Last updated: 22 August 2022

1. Introduction

Thank you for joining Swiss Smart City Compass, a community in cooperation with Smart City Hub & the Future City Alliance, committed to sharing knowledge about products and solutions in the Swiss market. These rules are in place to protect our whole community as well as the platform providers, so that you to make the most of the benefits that the platform offers and the community can keep growing. This is where you'll find information about: how we protect your privacy and data; what you can and can't do; and how we handle users’ accounts. Therefore, please read these terms carefully.

By using the Swiss Smart City Compass and signing up for an account, you are agreeing to these Terms, which will result in a legal agreement (“Agreement”) between you and the BABLE (“Organisation”).  To help you understand the Agreement, we will include a few definitions. The Swiss Smart City Compass (“Platform”) is an online platform provided by BABLE (“Organisation”, “we”, “us”) which is developed and maintained by BABLE GmbH (“Provider”; ”BABLE”) to enable an intercantonal exchange from all corners and in all official languages of Switzerland. This Agreement and all the policies posted on our site is set out in the terms which we offer you (“you”, “User”), which offers access to our site’s services, applications and tools (“Service”).  You agree to comply with the Agreement when accessing or using our Service.

If you have any concerns or questions about the Agreement, feel free to contact us at datenschutz@bable-smartcities.eu 

2. About the Swiss Smart City Compass

First national platform with Smart City projects in Switzerland

In a cooperation of two national associations, the Future City Alliance, as an association of providers from trade and industry, and the Smart City Hub Switzerland, as an association of committed cities and the Smart City platform BABLE, an online library was newly created under the name Swiss Smart City Compass. The aim of the platform is to create a comprehensive catalog of ongoing and already realized Smart City projects in Switzerland and thus to present good examples and to network various partners more easily. The platform is under construction and available in all national languages as well as English.

In view of increasing challenges, such as climate change, population and spatial development, increasing mobility, and infrastructure adaptations, cities and municipalities are challenged to better shape their development.

This can only be achieved together with a wide range of partners, through joint learning, innovation, new technologies and increased exchange. This is the only way to become smarter. "Smart City stands for a holistic development concept that intends to make cities and communities more efficient, more ecological and more socially inclusive," concretizes Christian Geiger, President Smart City Hub Switzerland and CDO of St. Gallen.

In Switzerland, there is a growing number of successful smart city initiatives. Today, however, it is difficult to keep track of them all. On the new platform, a wide variety of interested parties can now network online. Enrico Baumann, board member of the Future City Alliance states, "The goal is for the Smart City Compass to become the largest online library in Switzerland, where people can get inspired by the pioneering smart city projects, learn and also network right away."

The collaboration between the Future City Alliance and the Smart City Hub is unique in Switzerland. BABLE collects data on smart city initiatives outside of Switzerland as well, providing a bridge to European markets as well.

"For cities, municipalities and cantons, the use of the platform is and will remain free of charge. Thereby, especially smaller and medium-sized municipalities should get simplified access to innovations, solutions and already learned - information and contacts can be exchanged in a neutral solution-oriented environment," explains Alexander Schmidt, CEO of BABLE. He adds, "The data on the platform is encrypted and securely stored in the EU."

Further information

Benjamin Szemkus, Tel. 079 673 11 26, Managing Director Smart City Hub
bs@smartcityhub.ch

Kimon Arvanitis, tel. 058 255 25 74; managing director Future City Alliance
kimon@smartcity-alliance.ch

3. Behaviour

To provide our community with a safe space for innovation and collaboration, all Users must follow the rules as to not negatively impact the other Users. Therefore, in order to use our SERVICE, you commit to follow our rules and refrain from:

• linking to companies or cities where you do not work
• using false data about your person in your profile
• posting, listing or uploading content or items in inappropriate categories or areas on our sites;
• breaching or circumventing any laws, third-party rights or our systems, policies, or determinations of your account status;
• using our Services if you are not able to form legally binding contracts (for example, if you are under 18 years old), or are temporarily or indefinitely suspended from using our sites, services, applications or tools;
• manipulating the price of any item or interfering with any other user's listings;
• posting false, inaccurate, misleading, deceptive, defamatory, or libellous content;
• taking any action that may undermine the feedback or ratings systems;
• transferring your account (including Feedback) and user ID to another party without our consent;
• distributing or posting spam, unsolicited or bulk electronic communications, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
• distributing viruses or any other technologies that may harm our Platform or the interests or property of users;
• using any robot, spider, scraper, data mining tools, data gathering and extraction tools, or other automated means to access our Services for any purpose, except with the prior express permission of the Organisation;
• interfering with the working of our Services, or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
• exporting or re-exporting any application, data or tool, except in compliance with the export control laws of any relevant jurisdictions and in accordance with posted rules and restrictions;
• Infringing upon the copyright, trademark, patent, publicity, moral, database, and/or other intellectual property rights (collectively, "Intellectual Property Rights") that belong to or are licensed to Us. Some, but not all, actions that may constitute infringement are reproducing, performing, displaying, distributing, copying, reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, or preparing derivative works from content that belongs to the provider or someone else;
• infringing any Intellectual Property Rights that belong to third parties affected by your use of the Services or post content that does not belongs to you;
• commercialising any Organisation’s application or any information or software associated with such application, except with the prior express permission of the Provider;
• harvesting or otherwise collecting information about users without their consent; or
• circumventing any technical measures we use to provide the Services.

