Rules, Terms & Conditions

 Official Rules, Terms and Conditions

SUBMISSION OF AN ENTRY CONSTITUTES FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL AGREEMENT TO AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES.

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. 

ALL APPLICABLE FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. THE CHALLENGE IS VOID WHERE OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW. 

A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

These Official Rules, Terms & Conditions (the “Rules”) apply to the Mood Challenge for ResearchKit (the “Mood Challenge” or the “Challenge”), a program of the New Venture Fund (“NVF”) funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (“RWJF”). The Challenge is sponsored by New Venture Fund, a 501c3 public charity located at 1201 Connecticut Ave., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036. The Challenge is administered by Luminary Labs, LLC (“LL”) located at 30 West 22nd St., Floor 6, New York City, NY, 10010. Please read these Rules carefully before submitting an Entry (as defined below).

In addition to these Rules, please also review the Luminary Lightbox Terms of Service for additional rules that apply to your participation in the Challenge and more generally to your use of the Challenge Website (as defined below). If there is a conflict between the Luminary Lightbox Terms of Service and these Rules, these Rules shall control with respect to this Challenge only.

Except as otherwise stated in these Rules, personal information collected in connection with the Challenge will be used by NVF, RWJF, and LL in accordance with RWJF’s Privacy Policy, and with any additional consent given by an Entrant (as defined below) at the time of entry. In addition, Luminary Labs collects personal information from Entrants. The information collected is subject to the Luminary Lightbox Privacy Policy.

1) The Challenge

The Mood Challenge for ResearchKit calls upon researchers, technologists, and data scientists to submit proposals for ResearchKit studies to become available to others as open-source apps via Apple’s ResearchKit framework (as described further in these Rules) and that further the understanding of mood, its correlates, and its relation to social context through the novel interpretation of signals from the iPhone, related sensors, and other data sources.

As described in greater detail on the Challenge Website, the Challenge will be conducted in six phases: (1) launch and open submissions; (2) Round One judging of submissions and selection of up to five semi-finalist award recipients; (3) Virtual Accelerator (inclusive of semi-finalist mentorship, Innovators’ Boot Camp, and a Semi-finalist Presentation); (4) Round Two judging and selection of up to two finalist award recipients; (5) Finalist Incubation and Testing; and (6) Round Three judging and selection of up to one overall award recipient.

The Challenge will open to submissions on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at 8:30AM ET and will close to submissions on Sunday, May 22, 2016 at 11:59PM ET (see Section 3 below). Entries will be evaluated based on the judging criteria set forth in Section 6 below.

2) Eligibility

The Challenge is open only to (1) individuals who serve as Team Leads (as defined below) who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States each of whom are 18 years of age and over, or (2) an entity incorporated in and maintaining a primary place of business in the United States. Foreign citizens can be listed as a Team Member by an eligible Team Lead or can enter as employees of an entity that is properly incorporated in the U.S. and maintains a primary place of business in the U.S.

Entrants to the Challenge must be of the legal age of majority, at the time of entry, to form valid contracts in their respective jurisdiction of legal residence (each individual/Team Lead and each entity is referred to as an “Entrant” in these Rules). Affiliated Persons (as defined below) are ineligible to participate in the Mood Challenge.

Persons and entities in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, the Province of Quebec, or any jurisdiction subject to embargo by the United States, or any jurisdiction where the Challenge would be prohibited or restricted by law, are not eligible to participate in the Challenge, either as an Entrant or as a member of a team.

Special note to individuals who are listed by the Team Lead on the submission form as Team Members: THE INDIVIDUAL LISTED AS THE PRIMARY CONTACT (“TEAM LEAD”) IS THE OFFICIAL ENTRANT IN THE COMPETITION. THIS TEAM LEAD MUST BE A U.S. CITIZEN OR PERMANENT RESIDENT ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE PAYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. CHALLENGE AWARDS WILL BE AWARDED TO AND PAID SOLELY TO THE TEAM LEAD. THE TEAM LEAD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY APPLICABLE LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL TAXES AND REPORTING THAT MAY BE REQUIRED UNDER APPLICABLE TAX LAWS.

Travel funds of up to $2,500 for Round One will be awarded to the Team Lead (see Section 4 below). Teams Leads may not add, remove, or substitute Team Members or otherwise change the composition of the team while judges are deliberating.

