Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

1. An overview of data protection

General

The following gives a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. Detailed information on the subject of data protection can be found in our privacy policy described below.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for the data collection on this website?

The data collected on this website are processed by the website operator. The operator's contact details can be found in the website's required legal notice.

How do we collect your data?

Some data are collected when you specifically provide them to us, e.g. name, address and e-mail address. This could, for example, be data you enter on a contact form or a join us form such as our newsletter / bulletin registration forms

Other data are collected automatically by our IT systems when you visit the website. These data are primarily technical data such as the browser and operating system you are using, when you accessed the page, e.g. your location. These data are collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?

Part of the data is collected to ensure the proper functioning of the website. Other data can be used to analyse how visitors use the website or, with respect to the SmartEnCity Network, to contact the already signed network members in regards to network news, events, and other relevant to the network information via the contact information they have provided.

With respect to the SmartEnCity Network, the data you/your city provides us with when joining the Network (via the “Join us” form) or any other information by providing documents, templates, etc. you send to us can be used for promotion purposes on the website. These are i.e. promoting your city information, city initiatives, solutions, challenges, city contact information and any photo materials you provide us with. This can be used on your city page and/or on other sections of our website. However, your data will not be sold or used for any other purposes besides the ones that are outlined in this privacy policy.

What rights do you have regarding your data?

You always have the right to request information about your stored data, its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to request that it be corrected, blocked, or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in the legal notice if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data protection. You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities.

Analytics and third-party tools

When visiting our website, statistical analyses may be made of your browsing behaviour. This happens primarily by using cookies and analytics. The analysis of your browsing behaviour is usually anonymous, i.e. we will not be able to identify you from this data. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed information can be found in the following privacy policy.

You can object to this analysis. We will inform you below about how to exercise your options in this regard.

2. General information and mandatory information

Data protection

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

If you use this website, various pieces of personal data will be collected. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. This privacy policy explains what information we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this happens.

Please note that data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible.

Notice concerning the party responsible for this website

The party responsible for processing data on this website is:

Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum der Steinbeis Innovation gGmbH

Haus der Wirtschaft

Willi-Bleicher-Str.19

Office: Kienestr. 35

70174 Stuttgart, Germany

Telephone: +49 (0) 711 123 4010

Email: SU2016@stw.de

The responsible party is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (names, email addresses, etc.).

Revocation of your consent to the processing of your data

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

Right to file complaints with regulatory authorities

If there has been a breach of data protection legislation, the person affected may file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities. The competent regulatory authority for matters related to data protection legislation is the data protection officer of the German state in which our company is headquartered. A list of data protection officers and their contact details can be found at the following link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html.

Right to data portability

You have the right to have data which we process based on your consent or in fulfilment of a contract automatically delivered to yourself or to a third party in a standard, machine-readable format. If you require the direct transfer of data to another responsible party, this will only be done to the extent technically feasible.

SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser's address line when it changes from "http://" to "https://" and the lock icon is displayed in your browser's address bar.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transfer to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information, blocking, deletion

As permitted by law, you have the right to be provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. You also have the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.

3. Data protection officer

Statutory data protection officer

We have appointed a data protection officer for our company.

Alexander Stückler

Steinbeis-Stiftung für Wirtschaftsförderung

Haus der Wirtschaft

Willi-Bleicher-Str. 19

70174 Stuttgart

Telephone: +49 (0) 711 1839-5

Email: Datenschutz@steinbeis.de

4. Data collection on our website

Cookies

Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies." They are usually automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain in your device's memory until you delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser when you next visit the site.

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

If you want to use this website and cannot accept the use of cookies, you can deactivate the use of cookies within your browser settings, however we cannot guarantee an optimum experience without cookies. If you use a PC, you can delete the cookies stored on your computer by pressing CTR + SHIFT + DELETE at the same time. If you use a MAC, please inform yourself about the administration of cookies on https://support.apple.com/.”

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use are stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors.

Cookies used to analyse your surfing behaviour are also stored. These are text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. For this purpose, the information generated by the cookie about the use of this website is stored on our server. The IP address is anonymized before it is stored.

If you do not agree with the storage and use of your data, you can disable this feature here. In this case, an opt-out cookie will be stored in your browser to prevent the website from storing your usage data. If you delete your cookies, this will mean that the opt-out cookie will also be deleted. You will then need to reactivate it when you return to our site if you wish your activity not to be tracked.

