Privacy Policy

Introduction

Thank you for visiting the OPTIMAI website.

This privacy policy is part of the OPTIMAI website and solely concerns processing of personal data with the OPTIMAI project due to the operation of the website. This covers personal data that you provide us with through the website, and the personal data that you see on our website.

We are committed to processing personal data responsibly, securely, and proportionally throughout our activities in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679.

Who we are

The OPTIMAI project is a Horizon 2020 funded Research and Innovation Action.

The OPTIMAI project aims to support industrial manufacturing by developing a set of technologies that will improve the efficiency and quality of production, using Sensors, Smart Instrumentation, Metrology, Artificial Intelligence, Virtualisation and Augmented Reality, supported by Blockchain smart contract technology for secure data exchange. These technologies will be integrated in a Decision Support Framework to ensure:

zero-defect manufacturing, using intelligent monitoring and control of production
smart, secure and traceable data collection based on a distributed ledger
advanced interaction mechanisms for rapid and efficient reconfiguration of equipment
optimal production planning via virtualisation and AI

The OPTIMAI project is comprised of 16 organisations from academic, scientific, and business communities from 8 countries. The 3-year project began on January 4th, 2021.

For the purposes of this website, the data controller is Carr Communications, registered in Dublin, Ireland, under registered number 42175, with a registered office at 24 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, D02 T296. You can contact the data controller by e-mailing info@carrcommunications.ie.

Personal data processed through the website

Should you contact us through the website, we are going to collect your contact details and the message you provided us with. We are not going to collect metadata that you did not expressly provide us with.

The content we upload or otherwise make available through the website might contain personal data, such as the names of our researchers and their work.

Legal bases of processing

For the personal data received through the contact form, we hold the following lawful bases for processing personal data:

Consent (Art.6.1.a of the GDPR) – When you consent directly to the processing of your personal data, for example, when you subscribe to our newsletter. If you provide us with sensitive personal data, falling within Art. 9 of the GDPR (such as dietary requirements for an event), we will process it under Art. 9.2.a of the GDPR.
Legitimate interests (Art.6.1.f) – We process personal data when it is necessary for us to achieve the following legitimate interests:

- Enhancing our research delivery, by providing information about OPTIMAI to the individuals we deem as likely to be interested in our project. This may include:
  - Sending invitations and providing access to guests attending our events and webinars
  - Monitoring the activity on this project website.
- Should the recipient of the information communicate to us that they are not interested in further communications from us, we will cease processing their personal data.

For the personal data we communicate through the website, the following lawful bases of our processing are held:

Consent (Art.6.1.a of the GDPR) – When we have received consent to publish personal data – e.g., a blog post from one of our researchers.
Legal obligations (Art.6.1.c of the GDPR) – We may process personal data in order to meet a legal obligation, e.g., promoting project results to multiple audiences, including the media and the public.
Legitimate interests (Art.6.1.f) – We process personal data when it is necessary for us to achieve the following legitimate interests (as long as they are not overridden by the data subject’s interests):
- Enhancing our research delivery, by providing information about OPTIMAI’s activities on the website
- Undertaking dissemination activities.

How we secure your personal data when we process it

We have put technical and organisational security policies and procedures in place to protect personal data (including sensitive personal data) from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. Wherever possible, we ensure that access to your personal data is password-protected. We encrypt EU-classified data and such data are restricted only to a limited number of individuals who need to access it. Those individuals who have access to the data are required to maintain the confidentiality of such information. We install and regularly update all security and anti-virus software in use on all of our systems. Nevertheless, the security of data transmitted over the Internet cannot be completely guaranteed. In addition, the consortium will be conducting a data protection impact assessments where necessary (in line with Art. 35 of the GDPR) over the duration of the project, wherein the consortium will identify and assess any ethical or data protection risks and find solutions to overcome any such risks.

Please be aware that transmissions over the Internet are never completely private or secure.

How long do we retain personal data?

We retain personal data only as long as it is necessary for the purposes described above. Please note that we have an obligation to retain data concerning European Union H2020 research projects for up to five years after the EC’s last payment to the consortium (unless further retention is requested by the EU auditors).

As the records and documentation containing personal data have been collected within the delivery of an EC project, we expect that the Commission will process it in compliance with Regulation No 2018/1725 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. After the expiry of the retention period, and unless further legitimate grounds for retention arise, we will dispose of personal data in a secure manner.

Do we share personal data with third parties?

The OPTIMAI consortium will generally not share personal information with anyone except the European Commission, if it so requests, except where it is shared with trusted third parties for the delivery of efficient and quality services (see below). All partners will treat information received from other partners as confidential and will not disclose it to third parties, unless it is obvious that the information is already publicly available or there is a legal obligation to do so. The partners will impose the same obligations on their employees and suppliers.

