Art. 1. The "Bright Labs Incubator" Program (hereinafter "Program") is a programorganized and run by the association "MAKE IT IN ORADEA / SUCCEED IN ORADEA",a legal person of private law without patrimonial purpose, with headquarters inOradea, 35, Emanuil Gojdu Square, Oradea Citadel, building I, ground floor(hereinafter "NGO" or "MITO"), established by Civil Resolution no. 2043/08.10.2020pronounced by the Court of Oradea in case no. 10981/271/2020, with taxregistration code 43347357, in collaboration with external partners (hereinafter"External Partners") co-opted by the NGO in the Program (either on a partnershipor voluntary basis).
The Program aims at stimulating, developing and promoting endogenous potentialin the IT&C field, increasing investment opportunities in Oradea/Bihor county,stimulating private initiative and developing entrepreneurship, promotinginventions, innovations, advanced technologies, supporting and developing the localentrepreneurial ecosystem in Oradea/Bihor county, by discovering, selecting and/or,where appropriate, accelerating business projects and/or innovative business ideaswith technological specificity/ involving the use of modern/advanced technologies.
The Program is aimed at all technology enthusiasts who have business ideas in theIT&C field, giving them the opportunity
Art. 2. The 2025 edition of the Program will run from April to October 2024 in both online and offline environments.
Art. 2. The 2025 edition of the Program will run from March to October 2025 in both online and offline environments.
Art. 3. The Program will consist of the following phases:
(a) Stage I Registration: The persons interested in participating in the Program will be able to complete and submit online the application form - standard format (hereinafter referred to as "Application Form"), by accessing the "Registration" section of the website dedicated to the Program: https://www.brightlabs.build/.
Participation in Stage I is free of charge (no participation fee is payable), but all interested people must fulfil the following cumulative application criteria (hereinafter referred to as "Application Criteria"):
For individuals:
For legal entities:
For All:
Each person (natural or legal) may apply for the Program (thus acquiring the status of "Candidate") with a single business idea/business project that meets the requirements of these Rules.
Phase I will run from 7 March to 11 May.
(b) Stage II Pre-selection: the Executive Director of MITO and the Program Coordination Team designated by him/her will examine the applications received from Applicants in the light of the Application Criteria indicated under point (a) above (within the limits of the information available to them).
If a Candidate has not received any information from MITO about passing to Stage III, it will be considered that he/she/it has not passed the selection. The decision of MITO in this regard cannot be contested.
(c) Stage III Pre-incubation: MITO's organization of Initiate Week, including online sessions, registration to a Discord server and library with content curated by the NGO.
The online sessions will be recorded.
The Initiate phase will take place from 7 April to 18 May 2025.
Candidates' participation in Initiate phase is not compulsory, but recommended, in view of the connecting and learning roles of this stage.
(d) Stage IV Registration after Pre-incubation: After the Initiate stage, and email will be sent to the Candidates indicate at the date as of which a video recordings of no more than 3 minutes must be sent. The Candidate will briefly present in that video, his/her/its business project for the Program, the team and the motivation for participating in the Program.
(e) Stage V Selection after Pre-incubation: The MITO Executive Director and the Program Coordination Team appointed by him/her will review the entries/recordings received from the Applicants.
Following their analysis, the Candidates will be selected to participate in the next stage and they will be informed by 23rd of May.
If a Candidate has not received any information from MITO by the above date about passing to Stage V, it will be considered that the respective Candidate has not passed this stage. The decision of MITO in this regard cannot be contested.
(f) Stage VI Pre-Incubation Interview: Candidates who have been selected in Stage V will participate in online/offline interviews in Oradea (depending on the preference of the Candidate) with MITO Committees (see Chapter III herein).
The interview will take about 15 minutes and its date will be communicated to the Candidate by MITO at least 3 days before the date of the interview.
(g) Stage VII Final Selection in Pre-incubation: The MITO Committees will select, the Candidates that after Stage VI, who will go on to Stage VIII, and they will be informed of this within 7 days after the end of the interview period. If a Candidate has not received any information from MITO by this deadline regarding their progress to Stage VIII, it will be considered that the respective Candidate has not passed onto the next stage. The decision of MITO in this regard cannot be contested.
(h) Stage VIII Incubation. Candidates who have been selected in Stage VII will take part in the programes organized according to the 4 sections below (Pillars):
The above Pillars will involve the organisation of events, courses and meetings over a period of 4 calendar months, during which Candidates may benefit, under the contractual conditions established with the NGO through the contract for accelerating the development of the proposed project (hereinafter "Incubation Contract"), from certain services (hereinafter "Incubation Services") such as: management advisory services, entrepreneurship education, mentoring and networking.