By using our Services, you represent and warrant that you meet all the requirements listed above, and that you won’t use the Services in a way that violates any laws or regulations. Note that by representing and warranting, you are making a legally enforceable promise.

We may refuse service, close accounts of any Users, and change eligibility requirements at any time.

4. Fees

The fees we charge for using our Services are listed on the Page Rules for Listing page. We may change our fees from time to time by posting the changes on the Community’s site 14 days in advance, but with no advance notice required for temporary promotions or any changes that result in the reduction of fees.

The fees as mentioned in Rules for Listing are due when accessing the member/logged-in part of the platform. Some type of entities (e.g. cities and regions) might be exempt from paying a fee.

Further information

Benjamin Szemkus, Tel. 079 673 11 26, Managing Director Smart City Hub
bs@smartcityhub.ch

Kimon Arvanitis, tel. 058 255 25 74; managing director Future City Alliance
kimon@smartcity-alliance.ch

5. Listing Conditions 

We strive to create a platform, in cooperation with Smart City Hub & the Future City Alliance, where cities, regions, companies, other parties can easily find what they are looking for. To achieve this, your listed ASSETS will appear in the search function. You agree to the following classifications:

• The appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
  • Number and quality of other listings you have linked your listing to
  • search query and filter selection
  • language setting
  • creation date of the asset
  • number of listings matching the query
  • quality and availability of data for the asset.
• Your listing may not be immediately searchable by keyword or category for several hours
• Some advanced listing upgrades will only be visible on certain Services.
• Metatags and URL links that are included in a listing may be removed or altered so as to not affect third-party search engine results.

You also agree to comply with the Organisation’s rules for listing when creating an Asset on the Platform:

• You are responsible for the accuracy and content of the listing and item.
• The Organisation cannot guarantee exact listing durations.
• Content that violates any of the Organisation’s policies may be deleted at our discretion.
• We may revise data in the Organisation’s catalogue to supplement, remove, or correct information
• We may provide you with optional recommendations to consider when creating your listings. Such recommendations may be based on the aggregated views and performance history of similar listings; results will vary for individual listings. To drive the recommendations experience, you agree that we may display the page imprints and performance history of your individual listings to other users.

6. Additional Terms for Tools

The Platform might offer a set of automated or semi-automated tools (Tools), which are provided as additional applications. These tools are accessible via the dashboard, sub-domains or on third party websites. Using the tools might require the acceptance of additional Terms & Conditions for this particular service. In particular, data gathered or generated within those tools might be shared with the entity or entities that own, license or (co-) developed the tool. The acceptance of those additional Terms are a prerequisite for using the Tools.

7. Members Only Access

While much of our Service and information are accessible without the requirement of signing up, some of the information is only intended for Users who are registered and logged in. We reserve the right to restrict access to any parts of the Website, at our own discretion.

If we provide you with a user ID (i.e. your e-mail address) and password to enable you to access to certain areas of the Website or other content or services, you must ensure that the user ID and password are kept confidential.

The Swiss Smart City Compass is maintained as a platform for high quality exchanges between professionals. Therefore, when using a personal email address, you may be asked to re-register with your professional email address and your private email address may be removed. We also may disable your account at our sole discretion.
 

8. Content

You shall retain all right, title, and interest in and to the material, content, data, and information (including your personal information and the personal information of others) you submit to the Platform. When providing content while using our Services (directly or indirectly), you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise any and all Intellectual Property Rights you have in that content in connection with our provision, expansion, and promotion of the Services, in any media known now or developed in the future. To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, you waive your right to enforce against the Organisation, the Provider, our assignees, our sublicensees, and their assignees your Intellectual Property Rights in that content in connection with our, those assignees', and those sublicensees' use of that content.

You represent and warrant that:

• for all such content you provide, you own or otherwise control all necessary rights to do so and meet your obligations under this Agreement. 
• such content is accurate.
• that use of any such content (including derivative works) by us, our users, or others in contract with us, and in compliance with this Agreement, does not and will not infringe any Intellectual Property Rights of any third party.