We may occasionally share personal data with trusted third parties, such as those listed below, to help us deliver efficient and quality services. When we do so, we will ensure that recipients are contractually bound to safeguard the data we entrust to them before we actually share the data. We may engage with several or all of the following categories of recipients:

Parties that support us as we provide our services (e.g., cloud-based software services such as Dropbox, NextCloud, Microsoft SharePoint, or analytics services such as Google Analytics)
Our professional advisers, including lawyers, auditors and insurers
Payment service providers
Law enforcement or other government and regulatory agencies (e.g., tax authorities) or other third parties as required by, and in accordance with, applicable law or regulation
The European Commission when we are required to do so in relation to our work on EC H2020 projects.

OPTIMAI Newsletter and the Intuit Mailchimp Service

The OPTIMAI consortium utilises Mailchimp (a service of Intuit Inc.) as an email management service to facilitate distribution of the OPTIMAI newsletter and other relevant communications. Parties interested in receiving regular communications can manually and voluntarily sign-up to our newsletter using the Intuit Mailchimp service on the OPTIMAI website’s homepage. Users of our website are asked to study Intuit’s privacy statement (this link directs to a third-party website—Intuit.com) and Intuit Mailchimp’s Privacy FAQs (this link directs to a third-party website—Mailchimp.com) before signing-up to our newsletter.

Personal data processed by Intuit stemming from sign-up include your name and email address. After sign-up, when you interact with an OPTIMAI email campaign, Intuit may collect information about your device and interaction with an email. Intuit uses cookies and other technologies to collect some of this information. Intuit Mailchimp outlines its use of cookies here (this link directs to a third-party website—Intuit Mailchimp).

Other information that may be collected by Intuit via Mailchimp, as quoted from its privacy statement, includes but is not limited to:

Online behavioral data. We may automatically collect certain information about your use and interactions with our websites, customers’ websites or e-commerce stores, Platform, social media websites, and marketing campaigns that we or our customers organize, including device information (such as your IP address and unique device IDs), page view information and search results, links and if you are a customer contact, whether or not a campaign presented or sent to you using our offerings has been viewed, delivered, opened, clicked on, whether it has bounced or was treated as spam.
Device information. We may collect information about your device such as Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses, log information, error messages, device type, and unique device identifiers. For example, we may collect IP addresses from you as part of our sign in and security features.
Usage information. We may collect information about your usage of the Platform, such as the pages you viewed, the services and features you used or interacted with, your browser type and details about any links or communications with which you interacted.

The only personal data available to the OPTIMAI consortium in relation to newsletter subscription and engagement are the details you provide yourself at sign-up.

Intuit Mailchimp is based in the United States of America, therefore your personal data will be transferred outside of the European Union where it may be subject to queries and requests from US legal authorities and security agencies.

Utilisation of the Intuit Mailchimp service is bound by Standard Contractual Clauses (this link directs to a third-party website—Intuit Mailchimp).

You are free to unsubscribe from the OPTIMAI newsletter at any time.

Do we transfer your personal data outside the EU?

By default, we store personal data on servers located in the EU. However, we may also transfer personal data to reputable third-party service providers via use of email and cloud storage based services, notably Microsoft and Google, who may be located outside of the EU. Our use of Intuit Mailchimp is outlined above.

Wherever such personal data transfers are based on Standard Contractual Clauses within the meaning of Commission Decision 2010/87, we are keeping track of their validity, especially in the light of any national Data Protection Authority decisions on the matter and in line with the European Court of Justice (CJEU) decision in Case C-311/18 DPC v Facebook Ireland and Maximilian Schrems.

Your rights under data protection legislation

As a data subject, you can exercise the rights outlined in this section of the privacy policy. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information or to exercise any of your other rights. This helps us to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. No fee is required to make an initial request unless your request is clearly unfounded or excessive. Depending on the circumstances, we may be unable to comply with your request based on other lawful grounds.

Right to access (GDPR Art. 15)

The data subject has the right to obtain confirmation as to whether processing of personal data concerning him or her takes place in the OPTIMAI project. If this is the case, the data subject can request access to his/her data. Granting the right to access only occurs where the identification of the data subject is possible.

Right to rectification (Art. 16)

The data subject has the right to obtain the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning him or her. The exercise of this right is only possible where the data subject can be identified and the inaccuracy of data is verified.

Restriction of processing (Art. 18)

The data subject has the right to obtain the restriction of processing, where

the accuracy of the personal data is contested;
the processing is unlawful, the data subject opposes the erasure of personal data and requests the restriction of processing instead;
the controller no longer needs the personal data, but they are required by the data subject for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
the data subject has objected to processing pursuant to GDPR Art. 21.1 pending the verification of whether the legitimate grounds of the controller override those of the data subject.

The exertion of this right may require provision of further information to allow identification of the data subject as described in section 4.

