Privacy Policy

FICI is responsible for personal information under its control. Our Privacy Officer, Babak Khodaparast, President, oversees compliance with this policy. Contact: Babak Khodaparast, President and Privacy Officer, The First Institute of Canadian Inventors, 100 King St W, Toronto, ON M5X 1C0, [email protected].

• Account and membership: name, email, password (stored securely hashed; we can’t see it), preferred language, province, city, organization, role, chapter, innovation stage, interests and consent choices.
• National Team applications: contact details, team members, invention description, photos, video links, intellectual-property status, competition preferences and declarations.
• Forms: what you enter in our contact, program enquiry, chapter, volunteer and partner forms.
• Contributions: name, email, amount, frequency, designation and optional details you provide. Card details are collected and processed by Stripe; we never see or store your card number.
• Newsletter: email address, language and consent record.
• Technical information: basic server logs (such as IP address, browser type and pages requested) used for security and troubleshooting, and the cookies described in section 8.

• To create and manage your account and membership.
• To review National Team applications and, if you’re selected, to prepare your participation.
• To reply to your enquiries and connect you with programs, partners or inventors (only as described when you submit).
• To process contributions and send receipts and thank-you messages.
• To send newsletters and updates only if you’ve opted in.
• To keep the site secure, prevent abuse and improve it.
• To meet legal obligations.

We collect, use and disclose your information with your consent, except where the law permits otherwise. Marketing emails require your express, opt-in consent, and every one includes an unsubscribe link. You can withdraw consent at any time in your account or by contacting us, subject to legal or contractual restrictions.

We don’t sell your personal information. We share it only:

• With service providers that help us run the site, under contracts requiring them to protect it: our hosting provider, Hostinger (servers in Boston, United States); Cloudflare (network security, content delivery and file storage); Zoho ZeptoMail (sending emails); Stripe (payments). We don’t use third-party analytics or advertising services. Newsletter subscriptions are stored on our own website; if we start using an email newsletter service, we’ll name it in this policy.
• For the National Team: with FICI reviewers and, if you’re selected, with competition organizers, as you agree when applying.
• With inventors or partners only when you ask us to connect you and the other party agrees.
• When required by law.

FICI’s website and the information it stores are hosted on servers in the United States (Hostinger, Boston). Some of our other service providers may also store or process information outside Canada. Information stored or processed in the United States may be subject to US law, including lawful access by US authorities.

Some links take you to other services, such as Skejel (event registration), Luma, Stripe’s checkout and customer portal, IFIA’s website and inclusiveinnovators.ca. Their own privacy policies apply there.

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes above or as required by law. Accounts are kept until you delete them. Enquiries are kept for 2 years. Contribution records are kept for 7 years for financial record-keeping. When an account is deleted, records of past National Team members are kept in anonymized form (without names or contact details) to document the team’s history.

We use only essential cookies: to keep you signed in and to remember your language. We don’t use analytics or advertising cookies, so there is nothing to accept or decline. If that changes, we’ll update this policy and ask for your consent first.

We use reasonable safeguards: encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, access limited to authorized staff, and trusted providers. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we’ll notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required.

You can access and correct your information, download a copy of your data, withdraw consent, and delete your account from your account’s Privacy and data page, or by contacting our Privacy Officer. We’ll respond within 30 days.

Our programs welcome young people. Accounts are for people aged 13 and over. If you’re under 18, you need a parent or guardian’s permission to create an account or apply to the National Team. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Contact our Privacy Officer first. If you aren’t satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca).

We’ll post any changes here and update the date above. If changes are significant, we’ll notify account holders by email.