Special note to Entrants who are entering as an entity: If an Entrant is an entity, the Entrant warrants that the appropriate officers, executives, managers, or other persons who have the authority to approve Entrant’s Entry have approved the Entry and these Rules bind such entity. Furthermore, the Entrant understands that if the Entrant enters without obtaining appropriate internal approvals, NVF may, in its sole discretion, disqualify the Entrant’s 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 the Entrant is 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.

The eligibility of any Entrant is subject to verification at any time. Failure to comply with any request for written confirmation, or failure to cooperate with any investigation, is grounds for disqualification. Entrants who are determined at any time to have violated the eligibility criteria will be disqualified from the Challenge.

As used herein, the term “Affiliated Persons” means (a) the trustees, directors, officers, members, employees, clients and shareholders (with respect to LL only), contractors, agents, representatives and affiliates of NVF, RWJF, LL and any entity associated with the funding, administration, or processing of the Challenge, including, but not limited to, Apple, Inc., and (b) the members of the Immediate Family (as defined below) of any of the persons identified in the foregoing clause (a). The term “Immediate Family” includes a person’s spouse/domestic partner and the parents, siblings, children and grandchildren of the person and his or her spouse/domestic partner.

3) How To Enter

To enter the Challenge, Entrants must first register on the Luminary Lightbox platform. Following registration, Entrants must enter a submission on moodchallenge.com (the “Challenge Website”) and complete all required fields of the Challenge submission form (each, an “Entry”) before the close of open submissions on Sunday, May 22, 2016 at 11:59:59 pm ET. The Entrant must complete all of the required fields in the Challenge submission form in accordance with these Rules. Entrants are advised to submit an Entry at least one hour before the deadline to ensure the completed submission is received by the stated deadline. Entrants chosen as semi-finalists who wish to participate in subsequent rounds of the Challenge and be considered for subsequent awards must submit a Round Two Submission at the end of the Virtual Accelerator Phase. Similarly, entrants chosen as finalists who wish to be considered for the overall final award must submit a Round Three Submission at the end of the Finalist Incubation and Testing Phase.

Entrants chosen as semi-finalists will be required to travel to participate in the Innovators’ Boot Camp and Semi-Finalist Presentations. Team Leads may nominate up to two (2) individuals listed as Team members on the submission form to attend these events, but the Team Lead is strongly encouraged to attend. A portion of the award funds is dedicated for this travel. (see Section 4 below).

Semi-finalists and finalists must be in sufficient physical and mental condition for safe travel to the event locations described on the Challenge Website and must possess a valid passport or other ID and all other documents required for such travel.  Semi-finalists and finalists are responsible for arranging their own travel and accommodations, including without limitation all airfare, ground transportation, meals, passports, visas, or any other required documents.  NVF is not affiliated with, and has no control over, any travel or accommodation providers.  NVF is not responsible for delays, cancellations, or other problems with travel or accommodations resulting from any carriers, hotels, travel agents, weather, fires, strikes, bankruptcies, governmental actions, wars, terrorism, or any other causes beyond the reasonable control of NVF.

If a submission includes the work of any third party, the Entrant must be able to provide, upon the request of NVF, RWJF, and/or LL, documentation of all appropriate licenses and releases for such third party works. If an Entrant cannot provide documentation of all required licenses and releases, NVF reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify the applicable submission, or direct the Entrant to secure the licenses and releases for NVF’s benefit within three (3) days of notification of the missing documentation and allow the applicable submission to remain in the Challenge. In addition, NVF reserves all rights to pursue an Entrant for claims based on damages incurred by the Entrant’s failure to obtain such licenses and releases (see Sections 7 and 8 below).

NVF reserves the right to modify any dates or deadlines set forth in these Rules or otherwise governing the Challenge. For more information regarding the Challenge timeline following the submission of an entry, please visit the Challenge Website.

None of NVF, RWJF, or LL shall have any liability for any Entry that is lost, intercepted, or not received by NVF and/or LL. None of NVF, RWJF, or LL assumes any liability or responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, theft, destruction, or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, submissions.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if an Entrant submits an Entry after the deadline date because the Entrant experienced a technical problem with the Challenge Website, the Entrant must immediately contact hello@moodchallenge.com, and provide an explanation including screenshots of the technical problem experienced. NVF may, in its sole discretion, accept the Entry at issue if it can confirm that a technical problem occurred with the Challenge Website system and that the technical problem affected the Entrant’s ability to submit an application by the stated deadline.

