Privacy Policy

Parul Innovation & Entrepreneurship Research Centre (PIERC), operating under the aegis of Parul University, Vadodara, Gujarat, acts as an incubator, innovation accelerator, and entrepreneurship catalyst.

This Privacy Policy articulates our practices regarding the collection, handling, storage, and dissemination of personal identification information, startup proprietary proposals, academic details, and technical usage telemetry when you interact with our website, apply for incubation programs, register for hackathons, utilize our FabLab, or participate in university-led entrepreneurial initiatives.

By accessing or utilizing our digital platforms, submitting application forms, or engaging with our programs, you acknowledge and agree to the data practices described in this document.

We may collect information across several interaction touchpoints:

• Personal Identifiers: Name, contact phone number, email address, postal address, designation, educational background, and institutional or organizational affiliations.
• Startup & Venture Information: Company or project name, pitch decks, business executive summaries, industry domain, prototype stages, revenue/funding details, incorporation documents, and team biographies provided in application forms.
• Academic & Student Information: Enrollment numbers, student IDs, department, and academic mentor recommendations for student entrepreneurs and campus innovators.
• Program & Event Submissions: Information submitted via registration forms for Vadodara Hackathon, Ideathons, bootcamps, webinars, mentor onboarding, or FabLab access requests.
• Automated Telemetry & Log Data: Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser variety and version, operating system details, device identifiers, referring URLs, and interaction timestamps captured via cookies and web beacons.

PIERC utilizes the collected information strictly for legitimate operational and institutional objectives, including:

• Incubation & Cohort Selection: Assessing business feasibility, evaluating startup applications, and scheduling screening and pitch presentations.
• Grants & Funding Administration: Processing eligibility and disbursal for initiatives such as Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP), and NIDHI schemes.
• Mentorship & Advisory Coordination: Matching founders with relevant domain mentors, investors, industry specialists, and university faculty.
• Communication & Outreach: Dispatching program announcements, event alerts, webinar links, newsletters, and responding to inquiries.
• Facility & Lab Management: Regulating access to co-working facilities, maker spaces, and FabLab equipment safely and securely.
• Site Optimization & Analytics: Analyzing platform usability patterns to improve page performance, interface responsiveness, and content accessibility.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal or startup confidential information to third parties. Data may be shared only under the following limited and controlled scenarios:

• Parul University Governance: Internal administrative departments, academic deans, and accounts divisions for official academic or financial approvals.
• Governmental & Regulatory Bodies: Statutory reporting to agencies including the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Startup India, Gujarat Knowledge Society (GKS), and the Education Department for audited compliance and grant accountability.
• Jury, Review Panels & Mentors: Qualified industry experts bound by ethical or non-disclosure commitments evaluating hackathons, pitch contests, and incubation cohorts.
• Authorized Technology Vendors: Secure infrastructure providers (cloud hosting, email communication services, and form collection tools) who operate under confidentiality and data protection constraints.
• Legal & Regulatory Obligations: When compelled by valid judicial orders, law enforcement requests, or applicable statutory mandates.

PIERC incorporates administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to defend your data against accidental loss, unauthorized access, illicit disclosure, or alteration.

Application dossiers, grant distribution records, and participant logs are retained for as long as needed to fulfill incubation agreements, satisfy statutory auditing mandates, or maintain university archival records. When records are no longer required, data is securely purged or anonymized.

Our website may utilize standard cookies, local storage, and analytical utilities (such as Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics) to ensure seamless navigation, remember session preferences, and understand traffic dynamics.

You retain the option to adjust your web browser settings to block or notify you about cookies. Note that disabling certain essential cookies might degrade interactive functionality across specific web modules.

In accordance with applicable privacy laws, including the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 of India and related regulations, you have the right to:

• Request confirmation and access to personal data retained about you.
• Seek correction, rectification, or updating of inaccurate or outdated information.
• Withdraw consent previously provided for optional communications or marketing digests.
• Request deletion of personal records where preservation is not required by grant or legal compliance.

To exercise any of these entitlements, please direct your formal request in writing to the Grievance Officer detailed below.

Our portal may incorporate hyperlinks directing to external portals, such as Google Forms, official Parul University websites, government grant portals (e.g., Startup India, SSIP Gujarat), and social media channels.

PIERC holds no jurisdiction over the independent privacy frameworks or terms of third-party domains. We encourage users to inspect the distinct policies of each visited site.

While our hackathons and school-level innovation showcases (such as Kidovation) may involve students under 18 years of age, participation requires institutional nomination or parental/guardian consent. We do not intentionally harvest or process children's data without requisite authorizations.

PIERC reserves the authority to revise or refine this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect emerging institutional programs, statutory amendments, or evolving technological safeguards.

Any revisions will become effective immediately upon posting to this web page, with the updated date clearly reflected at the top of this statement.

For inquiries, clarification, or to submit formal grievances concerning this Privacy Policy or our data management procedures, please contact our administrative office: