Thank you for your interest in the NASA TechLeap Prize (the “Competition”). The Competition is sponsored by NASA with platform support provided by Carrot. Please know that by participating in this Competition and in accordance with these Rules you are eligible to receive various forms of recognition and a possible award from NASA of up to $650,000 as a Winner. The Rules governing this Competition ("RULES") are stated here as an extension of the Terms & Conditions ("TERMS") for use of this website. The full TERMS are available for your review by accessing them on this website. The RULES constitute "Competition Terms and Conditions" under Clause 2.3 of the Terms. Capitalized words used but not defined in the RULES have meanings given to them in the TERMS.
Please read these RULES and the TERMS carefully, as they describe the conditions under which you are allowed to participate. As you participate, you may periodically be asked to recognize your acceptance of these RULES and the Terms by clicking "accept" at various pages on this website, but by continuing any use of this website you expressly consent to all of these RULES and the TERMS.
SUBMISSION OF AN ENTRY IN THE NASA TECHLEAP PRIZE CONSTITUTES FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL AGREEMENT TO AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES.
NASA welcomes applications from individuals, teams, and organization or entities that have a recognized legal existence and structure under applicable U.S. law and that are in good standing in the jurisdiction under which they are organized with the following restrictions:
U.S. government employees may participate so long as they are not acting within the scope of their position, rely on no facilities, access, personnel, knowledge, or other resources that are available to them as a result of their employment except for those resources made available to all other participants on an equal basis.
U.S. government employees participating as individuals, or who submit applications on behalf of an otherwise eligible organization, will be responsible for ensuring that their participation in the Competition is permitted by the rules and regulations relevant to their position and that they have obtained any authorization that may be required by virtue of their government position. Failure to do so may result in the disqualification of them individually or of the entity which they represent or in which they are involved.
Foreign citizens may only participate as (i) employees of an otherwise eligible U.S. entity who reside in the U.S., (ii) full-time students at an otherwise eligible U.S. university or college who reside in the U.S., or (iii) owners of less than 50% of the interests in an otherwise eligible U.S. entity who reside in the U.S.
Registered competitors shall be responsible for the actions of and compliance with the rules by their employees, subcontractors, officers, owners, and other affiliated persons.
Federal entities or Federal employees acting within the scope of their employment are not eligible to win an award.
Employees and contractors of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory are not eligible to win an award.
Employees of NASA, Carrot, and any of their subsidiaries and affiliates, and immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or persons living in the same households of such employees, are not eligible.
If you are a Government contractor or are employed by one, your participation in this Challenge may also be restricted. If you or your employer is receiving Government funding for similar projects in which you are developing a flight-ready universal payload interface system, you or your employer are not eligible for award under this Challenge. Additionally, the U.S. Government may have Intellectual Property Rights in your solution if your solution was made under a Government Contract, Grant or Cooperative Agreement. Under such conditions, you may not be eligible for award. Please contact us if you need help determining your eligibility.
If a team of individuals and/or entities is selected as a Winner, any Award will be made to the person who registered the team and submitted the application. That person is responsible for ensuring the award funds are appropriately distributed to each member of the team.
If an organization is selected as a Winner, any Award will be made to the person who registered the organization and submitted the application. You warrant that the appropriate officers, executives, managers, or other persons who have the authority to approve participation in this competition have approved Your Entry and You understand that these terms will be binding on both You and your Entity. Furthermore, You understand that if You enter without obtaining the appropriate approval, NASA may, in its sole discretion, disqualify your Entry. Finally, if an entity is selected to receive an award, an officer or person entitled to bind the entity will be required to validate that You are entitled to receive the award on the behalf of the entity and the officer or person entitled to bind the entity must provide the appropriate information for payment of the award.
Each application should reflect the anticipated ownership, use, and licensing of any intellectual property. You represent and warrant that your Entry is an original work created solely by You, that You own all Intellectual Property in and to the Entry, and that no other party has any right, title, claim or interest in the Entry, except as expressly identified by You to us in writing in Your application. You retain all rights, title and interest in any inventions, software or work of authorship You invent or create. The ownership and use of intellectual property arising from this competition remains with You. NASA may choose to negotiate for a license to use the solutions developed as a result of this competition.
7.1 Your application must be in English.
7.2 You must complete registration to participate in the Competition. Individuals must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry to participate either individually or by representing an applicant organization. You cannot reside in nor be governed by countries that are prohibited by law, regulation (including United States or other applicable export laws and regulations), treaty or administrative act from entering into trade relations (including export of technology) with the United States of America or its citizens.
7.3 Your Entry should meet the application requirements stipulated on this website. You are required to register in advance of any deadlines for the submission of an Entry, and You must comply with all other deadlines posted on this website. Your Entry may not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of NASA and/or Carrot, contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content.
7.4 NASA reserves the right to cancel, modify or suspend Competition in whole or in part without liability to You. NASA and/or Carrot also reserves the right to disqualify You from participating.
7.5 By participating in the NASA TechLeap Prize, You represent, warrant, and agree that:
7.6 You may participate by registering, but You may not register more than one true and uniform identity; multiple registrations for a participant using multiple identities are not allowed. NASA and/or Carrot reserve the right to disqualify any Entry made by a participant violating this limitation, regardless of whether all of the respective parties had knowledge of such violation. You may only submit one Entry.
7.7 The application requirements for your Entry are clearly described on this website. Your Entry will be assessed initially by five Judges, who will be assigned to score your Entry either randomly or after considering any potential conflicts of interest, using the scoring rubric and any other judging criteria that are also described on this website. In cases where a Judge indicates any potential conflict of interest, the Entry will be assigned to another Judge. Those Judges, each of whom is named on this website, will be responsible for scoring your Entry.
7.8 Once a rank order of Entries has been calculated, the top-scoring Entries will be reviewed by the Selection Committee Judges with consideration given to diversity of solutions. The Selection Committee Judges are permitted to communicate with Competitors solely for the purposes of carrying out due diligence for evaluating your Entry and assigning a score during the review process, but those Judges are not required to contact any individual. Up to four Competitors may be named as Winners. By participating in the NASA TechLeap Prize, You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the final decision of the Challenge Sponsor.
7.9 While Carrot, LLC (“Carrot”) is providing an online platform for your participation, Carrot is not responsible for the payment of any Award(s). Payment of any Award(s) is the sole responsibility of NASA and its designees, and under the Terms each participant has agreed to look solely to NASA, as the Competition Sponsor, for the payment of any Award.
7.10 By submitting your Entry, you agree to release, discharge and hold harmless NASA and Carrot and their partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors and representatives from any Loss arising out of your participation in Competition and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any Award(s). Neither NASA nor Carrot assume responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission; communications line failure; theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to Competition entries or entry forms; or alteration of entries or entry forms. Neither NASA nor Carrot are responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to competitors’ or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading or downloading of any materials related to this Competition. In the event of a dispute about the identity of any Competitor, an online registration will be declared as if made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry.
7.11 THIS COMPETITION IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Competitors agree that this Competition shall be subject to and governed by the Federal laws of the United States of America and the forum of any dispute shall be in the Federal courts of the United States of America.
7.12 If for any reason Competition is not capable of running as planned, due to infection by computer virus, bugs, worms, Trojan horses, denial of service, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of Carrot that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, Carrot reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual(s) who tamper with the process, and/or to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Competition. If NASA and/or Carrot terminates the Competition, it will not retain any rights in the submitted Entries.
7.13 The Competition Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any Competitor who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the NASA TechLeap Prize, to be acting in violation of these Rules, or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the NASA TechLeap Prize, or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person.
7.14 Entry into the NASA TechLeap Prize does not constitute entry into any other NASA competition, Carrot competition, or promotion that may be offered by the Competition Sponsor and/or its affiliates.
7.15 NASA and/or Carrot reserves the right to disqualify any participant who violates these RULES, the Terms and any standards of behavior expressed or implied in them.
7.16 The names of the Winners will be posted on this website for such period of time as the Competition Sponsor deems reasonable.
Contact Information:
You may contact us with any questions or comments about these RULES. Please enter NASA TechLeap Prize in the subject line of your email.