Participation in Stage VIII is open only to Candidates whose business projects have been selected at the end of Stage VII and who have signed the Incubation Contract with the NGO, becoming residents of the business accelerator in the Program.
Relocation to Oradea for the entire duration of the Program of the Candidates who reached Stage VIII is mandatory. In this regard, the NGO will provide their accommodation in one room per team with private bathroom, one meal per day for each team member, free co-working space and budget for operators in residence.
Physical presence of Candidates at 70% of the meetings/courses/events is mandatory. Any exception to this rule will only be made with the express agreement of the MITO Executive Director.
Candidates must submit all required deliverables as specified throughout the program. Submission of these deliverables is mandatory and will be monitored accordingly.
Candidates who have reached Stage VIII will not be allowed to participate in other incubation and accelerator programs at the same time as BLI 2025.
The Candidates will report by Weekly Status Checks, every Monday. These reports are mandatory.
The sanction in case a Candidate that has reached Stage VIII does not move to Oradea, is not present at 75% of the meetings of the Program, does not meet the KPIs (indicated as mandatory activities and took into account in the Weekly Status Checks), breaches the Regulation applicable to the accommodation, breaches the Regulation applicable in the co-working space or participates in other incubation and acceleration programs at the same time as BLI 2025, is immediate exclusion from the Program, with the obligation of the Candidate to cover all costs incurred by the NGO for the participation of that Candidate in the Program. In any case, the Candidate in question shall have no claim towards MITO, not he/she/it will contest the exclusion decision.
Art. 4. For the conduct of Stages VI and VII, the Program Coordinator chosen by the NGO shall appoint an evaluation and selection committee (hereinafter referred to generically as "the Pre-selection Committee"), each composed from among the individuals representing the members of the legal entities on the Board of Directors of the NGO and from among the members of the Scientific Senate or the mentors designated as such in the Program, each member of the Pre-selection Committee having one vote. The Program Coordinator shall determine the composition of the Pre-selection Commission according to the expertise of each member in the field covered by the proposed projects.
If one of the persons chosen to be a member of the Pre-selection Commission is in a situation of incompatibility or conflict of interest in relation to the provisions of art. 3 lit. e or f or art. 9, he/she shall immediately inform the Program Coordinator in order to ensure his/her replacement by another member of the Scientific Senate or another mentor.
Art. 5. The main tasks of the Pre-selection Commission are: analysis of the business projects/ideas proposed by the Candidates who have reached Stage VI and pre-selection by vote, as per Art. 4 and 6, of those who will qualify for Stages VII and VIII of the Program.
Art. 6. In order to carry out Stage II_Selection/Evaluation, the Pre-selection Commissions will evaluate the projects that have passed this stage (for this reason the general term "Evaluation Commission" will be referred to hereafter).
Art. 7. The main tasks of the Evaluation Commission in the Second Stage of Selection/Evaluation are: to evaluate the potential of the business projects/business ideas pre-selected previously and to designate by vote the winning projects/business ideas.
Art. 8. Decisions of the Evaluation Commission shall be adopted by a majority vote of its members, taking into account, inter alia:
The deliberations of the Commission will be recorded electronically by the Program Coordinator or his/her designee, or will be indicated in the MITO minutes and the Commission members' ballots. The vote of each Commission member will be known to the Program Coordinator and will be briefly mentioned in a record kept by the NGO which will also include a link to the recording of the deliberations if the latter is chosen.
Prior to the deliberation, each of the Commissions may ask the participants enrolled in the Program for clarifications and relevant documents regarding the IT&C solutions/proposed business project, such as: business plan, forecasts, test results, prototypes, market studies, etc.
In case of a negative vote in Phase VI, the Commission concerned will close the file/application and inform the Program Coordinator.
In the case of a positive vote in Stage VI, the Commission concerned notifies the Program Coordinator of the qualification of the Candidates concerned for Stage VII of the Program. The Program Coordinator will inform those Candidates about passing to the next stage and the next steps by email.
MITO will not accept any appeals from Candidates regarding the pre-selection or evaluation results communicated by the Commissions.
Art. 9. A member of a Committee who, in the evaluation of a particular business project/business idea, is in a conflict of interest is obliged to inform the Program Coordinator, not to take part in any deliberations on the business project in question and to abstain from voting. In such a case, the member in conflict of interest will be replaced by an alternate member of the Scientific Senate of the NGO or by another mentor designated by the Program Coordinator (the last paragraph of art. 4 above will apply in such a case).
For example, a member will be considered to be in a conflict of interest if he/she is a partner/shareholder/creditor/guarantor of a Program participant, either directly or indirectly, or if he/she controls him/her in any way.
