This is the website of the Scotland Innovates service. The Service (as defined below) is provided by NHS National Services Scotland (NHS NSS) on behalf of the Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate (SPPD) of the Scottish Government.

1. Definitions

Assessor – means a public sector employee (including but not limited to employees of NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD)) who has registered to become an assessor of innovations via the Website in accordance with these Terms.

Confidential Information – means any information which has been designated as confidential or which is by its nature confidential.

Innovation – means the submission of a solution via the Website by a Registered User in accordance with these Terms.

Innovator – means a Registered User (other than an Assessor) who has completed the Website registration process and has or intends to submit an Innovation via the Website.

Intellectual Property Rights – means patents, rights to inventions, copyright and related rights, trade marks, trade names and domain names, rights in get-up, rights in goodwill or to sue for passing off, rights in designs, rights in computer software, database rights, rights in confidential information (including know-how and trade secrets) and any other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications (or rights to apply) for, and renewals or extensions of, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which may now or in the future subsist in any part of the world.

Registered Users – means Users, Innovators and Assessors who have completed the Website registration process, including entering their personal details and accepting these Terms.

Service – means the complete Scotland Innovates service, including the Website, newsletter subscriptions, service desk, and innovation and assessment capability.

Stakeholder – means an agent who is authorised to act as an Assessor or administrator of the Service on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Terms – means these Registered User Terms and Conditions.

Users - means all persons who access and use the Website, including but not limited to members of the public, public sector organisations and their staff and both suppliers and prospective suppliers of products and technologies.

User Content Pages – includes content posted by Users on the Website (excluding NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD)).

Website – means the website at www.innovator.scot.

2.User Registration

By registering to access and use the Website a User must read and accept these Terms and the Website Terms of Use. We may change these Terms by changing this page at any time.

Registration on the Website and submission of an Innovation is free of charge and voluntary. Any personal data that a User submits via the Website will be treated in accordance with the Privacy Statement.

3.Information required to register and conditions of registration.

Registered Users

Users must supply the following information: their email address, full name, contact telephone number, organisation name, organisation address, organisation contact email, and type and size of organisation. Users must also read and accept all these Terms before being able to become a Registered User.

Innovators will be able to submit information on their proposed Innovation via the Website for review and assessment by an Assessor.

It is a condition of registration as a Registered User that:

  • a) Neither the User nor the organisation that the User is associated with is subject to exclusion from public contracts under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015;
  • b) Neither the User nor the organisation that the User is associated with is from a country which is subject to applicable UK trade sanctions;
  • c) The User and/or the organisation that the User is associated with abides by UK anti-slavery and human-trafficking rules and regulations in connection with the operation of the Service; and
  • d) The User and or the organisation that the User is associated with adhere to the applicable UK laws and regulations on whistleblowing.

Assessors

In order to register as an Assessor, a User must provide the following information: their email address, full name, contact telephone number, name of organisation affiliated to and organisation address. A User, registering to be an Assessor, also must read and accept these Terms. Please note, only public-sector employees are allowed to apply for an Assessor role and only valid public sector email accounts can be used for an Assessor's registration for the Service. If a User fails to provide the necessary information or a valid public-sector email account, their application for registration as an Assessor will be automatically rejected.

By registering as an Assessor and subject to review by the administrator of the Website, the Assessor will be able to make and record assessments of submitted Innovations when assigned to them. By registering as an Assessor, in addition to complying with these Terms, the Assessor is agreeing to the Declaration of Impartiality and Confidentiality. The Declaration of Impartiality can be found here Schedule 1 of these Terms.

Cancellation of registration

If a Registered User wishes to cancel their account, they can contact the Service admin team, via the contact details provided on the About page, under Team Contact Details, and the Registered User’s registration details will be removed and their account will be deleted. Note that we may retain some personal details in accordance with our Privacy Statement.

4.User obligations

In registering for a Scotland Innovates account, Users must:

  • a) comply with the Website Terms of Use relating to access to, use of, and registration with the Website;
  • b) comply with these Terms;
  • c) keep confidential any personal login details and password provided by, or allocated to, the Registered User and be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from use of any such personal login details and password by any third party;
  • d) ensure that details supplied by the User in order to register for such access are accurate and to advise promptly if any such details change;
  • e) not upload any Confidential information or any material or information that the User has no authority or licence to share with NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD);
  • f) not upload any content which may be considered false, offensive, defamatory, threatening, obscene or unlawful;
  • g) not upload, post, transmit or distribute any material or information (i) where the Registered User does not own or have a licence to use the Intellectual Property Rights in that material or information or (ii) which is unlawful or which is potentially harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, pornographic or otherwise obscene, racially or ethnically or otherwise objectionable or damaging to the reputation of the Scottish Government or the NHS in Scotland; and/or
  • h) not reverse engineer, decompile, copy or adapt any software or other code or scripts that form part of the Website nor attempt to transmit to or via the Website any information that contains a virus, worm, trojan, or other harmful or disruptive component.

Registered Users may create hypertext links to the Website provided that any such links are not used in any misleading or defamatory context, nor otherwise associated with any unlawful activity nor used to introduce viruses or malicious code.

Users acknowledge that except for material posted by Registered Users, material contained in the Website is the Intellectual Property Rights of the Scottish Government and/or its licensors. See the Website’s Copyright Notice page for more information: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Registered Users will also be bound to comply with the additional obligations set out below.

5.Account details

A Registered User will be provided with, a user identification code, password an/or any other piece of information as part of the Website registration process and associated security procedures. The Registered User must treat such information as confidential. The Registered User must not disclose their account details to any third party.

NHS NSS, and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) each have the right to disable any Registered User identification code or password, whether chosen by the Registered User or allocated by NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD), at any time, if in the reasonable opinion of either NHS NSS or the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD)the Registered User has failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms.

If the Registered User knows or suspects that anyone other else knows their user identification code or password, they must promptly notify NHS NSS at  NSS.RDIOffice@nhs.scot.

6. Registered User Content

Following the creation of an innovator.scot account, Registered Users have the right to post material on the Website subject to these Terms.

Registered Users shall only post material which they have personally created unless specific consent has been obtained from the original creator or (if different) the owner(s) of the material. Where an Innovator wishes to post material they have themselves personally created in the course of employment, they must first obtain permission in writing from their employer.

Posting of any material which incorporates Intellectual Property Rights (including trade marks, logos, designs, databases, photographs, images or drawings) in which third party rights may subsist, or anything else in respect of which a third party may claim ownership, is prohibited, unless specific consent or licence for this usage and sharing with NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) has been obtained from the third party owner.

Registered Users and Innovators warrant that no Intellectual Property Rights are infringed by the posting of any material by them, and by agreeing to these Terms Registered Users and Innovators warrant that all necessary consents or licences have been obtained in relation to the publication and use of all material by NHS NSS, the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) and Assessors.

7. Personal data of third parties

Subject to the following paragraphs, Registered Users shall not post any personal data of any person on the Website. In this context 'personal data' means any data relating to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Inclusion of any special category data (i.e. sensitive personal data) relating to any other person's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health or condition, sexual life, or commission or proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings is strictly prohibited.

In cases where Registered Users wish to include the contact details of any individual or any other third party in the material that they post on the Website, they shall ensure that they seek appropriate consent and authorisation to include such details prior to submitting the information for publication on the User Content Pages. Scottish Government and NHS NSS shall assume that consent or authorisation has been obtained in respect of any such details provided by a Registered User, and that such contact has agreed to being contacted by third parties accessing the Website.

Any Registered User submitting their own personal data to be posted on the Website agrees to their details being shared with other Registered Users, including Registered Users accessing the Website, and/or only such Registered Users entitled to post content on the User Content Pages, as appropriate. Registered Users from organisations other than Scottish Government or NHS NSS who post details about their services confirm their agreement to comments being posted about their services on the Website by other Registered Users.

Scottish Government and NHS NSS accepts no liability for the posting of any such personal data, Confidential Information or material by any Registered User.

8. Liability

Neither the Scottish Government (including SPPD) and NHS NSS will be responsible for, and exclude all liability in respect of, any claims, losses or damages (whether direct or indirect) arising out of or relating to the use of and/or reliance on the contents of the Website and/or the User Content Pages, and/or any material or content on linked sites accessed through the Website. In particular, neither the Scottish Government (including SPPD) and NHS NSS will be liable in defamation, for breach of confidentiality or for Intellectual Property Rights infringement in respect of any content submitted by Registered Users.

Notwithstanding the foregoing paragraph, neither the Scottish Government (including SPPD) nor NHS NSS exclude or limit in any way their liability to a Registered User where it would be unlawful to do so. Nothing in these Terms shall exclude liability for fraudulent misrepresentation by the Scottish Government (including SPPD) and/or the NHS NSS or their respective employees or for death or personal injury resulting from negligence on the part of the Scottish Government (including SPPD) NHS NSS or their respective employees.

9. Intellectual Property Rights

When submitting an Innovation, the Intellectual Property Rights in the Innovation and its Registered User Content are owned by or licensed by the Registered User.

By submitting an Innovation, the Registered User hereby grants Scottish Government (including SPPD) and NHS NSS a royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide right to use, copy, reproduce, adapt and/or publish the Innovation and any Registered User Content, including the right to review and assess the Innovation and Registered User Content in line with these Terms and clause 13.

Registered Users must only upload information where they have the licence or consent to use the intellectual Property Rights of any third parties in accordance with paragraph 6 (Registered User Content).

10. Assessment of Innovations

NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) can reject an Innovation at their discretion for any reason but are not required to give any reason for rejecting an Innovation to the Registered User. NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) are not obliged to take forward any Innovation submitted. NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) may consult Stakeholders during their assessment of an Innovation.

11. Distribution of submitted Innovations and Confidentiality

By entering or uploading material onto the Website as part of the submission of an Innovation, an Innovator gives NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) permission to distribute the material submitted to other public sector employees, Assessors and Stakeholders in connection with the assessment of the Innovation. NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) will use reasonable endeavours, where possible, only to distribute the material to persons who have an obligation of confidentiality in regard to the material they receive. However, Registered Users acknowledge that all material, including details relating to any projects and contact details, posted on the Website and the Innovation may be made publicly available at the discretion of NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD).

NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) will use reasonable endeavours to protect the confidentiality of information that is submitted by Innovators in relation to an Innovation which is marked by the Registered User as confidential and/or commercially sensitive. However, confidential information submitted by an Innovator is submitted at their own risk and NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) cannot guarantee that such information will be kept confidential at all times. NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) will use reasonable endeavours not to intentionally disclose commercially sensitive information of the Innovator to third parties (other than to other public-sector bodies or Stakeholders who are likewise bound by an obligation of confidentiality).

Confidentiality obligations shall not apply to any information which:

  • a) is or becomes generally available to the public (other than as a result of its disclosure by the receiving party in breach of this clause); or
  • b) was available to the receiving party on a non-confidential basis before disclosure by the disclosing party;
  • c) was, is or becomes available to the receiving party on a non-confidential basis from a person who, to the receiving party's knowledge, is not bound by a confidentiality agreement with the disclosing party or otherwise prohibited from disclosing the information to the receiving party; or
  • d) required to be disclosed by law, by any governmental or other regulatory authority; or
  • e) is not marked as confidential by the Registered User.

Registered Users should be aware that public bodies in Scotland are under an obligation under the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 to respond to requests from third parties for information which they hold. NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) may be obliged to make disclosures of any material posted by Registered Users (whether accessible to the public or not) provided none of the exemptions/exceptions to disclosure under the Act and regulations apply. NHS NSS and the Scottish Government ((which includes SPPD) each reserve the right to make a decision relating to disclosure at their discretion without consent of the relevant Registered User but will notify the Registered User of their decision.

Without prejudice to the foregoing generality, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Ministers may disclose information, as a consequence of judicial order, or order by any court or tribunal with the authority to order disclosure. Further, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Ministers may also disclose all information submitted to them to the Scottish or United Kingdom Parliament or any other department, office or agency of Her Majesty’s Government in Scotland, in right of the Scottish Administration or the United Kingdom, and their servants or agents. When disclosing such information to either the Scottish Parliament or the United Kingdom Parliament it is recognised and agreed by the Innovators that the Scottish Ministers shall if they see fit disclose such information but are unable to impose any restriction upon the information that it provides to Members of the Scottish Parliament, or Members of the United Kingdom Parliament; such disclosure shall not be treated as a breach of these Terms.

The content of these Terms shall not be Confidential Information and shall be publishable by NHS NSS and the Scottish Government (which includes SPPD) in its entirety to the general public.

Neither the operation of the Website nor any material posted by Registered Users is intended to replace in any circumstances any obligation of any Registered User, public body or entity relating to the procurement of products or services under procurement law applicable in Scotland and no information or content on the Website should be construed as forming part of any procurement procedure or process, and nor should it be used by any Registered User or other third party for that purpose.

It is the responsibility of each Registered Users to keep all material posted, including but not limited to documents, details of projects and contact details, up to date and to keep copies of their submitted Innovation.

12. Governing law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Scotland and Registered User agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.

13. Further information relating to the use of the Website

Users can use the contact details provided in the About section, under Team Contact Details to ask questions relating to the use of this Website.

SCHEDULE 1 - DECLARATION OF IMPARTIALITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

The following declaration is applicable to all Assessors that are Registered Users of the Website.

I hereby declare that I agree to assess solution(s) submitted via the Scotland Innovates service. By making this declaration, I confirm that I shall execute my responsibilities objectively and impartially.

I am independent1 of all parties which stand to gain from the outcome of the assessment process2. To the best of my knowledge and belief, there are no facts or circumstances past or present, or that could arise in the foreseeable future which might call into question my independence. If it becomes apparent during the course of the assessment process that such a relationship exists or has been established, I will declare it immediately. I further declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief, I am not in a situation that could cast doubt on my ability to assess the submitted solution.

I agree to hold in trust and confidence the submission report and any other information disclosed or made available to me or prepared by me as a result of the assessment process. I agree that the information disclosed or made available shall be used only for the purposes of this assessment and shall not be disclosed to be made available, directly or indirectly, to any third party, other than those directly involved with the Scotland Innovates triage and/or assessment process. I also agree not to retain any copies (electronic or paper) of any written information or prototypes disclosed or made available or information prepared by me following completion of the assessment process or, earlier, if so requested.

This confidentiality undertaking does not apply to any information that:

  1. is already in the public domain as at the date this document is signed or subsequently comes into the public domain other than by breach of the foregoing confidentiality undertaking;
  2. was demonstrably already known to me prior to my involvement with the assessment; or
  3. must be disclosed pursuant to a legal or regulatory obligation placed upon me.

Submission information shall not be disclosed to any assessor unless they agree to execute and be bound by the terms of this Declaration.

1. Taking into consideration whether there exists any past or present relationship, direct or indirect, whether financial, professional or of another kind.

2. i.e., the Organisation/Supplier/Innovator who has submitted the solution, whether individuals, officers, shareholder or members of a consortium, or any of the partners/subcontractors proposed by them.