SHARING – AND PROTECTING – IDEAS AT POLLENIZER

We believe in treating founders and their ideas with respect.
We understand that IP and confidentiality can be a fraught topic, so as a practical complement to our Privacy Policy, we’ve drawn up some principles about information and IP we follow to help you feel comfortable about joining one of our programs, sending us your details, or working with us.

1. When applying for a program or submitting a form to us
We will protect your information, keep it confidential, and only use it for the purpose of assessing your application, as is common practice. Unless it is already in the public domain, we will not use it for any purpose without your consent.

2. In group work, share what you’re comfortable sharing
Its critical to our process that people feel free comfortable to share information, ideas and opinions in a safe environment, as sometimes a silly notion is actually stepping-stone to a brilliant solution, and often the person sitting next to you can provide a small piece of evidence that can lead you to change direction – where the real magic happens.

This means if you have something you want to keep confidential, then we’d ask you not to share it in a group workshop setting as it makes it much harder to collaborate with you.

If you have a new, patentable invention – a new chemical formulae, computational algorithm, mechanical setup, or other invention based on a scientific or engineering breakthrough – then of course we don’t expect you to share this either.

3. In group work, don’t identify people who give an opinion outside the group
When working in a group or workshop setting, we always invoke the Chatham House Rule – which allow you to disclose opinions or ideas that have been shared, but not identify the speaker in any direct (or indirect) way. That way, people can feel free to speak up and share opinions without fear of unintended consequences.

4. In group work, we want to celebrate your entrepreneurial activities
Which means at our events, we will take photographs, record video, and share general insights on social media and online. If you don’t want to be photographed for whatever reason, just let us know and we’ll respect your privacy.

5. In group work, confidentiality is a blocker
Asking people to keep information confidential and then disclosing that information makes it harder for them and us to collaborate with you. If you want to keep something private, don’t share it. If for personal reasons you need to tell us something privately, that’s different and we’ll respect your privacy.

We know, TL;DR, and thanks for reading anyway!
Encouraging entrepreneurial creativity and treating everybody with respect is ultimately the core of our values. We hope these guidelines help to answer any questions you have, while also demonstrating how we treat applicable laws around copyright or confidentially.

Any questions?
Drop us an e-mail via info (at) pollenizer (dot) com and we’ll get back to you quicker than an elevator pitch.