Privacy Policy

Welcome to the website (www.alignbio.org) (“Site”) of Align to Innovate, a project of Science & Technology Futures, Inc. (“Align to Innovate”, “Align”, “we”, “our”, “us”). This Site is designed and intended to provide information to visitors (“you”) about Align to Innovate. This Privacy Policy describes Align’s policy regarding information that it receives or collects from visitors to the Site (including personal information in certain potential cases).

This Privacy Policy applies only to the Site, and not to third party sites (which are not operated or controlled by Align to Innovate) that may be accessible via links on the Site.

We recognise our obligations under applicable privacy and data protection laws, including the United Kingdom’s Data Protection Act 2018 (“DPA”), the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), in relation to the processing of personal data about clients, prospective clients and other individuals that we obtain through the Site and in connection with the products and services we provide (together, the “Services”). If you are located in the United Kingdom (“UK”) or the European Union (“EU”), this Privacy Notice is for informational purposes only. If you are located in the USA or otherwise outside the UK or EU, by using the Site you consent to the use of your personal data as described herein and agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Depending on where you are located and your interactions with us and/or the Services, certain processing of your personal data by Align may be subject to the DPA, the GDPR or the CCPA. For example, this may be the case where Align processes the personal data of its clients or users of the Site who are located in the UK and the EU (“UK/EU Processing”) or of clients or users of the Site who are located in California (“CCPA Processing”). This Privacy Policy makes clear where its disclosures apply to UK/EU Processing or to CCPA Processing. All other disclosures in this Privacy Policy relate to personal data to which the DPA, the GDPR and the CCPA do not apply, as well as to UK/EU Processing and CCPA Processing as applicable.


Information Align to Innovate Receives or Collects

Personal Information Align Receives: When you visit the Site, Align may receive personal information that you voluntarily provide. For example, when you contact us with inquiries, or use certain Site functionality, you may voluntarily provide us your name and/or email address. You may visit the Site without providing any personal information. If you choose to not provide any personal information, you may not be able to use certain Site functionality.

By voluntarily providing us with your personal information when you visit the Site, you consent to Align’s use of it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Deidentified Information Align Collects: When you visit the Site, Align may collect and store certain deidentified information, such as certain device information to distinguish visitors to the Site. This deidentified information is collected using first party cookies that may be implemented in Site hosting tools and services such as Google Analytics. This information cannot be used by Align to specifically identify you. This deidentified information is collected and processed by Google on behalf of Align, and may be used by Google and other third parties as permitted under applicable law. You may be able to disable and/or delete some or all of these cookies. Certain Site functionality may not be available to you if disable and/or delete certain cookies.

When you apply for an open position at Align to Innovate, we may use a third-party recruiting platform to manage your application, in which case your resume and other personal data may be processed pursuant to such third party’s privacy policies.

If you provide personal data to us about any person other than yourself, such as your employees, you must ensure that they understand how their personal data will be used, and if required by applicable law, that they have given their permission for you to disclose it to us and for you to allow us, and our outsourced service providers, to use their personal data.


Align to Innovate’s Use of Information

The following table describes the purposes for which we process the personal data set out above, and any other data you give us, as well as the legal basis for the use of personal data that is subject to the UK/EU Processing.

Purpose of Processing

  • Verifying your identity.

  • Communicating with you in relation to the Services.

  • Providing the Services to our clients and other individuals.

  • Promoting the Services to clients, potential clients and other individuals and advising you of news and industry updates.

  • Monitoring the use of the Site and using personal data to help us improve and protect the Services, both online and offline.

  • Investigating any complaints received from you or others about the Services.

  • In connection with legal claims and for compliance, regulatory and investigatory purposes.

  • Sending you information or promotions by email in relation to the Services.

  • On other occasions where we ask you for consent, we will use your personal data for the purpose(s) that we explain at that time.

  • In response to requests from government law enforcement authorities conducting an investigation.