Server log files

The website provider automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us in "server log files". These are:

  • Browser type and browser version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL
  • Host name of the accessing computer
  • Time of the server request
  • Location of the browser that you used to access the website
  • IP address

These data will not be combined with data from other sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO, which allows the processing of data to fulfil a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.

5. Social media

Twitter plugin

Functions of the Twitter service have been integrated into our website and app. These features are offered by Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. When you use Twitter and the “Retweet” function, the websites you visit are connected to your Twitter account and made known to other users. In doing so, data will also be transferred to Twitter. We would like to point out that, as the provider of these pages, we have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted or how it will be used by Twitter. For more information on Twitter's privacy policy, please go to https://twitter.com/privacy.

Your privacy preferences with Twitter can be modified in your account settings at https://twitter.com/account/settings.

6. SmartEnCity Project Newsletter and SmartEnCity Network Bulletin

Newsletter data

If you would like to receive our SmartEnCity Project Newsletter and/or our SmartEnCity Network Bulletin, we require a valid email address as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the specified email address and that you agree to receive this newsletter. No additional data is collected or is only collected on a voluntary basis. We only use this data to send the requested information and do not pass it on to third parties.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You can revoke consent to the storage of your data and email address as well as their use for sending the newsletter at any time, e.g. through the "unsubscribe" link in the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remain unaffected.

Google reCAPTCHA

For Newsletter subscription of the SmartEnCity newsletter as well as the SmartEnCity Network Bulletin, we use "Google reCAPTCHA" (hereinafter "reCAPTCHA") on our websites. This service is provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA ("Google").

reCAPTCHA is used to check whether the data entered on our website (such as on a contact form) has been entered by a human or by an automated program. To do this, reCAPTCHA analyzes the behavior of the website visitor based on various characteristics. This analysis starts automatically as soon as the website visitor enters the website. For the analysis, reCAPTCHA evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, how long the visitor has been on the website, or mouse movements made by the user). The data collected during the analysis will be forwarded to Google.

The reCAPTCHA analyses take place completely in the background. Website visitors are not advised that such an analysis is taking place.

Data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in protecting its site from abusive automated crawling and spam.

For more information about Google reCAPTCHA and Google's privacy policy, please visit the following links: https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/ and https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/android.html.

CleverReach

This website uses CleverReach to send newsletters. The supplier is CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Mühlenstr. 43, 26180 Rastede. CleverReach is a service which organizes and analyzes the distribution of newsletters. The data you provide (e.g. your email address) to subscribe to our newsletter will be stored on CleverReach servers in Germany.

Sending our newsletters with CleverReach enables us to analyse the behaviour of newsletter recipients. Among other things, we can find out how many recipients have opened the email containing the newsletter and how often various links contained therein are clicked. With the help of conversion tracking, we can also analyse whether a predefined action (such as the purchase of a product on our website) takes place after clicking on the link in the newsletter. For more information on how data is analysed by CleverReach, please visit https://www.cleverreach.com/de/funktionen/reporting-und-tracking/.

Data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time by unsubscribing to the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

If you do not want your usage of the newsletter to be analysed by CleverReach, you will have to unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose, we provide a link in every newsletter we send. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted from our servers and those of CleverReach. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remains unaffected.

For more information, see the privacy policy of CleverReach at https://www.cleverreach.com/de/datenschutz/.

7. SmartEnCity Network "Join us" Form

The data that is collected as part of the “Join us” form of the SmartEnCity Network website is collected with your consent only. Such data is the name of the city you are representing, the address of the municipality, as this is needed to pinpoint the location of the city on our map, the number of inhabitants and the size of the city, as this tells us if you fit in the scope of the small to medium sized cities (which is our focus). Furthermore, we collect your name and work e-mail as you are the city representative with which we interact. We only collect the minimum amount of personal data that is necessary to fulfil the purpose of your interaction with us and we do not sell it to third parties.

In the SmartEnCity Network “Join us” form, the collected data allows us to identify which city joined the network and who will represent it so we in turn can confirm their subscription to the network and may contact them in regards to the network activities i.e. news, events, network initiatives, solutions, bulletin, newsletter.

8. Plugins and tools

YouTube

Our website uses plugins from YouTube, which is operated by Google. The operator of the pages is YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

If you visit one of our pages featuring a YouTube plugin, a connection to the YouTube servers is established. Here the YouTube server is informed about which of our pages you have visited.

If you're logged in to your YouTube account, YouTube allows you to associate your browsing behaviour directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube is used to help make our website appealing. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO.

Further information about handling user data, can be found in the data protection declaration of YouTube under https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.