Unlawful, plagiarized, third-party intellectual property infringing, unintelligible, illegible, obscene, indecent or incomplete entries will be disqualified in NVF’s sole discretion. NVF reserves the right to scrutinize all Entries for these requirements at any time during or after the Challenge.

NVF and LL each reserve the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any Entrant who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Challenge or the Challenge Website, 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 Challenge, or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person.

In addition, each Entrant acknowledges that RWJF is a philanthropy that in the course of its normal charitable activities makes awards for projects across a wide range of disciplines and that RWJF may currently fund or may in the future make awards for projects that may be directly or indirectly related to Entries submitted for the Challenge. By submitting an Entry, each Entrant acknowledges and agrees that RWJF shall have no liability for making awards to projects that involve ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, or principles that may also be present in an Entry.

4) Awards

At the end of each round of the Challenge, the judges have the ability to recommend the amounts of money listed below as payments in recognition of the development of projects they deem worthy of support in that round. The total amount awarded in each round, the number of projects to be supported, and the size of the award given to support any particular project, are all within the discretion of NVF, subject to the amounts available to be awarded by the judges in each round as follows:

  • In Round One, the minimum total amount that will be awarded is $10,000, and the maximum total amount that will be awarded is $100,000. Entries in Round One will be judged based on the Evaluation Criteria set forth in Section 6 below. If at least three entries satisfying the judging criteria are identified, the top five (5) of those entries each will receive an award of $17,500 plus $2,500 for travel expenses, and the Challenge will continue to Round Two. If at least three (3) entries satisfying the judging criteria are not identified, the one (1) best entry will receive an award of $10,000, and the Challenge will end.
  • In Round Two, the minimum total amount that will be awarded is $25,000, and the maximum total amount that will be awarded is $200,000. Entries in Round Two will be judged based on the Evaluation Criteria set forth in Section 6 below. If at least two entries satisfying the judging criteria are identified, the top two (2) of those entries each will receive an award of $100,000, and the Challenge will continue to Round Three. If at least two (2) entries satisfying the judging criteria are not identified, the best one entry will receive an award of $25,000, and the Challenge will end.
  • In Round Three, the minimum total amount that will be awarded is $50,000, and the maximum total amount that will be awarded is $200,000. Entries in Round Three will be judged based on the Evaluation Criteria set forth in Section 6 below. If an entry satisfying the judging criteria is identified, the top entry will receive an award of $200,000. If an entry satisfying the judging criteria is not identified, the one (1) best entry will receive an award of $50,000, and the Challenge will end.

The payments are in recognition of the development of the technological solution proposed in the submission and to support participation in Challenge activities described on the Challenge Website. Entrants who do not agree to participate in subsequent rounds of the Challenge will not be eligible to receive a Round One, Round Two, or Round Three award; failure to comply with award requirements may result in disqualification.

Award winners will be required to sign an award letter from NVF confirming the receipt of the award as recognition for the public benefit associated with their technological solution. Winners (included all Team Members ) may also be required to execute an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability Release, and a Publicity Release (collectively, the “Award Claim Documents”) as a condition to receiving an award. If an award winner fails or refuses to sign and return all Award Claim Documents within ten days of NVF’s and/or LL’s request (or a shorter time as exigencies may require), the award winner may be disqualified and an alternate award winner may be selected. No more than the advertised number of awards will be awarded. Awards will be delivered only to an address in the United States.

THE WINNERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR REPORTING AND PAYING ANY INCOME TAXES OR OTHER TAXES THAT MAY APPLY TO ACCEPTING AN AWARD; NONE OF NVF, RWJF, OR LL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR AND WILL NOT PAY ANY SUCH TAXES.

The value of each prize may be taxable to each winner as income. If required, an IRS Form 1099 will be issued by NVF in the name of each winner for the value of the prize(s) received.

5) Licenses

Each Entrant retains full ownership of their Entry; provided, however, that Entry submission materials will not be returned.   In addition, by participating in the Challenge, each Entrant hereby irrevocably grants to the each of NVF, RWJF, and LL a limited, non-exclusive, royalty free, worldwide, license and right to reproduce, publicly perform, publicly display, and use its entry to the extent necessary to administer or promote the Challenge, and to publicly perform and publicly display the content from the Entry, including, without limitation, for advertising and promotional purposes relating to the Challenge.

