenge will close on the earlier of either (i)
all of the prize pool fund being awarded; or (ii) the expiry of 5 years from
the Opening Date (unless Virgin decides in its sole discretion to roll any
remaining prize pool forward and leave the Virgin Earth Challenge open for a
further period to be determined by Virgin in its sole and absolute discretion).
9.8
Entries
submitted after any Closing Date shall not be considered unless some or all of the prize pool fund has not been won and the Virgin
Earth Challenge is re-opened as set out in these Guidelines (and in any event
whether such submissions shall be considered shall be in the absolute
discretion of the judges).
10.
The Award
10.1
The
total prize pool is US$25million.
10.2
The
judges may elect to award the entire prize pool funds to one Winner or to share
the prize pool funds (as the judges think fit) between two or more Winners totaling
US$25million in aggregate. The judges shall not be obliged to award all or any
of the total prize pool funds if in the judges’ absolute discretion the
criteria and Removal Target are not met.
10.3
The
Winner(s) will receive 20% of his/her Award upon the judges’ decision to make
the Award in respect of his/her Design (a “Winning Design”). The Winner(s) will
receive the remaining 80% of his/her Award upon satisfactory achievement by
his/her Design of the Removal Target for at least 10 consecutive years and
provided all other criteria continue to be met at that time. (The intervening
period between such payments shall be the “Post-Award Period”.) Accordingly, if
there is a single Winner of the total prize pool fund that Winner would receive
US$5 million upon the judges’ decision to make the Award and the remaining
US$20 million following achievement of the Removal Target and other criteria
for 10 years.
10.4
Winners
shall provide to Virgin from time to time upon request during the Post-Award
Period all information which may be requested by it in relation to any Winning
Design (and any subsequent improvements, variations or developments of such Winning
Design).
10.5
There
is no alternative to the cash Award.
10.6
An
Award may be subject to withholding tax (if applicable) and/or income tax or
other applicable tax may be payable by a Winner upon receipt of an Award.
11.
Award Winner announcement
11.1
Winners
will be notified in writing to the address given in the Entry Form as soon as
possible and in any event as soon as reasonably possibly following the expiry
of 180 days following the relevant Closing Date.
11.2
Details
of Winners will be published on virgin.com.
12.
Eligibility
12.1
The
Virgin Earth Challenge is open to entrants resident in any nation anywhere on Earth, save for any nations the laws of which provide that
entry in to the Virgin Earth Challenge is illegal. Designs may be submitted by
any individual or individuals, independent team or teams or any team or teams
working for a firm, company or other organisation of
any nature.
12.2
The
Virgin Earth Challenge is not open to:
(a)
board members and employees of Virgin; and
(b)
anyone who has been involved in organising,
promoting or judging the Virgin Earth Challenge.
13.
The promoter
13.1
The
promoter of the Virgin Earth Challenge shall be the Virgin company
specified as such in the Participation Agreement (“Virgin”).
14.
Virgin’s Liability
14.1
Virgin
accepts no liability for:
(a)
death, personal injury or other loss or damage
resulting from experiments or other preparation of Designs; or
(b)
entries lost, damaged or delayed in transmission and
proof of submitting an entry is not proof of receipt.
15.
Important information
15.1
Virgin
reserves the right to modify these Guidelines and the Participation Agreement
as necessary during the term of the challenge. Virgin will update registered
entrants or parties to Participation Agreements as appropriate as to any such
modifications.
15.2
In
registering to enter the Virgin Earth Challenge, each entrant does not rely on,
has not relied on, and shall have no remedy in respect of, any statement,
representation, warranty or other provision (in any case whether oral or
written, express or implied and whether negligently or innocently made) of any
person which is not expressly set out in these Guidelines (and/or the
Participation Agreement).
15.3
Virgin
shall be free to assign, transfer, sub-license or otherwise dispose of or deal
with its rights under these Guidelines (and/or a Participation Agreement).
15.4
The
Virgin Earth Challenge shall be governed by these Guidelines (and the
Participation Agreement once signed).
15.5
The
Virgin Earth Challenge and these Guidelines are governed by English law and
subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
©
Virgin 2007