NDA and reviewer recusal

1. Who signs

These undertakings are given by everyone granted access to application material: panel members, reviewers, mentors, and organiser staff involved in processing applications.

Access is granted only after signature. Signature precedes access and cannot be recorded retrospectively.

2. Confidentiality

The signatory undertakes not to disclose to any third party, and not to use for their own benefit or that of another, information contained in the confidential part of an application.

The undertaking does not extend to information that: was demonstrably known to the signatory before access was granted; became public otherwise than through the signatory; was lawfully obtained from a third party without restriction; or must be disclosed under law or court order, in which case the signatory notifies the organiser unless prohibited from doing so.

The undertaking runs for five years from the date access is granted. Where information constitutes a trade secret, it runs until that status is lost.

3. Non-solicitation

For twelve months from the close of the cycle, the signatory undertakes not to approach an applicant whose application they reviewed with an offer of employment, a move to another project, or an inducement to leave their team’s project.

This does not restrict: an investment offer made to the project as a whole; a response to an approach made by the applicant; or a hire against an open vacancy the applicant applied for unprompted.

4. Mentor equity prohibition

A mentor may not hold equity, an option, or any other financial interest in a project taking part in the cycle in which they act as a mentor.

The team cannot waive this.

A mentor who acquires such an interest during the cycle must notify the organiser immediately and stop working with the team.

5. Conflict of interest and recusal

A signatory must recuse themselves from an application where any of the following applies:

• employment, office or a contractual relationship with the applicant’s institution within the past twenty-four months;
• supervision, co-authorship or joint publication with any team member within the past forty-eight months;
• a financial interest in the applicant’s project or in a competing project;
• close family relationship with a team member;
• any other circumstance in which impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

The declaration is made before access is granted and is updated as circumstances change. A declared recusal is enforced by access control in the system.

The organiser keeps a register of declared recusals. The register is not published; the number of recusals appears in the end-of-cycle report in anonymised form.

6. Reviewers barred at the applicant’s request

An applicant may name up to five people or organisations who must not be given access to their application. No reason is requested.

The restriction is applied by access control before the application is first opened.

7. Consequences of breach

Breach of these undertakings results in immediate withdrawal of access and removal from the competition’s panel of experts.

The organiser notifies an affected applicant of a breach concerning their application within a reasonable time of establishing it.

8. Language of this document

The Russian version of this document is the only one in force. The English version is provided as a reading aid, and where the two differ the Russian text applies.

Governing law is that of the Russian Federation.