The Entrants selected as winners of the Challenge, as a condition to accepting their respective Awards, hereby grant to each of NVF, RWJF, and LL a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty free, sub-licensable, worldwide, license and right to post on NVF’s, RWJF’s and/or LL’s websites: (a) such Entrants’ Entries and/or any related supplemental entry materials (via web link, iframe, or other presentation modality) and/or (b) a web link to any website at which the Entrant’s application is made available by the Entrant (either directly or through a third-party) for download or purchase.

As part of developing their solutions, finalist and winning Entrants will be required to make their ResearchKit studies available and open source on ResearchKit’s Github page for use in future research studies through the ResearchKit Open Source License. (see “Additional Resources” on the Challenge Website for more ResearchKit details). Finalists will be expected to develop their ResearchKit study design into a working prototype for piloting with up to 2,000 users in Apple’s TestFlight beta testing software.

6) Judging Criteria

A review panel of experienced researchers, mood experts, and other qualified persons (the “Review Panel”) will collectively score the full set of submissions received during open submissions according to the criteria below to determine the set of submissions that will be scored by the judges.

A jury of judges, which may include one or more of any of the following types of persons — a RWJF representative, a ResearchKit expert, an experienced researcher, a mood expert, and a leading health innovator — will score submissions during three (3) rounds of judging based on the criteria below.   All decisions of the Review Panel and Judges are final and binding.

Round One Criteria

In Round One, entries will be first evaluated by the Review Panel and then reviewed by the judges based on the quality of each entry according to the criteria below. Each of the criteria is weighted equally.

  1. Innovation. Novelty of the hypotheses and correlations proposed in the entrant’s submission. Degree to which the submission considers the unique opportunities of mobile device-based research.
  2. Scientific Plausibility. Extent to which interpretations and correlations of signals to mood are grounded in reasonable scientific theory.
  3. Feasibility. Likelihood that the proposal can be translated into a ResearchKit study design within the Challenge timeline, particularly around the development of testable ResearchKit tasks as described in the submission.
  4. Impact. Extent to which the submission could contribute to ResearchKit’s open source community and to our current understanding of mood and the ways in which it is measured.
  5. Entrant Potential. Ability of Entrant to translate the proposal into a ResearchKit study design and develop it over the course of the Challenge.

Round Two Criteria

In Round Two, semi-finalists will be evaluated by the judges based on the quality of each entry according to the criteria below. Each of the criteria is weighted equally.

  1. Innovation. Novelty of the tools and data streams used in the submission to better our understanding of mood.
  2. User Experience. Degree to which the submission understands the target audience. Extent to which the submission incorporates principles of human-centered design and shares meaningful and actionable information back to participants and authorized third parties. Strong consideration should be given to management, transmission, and privacy of participant data.
    • Round 2 Judging: Likelihood that the design can be developed into a prototype that can be piloted, tested, and preliminarily validated with Apple’s TestFlight.
    • Round 3 Judging: Likelihood that the prototype can be developed into a deployable ResearchKit study after the Challenge.
  4. Impact. Extent to which the submission could contribute to ResearchKit’s open source community and to our current understanding of mood and the ways in which it is measured.
  5. Entrant Potential. Ability of Entrant to fully develop and validate the study and sustain it beyond the Challenge timeline.

Round Three Criteria

In Round Three, the finalists will be evaluated based on the Round Two Criteria above and the two additional Round Three Criteria below. Each of the criteria is weighted equally.

  1. Demonstration of the finalist’s ability to effectively iterate and improve their submission over the course of the Virtual Accelerator and Finalist Incubation and Testing.
  2. Perceived ability of the finalist and their submission to:
    • Potentially impact the scientific understanding of mood, its correlates, and how actionable information can be provided to users.
    • Contribute to the ResearchKit’s open source community to benefit future studies.

7) Representations and Warranties

By participating in the Challenge, each Entrant represents, warrants, and covenants to each of NVF, RWJF, and LL as follows: (a) the Entrant is the sole author, creator, and owner of its submission; (b) the Entrant’s submission: (i) is not the subject of any actual or threatened litigation or claim, (ii) does not, and will not, violate or infringe upon the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other legal rights of any third party, and (iii) does not, and will not, contain any harmful computer code (sometimes referred to as “malware,” “viruses,” or “worms”); and (c) the submission, and the Entrant’s use of the submission, does not, and will not, violate any applicable laws or regulations of the United States.