Right to object (Art. 21)

A legal basis for the processing of personal data in the OPTIMAI project is Art. 6.1.f of the GDPR. The data subject has the right to object, on grounds relating to his or her particular situation, at any time to processing of personal data concerning him or her unless the OPTIMAI consortium demonstrates compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

The exertion of this right may require provision of further information to allow identification of the data subject.

Right to erasure (’Right to be forgotten’) (Art. 17)

The data subject has the right to obtain erasure of personal data concerning him or her, if

the data subject objects to the processing pursuant to Art. 21.1 and there are no overriding legitimate grounds;
the personal data have been unlawfully processed;
the personal data have to be erased for compliance with a legal obligation in Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject.

Right to data portability (Art. 20)

In some circumstances, where you have provided personal data to us, you can ask us to transmit that personal data (in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format) directly to another company.

Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Art. 77)

The data subject has the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority in the Member State of his or her habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if the data subject considers that the processing of personal data relating to him or her infringes the GDPR.

A list of national supervisory authorities can be found here (this links to a third-party website).

Disclaimer and limitations of liability

We aim to keep the information that appears on the OPTIMAI website as complete and up to date as possible. If errors are brought to our attention, we will take all reasonable steps to make any necessary corrections within a reasonable time. Please be aware that the information published on our website is for informational purposes only. None of the information contained on the website constitutes legal or professional advice, nor can we accept responsibility for how it might be used, and we are not responsible or liable for any errors or omissions in any of the information provided on the website. We cannot be held liable for any direct or indirect damage that may result from use of this site. Links to other websites are provided in good faith and for information only. A link to another website does not mean that we endorse or accept any responsibility for the content or use of such website.

While we take all possible steps to minimise disruption caused by technical errors, we cannot guarantee that our website will not be interrupted or otherwise affected by such problems. Please note that access may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of system failure, website maintenance or repair or for reasons beyond our control.

The use of our website is governed by the law of the Republic of Ireland. Any dispute arising from or related to the use of this website shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts.

Do we link to other websites?

Our websites may contain links to other sites, including the sites of the consortium partners, which are not governed by this privacy policy. Please review the destination websites’ privacy policies before submitting personal data on those sites. Whilst we try to link only to sites that share our standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content, security or privacy practices employed by other sites.

Do we change this privacy policy?

We regularly review this privacy policy and will post any updates to it on this webpage. This privacy policy was last updated on 29^th June 2021.

Contact us

If you have any concerns as to how your data is processed, you can contact us by e-mail at info@carrcommunications.ie or by post: 24 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, D02 T296, Ireland.

We will respond to your queries within 30 days from when we receive them.

Cookie policy

Core policy

A cookie is a small text file that is downloaded onto ‘terminal equipment’ (e.g., a computer or smartphone) when you access a website. It allows the website to recognise that user’s device and store some information about the user’s preferences or past actions. Most browsers support Cookies, but you can set your preferences to decline them and delete them whenever you like. Cookies allow our site to remember your preferences and play an important role in making the site work better for you. To some extent, cookies can be seen as providing a “memory” for the website, enabling it to recognise a user and respond appropriately.

We use Cookies to manage functionality on our website and to provide usage insights to help us improve our service for our users. Our site uses session cookies that are stored temporarily on a user’s computer and are not retained when the user ends the session and persistent cookies that are stored on a user’s computer until they expire or until the user deletes the cookie. Persistent cookies collect identifying information about the user, such as internet surfing behaviour or user preferences for our site. Users are prompted that continued use of our site acknowledges that cookies will be used.

We do not use cookies to track your behaviour once you have left our website, and the data from cookies will not be passed on to or used by any commercial enterprise that are not operating under our instruction and only process data as laid out in this policy.

How do we use cookies?

A visit to our website may generate “first-party” cookies and “third-party” cookies. In continuing to use our site, the user agrees to the use of both “first-party” and “Third-party” cookies. We use third-party cookies to provide enhanced site functionality such as embedded video content.

We use the following cookies and similar technologies:

Essential Cookies

These cookies enable core functionality such as security, verification of identity and network management. These cookies can’t be disabled.

Marketing Cookies

These cookies are normally used to track advertising effectiveness to provide a more relevant service and deliver better ads to suit your interests. However, OPTIMAI is a research project, and we do not use marketing cookies.

Functional Cookies

These cookies collect data to remember choices users make to improve and give a more personalised experience. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences, for example your username, language or text size. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

Analytics Cookies

These cookies help us to understand how visitors interact with our website or to discover errors.

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (‘Google’). Google Analytics uses cookies (text files placed on your computer) to help the website operators analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above (update on possibility to refuse Google Analytics cookies pending).

Google’s privacy policy can be found here (external website).

Google provides an opt-out browser add-on that prevents your data from being used by Google Analytics. This add-on can be downloaded here (external website).

How do I change my cookie settings?

Our cookie management tool will allow you to specify your preferences for those cookies that are placed for by this website which are not strictly necessary for its delivery.