We take no responsibility and assume no liability for any content provided by you or any third party.
We may offer catalogues including for example, product images, descriptions and specifications that are provided by third parties (including from our users).

• You may use catalogue content solely in your Swiss Smart City Compass listings.
• The permission to use catalogue content is subject to modification or revocation at any time at the Organisation’s sole discretion.

While we try to offer reliable data, we cannot promise that the catalogues, solutions or other content provided through the Services will always be available, accurate, complete, and up-to-date. You agree to the following:

• The Provider and the Organisation are not responsible for examining or warranting the listings or content provided by third parties through the Services, and that you will not attempt to hold us liable for any inaccuracies.
• When uploading content, it is your responsibility to review the content of your listings for accuracy and that you will not attempt to hold our catalogue providers or us responsible for inaccuracies.
• The catalogue may include copyrighted, trademarked or other proprietary materials. You agree not to remove any copyright, proprietary, or identification markings included within the catalogues and not to create any derivative works based on catalogue content (other than by including them in your listings).

The name " Swiss Smart City Compass" and other Provider’s marks, logos, designs, and phrases that we use in connection with our Services are trademarks, service marks, or trade dress of BABLE GmbH. They may not be used without the expressed, written and prior permission of the Organisation and/or the Provider.
 

9. Privacy of Others

If we provide you with information about another user, you agree you will use the information only for the purposes that it is provided to you. You may not disclose, sell, rent, or distribute a user's information to a third party for purposes unrelated to the Services. Additionally, you may not use information for marketing purposes, via electronic or other means, unless you obtain the consent of the specific user to do so.

10. Newsletter

The  Swiss Smart City Compass is a community that thrives from sharing and distributing information. When you sign up for our newsletter, your data are handled following GDPR and following our Privacy Notice. Also, when signing up to the platform, you are automatically subscribed to our Newsletter. Your data are also handled following GDPR and following our Privacy Notice. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. We use Mailchimp for our newsletter services. Their legal policies can be found here: https://mailchimp.com/legal

11. General Terms

11.1 Release

If you have a dispute with one or more users, you release us (and our affiliates and subsidiaries, and our and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes. In entering into this release, you expressly waive any protections (whether statutory or otherwise) that would otherwise limit the coverage of this release to include only those claims which you may know or suspect to exist in your favour at the time of agreeing to this release.

11.2 Indemnity

You will indemnify and hold us (including our affiliates and subsidiaries, as well as our and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents) harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Agreement, your improper use of the Provider’s Services or your breach of any law or the rights of a third party.

11.3 General

Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, if any provision of this User Agreement is held to be invalid, void or for any reason unenforceable, such provision shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions. At our sole discretion, we may assign this Agreement, and in such event, we will post notice on  www.swiss-smart-city-compass.com:

Headings are for reference purposes only and do not limit the scope or extent of such Section. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. We do not guarantee we will take action against all breaches of this Agreement.

We may amend this Agreement at any time by posting the amended terms on  www.swiss-smart-city-compass.com. Our right to amend the Agreement includes the right to modify, add to, or remove terms in the Agreement. We will provide you with a 30 day notice by posting the amended terms. Additionally, we may notify you by email or other direct forms of communication. Your continued access or use of our Service constitutes your acceptance of the amended terms. We may also ask you to acknowledge your acceptance of the User Agreement through an electronic click-through. This User Agreement may not otherwise be amended except through mutual agreement by you and the Organisation.

The policies posted on our sites may be changed from time to time. Changes take effect when we post them on our site.
If you create or use an account on behalf of a business entity or municipality, you agree that you are authorised to act on behalf of such institution and bind the institution to this Agreement. Such account is owned and controlled by the business entity or municipality. No agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchiser-franchisee relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.

The Terms and Conditions, the User Privacy Notice, and all polices posted through our Services set forth the entire understanding and agreement between you and the Organisation, and supersede all prior understandings and agreements of the parties.

The following Sections survive any termination of the Terms and Conditions as a User Agreement: Fees, Privacy of Others, Content and General Terms.
 

11.4 Law and Jurisdiction

These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with European and Swiss Law, and any disputes relating to these terms and conditions will be subject to the [non-] exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Zurich or Stuttgart.

12. Swiss Smart City Compass details

The full name of BABLE is BABLE GmbH.

BABLE GmbH (BABLE) is registered with Handelsregister Deutschland (company registry of Germany). You can find the online version of the register at https://www.handelsregister.de/

BABLE is registered in Stuttgart (Germany) under registration number HRB 760906.

BABLE’s registered address is:

BABLE GmbH
Seyfferstraße 34

70197 Stuttgart

You can contact BABLE by email at info@bable-smartcities.eu