8) Indemnification

Each entrant agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless each of NVF, RWJF, LL and any entity associated with the funding, administration, or processing of the Challenge, including, but not limited to, Apple, Inc., and each of their respective the trustees, directors, officers, shareholders, members, employees, contractors, agents, representatives and affiliates (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”), from and against all third party claims, actions, or proceedings of any kind and from any and all damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses relating to, or arising from, the Entrant’s participation in the Challenge or any breach or alleged breach of any of the representations, warranties, and covenants of the entrant hereunder.

9) Publicity Release

By participating in the Challenge, in addition to any other rights granted herein or which may be granted in any other agreement entered into between NVF, RWJF, and/or LL, on the one hand, and any Entrant, on the other hand, each Entrant, to the extent allowed by applicable law, hereby irrevocably (a) grants to each of NVF, RWJF, and LL the right to use such Entrant’s name, likeness, image, and biographical information in any and all media for any purpose, including, without limitation, advertising and promotional purposes relating to the Challenge and (b) releases each of NVF, RWJF, and LL from any liability with respect thereto.

10) Notices

Attempts to notify semi-finalists, finalists, and winner(s) will be made using the email address associated with the Team Lead’s Luminary Lightbox account. NVF and LL are not responsible for email or other communication problems of any kind.

If, despite reasonable efforts, an Entrant does not respond within three (3) days of the first notification attempt regarding selection as a semi-finalist, finalist, or overall winner (or a shorter time as exigencies may require), or if the notification is returned as undeliverable to such Entrant, that Entrant may forfeit the Entrant’s award opportunity which then may be awarded to an alternate recipient.

11) Challenge Termination

NVF reserves the right to suspend, postpone, cease, terminate or otherwise modify this Challenge in the event circumstances arise which make it impractical to continue to the Challenge as originally planned. In such circumstances, NVF will attempt, to the extent reasonably possible, to make the planned awards in a fair and equitable fashion; provided that no guarantee is made that any awards will be made.

12) General Liability Release

Each Entrant agrees that none of the Indemnified Parties (a) shall be responsible or liable for any losses, damages, or injuries of any kind (including death) resulting from participation in the Challenge or any Challenge-related activity, or from Entrants’ acceptance, receipt, possession, use, or misuse of any award, and (b) have made any warranty, representation, or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, with respect to any prize, including, without limitation, regarding such prize’s merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. NVF and LL assume no responsibility for any damage to an Entrant’s computer system which is occasioned by accessing the Challenge Website or participating in the Challenge, or for any computer system, phone line, hardware, software, or program malfunctions, or other errors, failures, delayed computer transmissions, or network connections that are human or technical in nature.

13) Exercise

The failure of NVF to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Rules shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

14) Force Majeur

In the event an insufficient number of eligible entries is received, or the Challenge is not able to continue as contemplated herein by any event beyond the reasonable control of NVF and/or LL, including, without limitation, fire, flood, natural or man-made epidemic, earthquake, explosion, labor dispute or strike, act of God or public enemy, satellite or equipment failure, riot or civil disturbance, terrorist threat or activity, war (declared or undeclared) or any federal state or local government law, order, or regulation, public health crisis, order of any court or jurisdiction, or other cause not reasonably within NVF and/or LL’s control (“Force Majeure”), NVF shall have the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, suspend, or terminate the Challenge.

15) Invalidity

The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Rules shall otherwise remain in effect and shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein.

16) Governing Law/Jurisdiction 

ALL ISSUES AND QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE CONSTRUCTION, VALIDITY, INTERPRETATION, AND ENFORCEABILITY OF THESE RULES OR THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF ENTRANTS, NVF, RWJF AND/OR LL IN CONNECTION WITH THE CHALLENGE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF WASHINGTON DC WITHOUT GIVING EFFECT TO ANY CHOICE OF LAW OR CONFLICT OF LAWS RULES OR PROVISIONS. ANY LEGAL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE CHALLENGE OR THESE RULES MUST BE BROUGHT IN THE FEDERAL OR STATE COURTS LOCATED IN WASHINGTON DC, AND EACH ENTRANT HEREBY CONSENTS AND WAIVES ANY OBJECTION TO THE JURISDICTION OF SUCH COURTS FOR SUCH DISPUTES.

17) Winners List/Official Rules/Contact

To obtain a list of semi-finalists, finalists, and winner(s) (after the conclusion of the Challenge) or a copy of these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions, send a self-addressed envelope with the proper postage affixed to: Luminary Labs, 30 West 22nd St., Floor 6, New York City, NY, 10010. Please specify “Winners List” or “Official Rules, Terms & Conditions” and the name of the specific challenge in your request.