Art. 10. Enrolment in the Program does not result in the transfer to the NGO of copyright/intellectual or industrial property rights relating to the business projects proposed in the Program or the intellectual property rights held in the IP portfolio of the participants enrolled in the Program.
Participants in the Program are held responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the information provided during the course of the Program, including, but not limited to, creative ideas, suggestions and feedback/information on proposed products and services, market analyses, surveys, business plans, business forecasts, partnerships, know-how, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "Content"). Each of the participants in the Program represents and warrants that it is the author and owner of the Content provided as a participant in the Program and/or otherwise has the capacity to grant the Organizer the rights to use such Content for the purposes of the Program. Participants also declare that by registering and participating in the Program, they do not infringe either directly or indirectly any third party right (including but not limited to intellectual property rights, the right to activate a confidentiality or non-compete clause). Participants therefore assume full responsibility for the Content and the way they decide to develop it, and are directly liable to potentially affected third parties.
Art. 11. With reference to the provisions of Article 10, the NGO undertakes no liability. Consequently, the NGO, as the Program organiser, and its External Partners in the Program, shall not be held liable for any kind of damage that may arise from the access and/or processing of any information, data, initiatives/business ideas or documents in the Content provided by the participants in the Program, except in cases where the NGO or the External Partner has expressly assumed any obligation in this regard.
By registering for the Program, participants declare that they have been informed by MITO that any Content submitted, posted, developed, created or presented, during the course of the Program, may become accessible to other participants in the Program, Commissions, Mentors and External Partners, the press, the general public and any third party to whom disclosure may be beneficial in the judgment of the NGO, and such Content is and will be considered and treated as confidential.
Art. 12. The running of the Program is public. Registration and participation in the Program requires the following cumulative steps to be taken:
Art. 13. The Program may be suspended or terminated at any time before its full implementation, by decision of the Board of Directors of the NGO (in consideration of which it will be published on the Program website https://www.brightlabs.build/), in case of an event constituting force majeure or if the NGO decides for various reasons (such as reasons related to the internal organisation of MITO, decisions of opportunity, lack of a sufficient number of candidates).
The situations referred to above are also assimilated to acts of public authority of a competent court or other competent public authority that prevent the Program from running according to these Regulations.
In the situations of suspension/termination referred to in this chapter, the NGO is no longer bound by any obligation towards the participants enrolled in the Program and does not owe any compensation.
Art. 14. As applicable under the Romanian Tax Code in force at that time, the calculation, withholding, declaration and payment of the tax related to the income from the prizes awarded in the Program (if any) will be carried out by the NGO, as the payer of such income. In the case of prizes awarded to legal entities, they shall declare the income and calculate and pay the related tax themselves.
Art. 15. This Regulation shall be interpreted and governed by Romanian law.
Any dispute between the NGO and/or any of the participants enrolled in the Program shall be settled amicably within a maximum of 30 days from the occurrence of the incident. If the parties involved are unable to find an amicable solution within the aforementioned period, the disputes will be settled by the competent Romanian courts in Oradea.
STUDYING THESE REGULATIONS, THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, THE DATA PROTECTION POLICY AND THE COOKIE POLICY IS SOMETHING THAT USERS MUST DO EVERY TIME THEY ACCESS THE SITE AND BEFORE CARRYING OUT ANY OPERATION WITHIN THE PROGRAMME, AS CHANGES MAY OCCUR DURING THE COURSE OF THE PROGRAMME OR BEFORE IT STARTS.
The NGO reserves the right to modify/update the content of the website related to the Program, including these regulations and the policies posted, at its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason (including but not limited to the emergence of legislative or jurisprudential changes that may affect the consequences of what is published, organisational needs, etc.). Such revisions will be marked by changing the "Last updated" date at the top. After the date on which the updated document is published, accessing the website or taking any action (such as taking the interview, submitting registrations, collecting prizes) will constitute the user's/candidate's acceptance of the updated conditions.
However, if there are significant changes that may affect the rights and freedoms of users/Candidates, information will be given by publication on the site (pop-up) or by sending e-mails to the addresses provided (where such information has been sent to MITO). Such significant changes will take effect for Candidates/users within 15 days from the time of the posting of the pop-up in question or the sending of the e-mail by the NGO (the manner in which the information will be given will be decided by the NGO on a case-by-case basis).
Regardless of the extent of the change, however, it is the full responsibility of the User/Applicant to check the content of the Program Rules, the Terms and Conditions and the policies posted on the website to keep up to date with the latest versions.
Bright Labs Incubator Program Manager
July - October
Location: Startup Fortress, Oradea