Legal Basis

  • Where necessary to fulfill a contract or purchase, or to take steps linked to a contract or purchase.

  • Where necessary for Align’s or another party’s legitimate interests and where those interests are not overridden by your data protection rights.

  • Where you give us your consent.

  • Where necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

UK/EU Disclosure: Where we require personal data to comply with our legal or contractual obligations, the provision of such personal data is mandatory. If it is not provided, then we may not be able to provide the Services. In all other cases, the provision of requested personal data is optional. If it is not provided, then we may not be able to fulfill requests for information or action that you pose to us.


Sharing Your Personal Data

Align does not sell, and is not in the business of selling, your personal information. In certain circumstances we may share your personal data with our affiliates to assist with management and administration of the Services to you and in the course of audits. Your personal data may be shared with companies providing services under contract to Align, such as cloud services vendors, research partners and IT hosting and/or IT maintenance providers. We may also disclose your personal data to government authorities and/or law enforcement officials if required for the purposes above, if mandated by law or if required for the legal protection of our legitimate interests in compliance with applicable law.

UK/EU Disclosure: Your personal data may be processed in, and accessed from, jurisdictions outside the UK and/or EU by Align to Innovate’s affiliates and by the third parties with which we share your personal data. Specifically, your personal data will be transferred to Align affiliates and vendors in the USA or otherwise outside of your particular locale. When we transfer your personal data among Align affiliates, or to unaffiliated third party organizations, we will do so in accordance with the DPA and the GDPR (as applicable), including through the use of standard contractual clauses that have been approved by European Commission or the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO"), a third party's binding corporate rules or where we are entitled to rely on one of the other safeguards permitted by the DPA or the GDPR (as applicable) or other applicable law.

CCPA Disclosure: We may disclose the following categories of personal data to our service providers for the performance of business services on our behalf: (i) identifiers, including your name, username and password, and contact details, such as your personal or work postal address, email address and phone number; (ii) commercial information, including your marketing preferences and any consents you have given us; (iii) internet or other electronic network activity information, including information related to the browser or device you use to access the Site, your IP address and cookie preferences; and (iv) audio, electronic and visual information, including your communications with us and the personal data you provide to us in email or in conversations with our employees, contractors and vendors. We do not sell your personal data and have not sold your personal data in the last 12 months, and we do not sell the personal data of minors.


Your rights

UK/EU Disclosure: You are entitled to ask Align for a copy of your personal data, to correct, delete or restrict processing of it and to obtain the personal data you provide in a structured, machine-readable format and ask us to share (port) this personal data to other organizations. You may also have the right to object to processing in some circumstances, such as where Align relies on its legitimate interests to process your personal data, and the right in some circumstances not to be subject to automated individual decision-making (including profiling). Where we have asked for your consent, you may withdraw it at any time. If you ask to withdraw your consent to Align processing your personal data, this will not affect any processing which has already taken place but this may affect our ability to process your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. These rights may be limited: for example, if fulfilling your request would reveal personal data about another person, where they would infringe the rights of a third party (including our rights) or if you ask us to delete personal data which we are required by law to keep or have compelling legitimate interests in keeping. We will inform you of relevant exemptions we rely upon when responding to any request you make. If you are not satisfied with our response, or of our processing of your personal data, you have the right to complain to the ICO or a regulator in the country in the EU where you live, work or where you believe the breach of the DPA or the GDPR occurred.

CCPA Disclosure: If you are a California resident, you may be entitled to request access to the personal data that Align collects about you, to request that Align delete your personal data and to opt out of the sale of your personal data. The CCPA prohibits Align from discriminating against you for exercising your applicable CCPA rights. Under California Civil law, Californians are entitled to request information relating to whether a business (i.e., Align to Innovate) has disclosed personal data to any third parties for the third parties' direct marketing purposes. If you are making a request for access, we may not be able to provide specific pieces of personal data if the disclosure creates a substantial, articulable and unreasonable risk to the security of your personal data, your account with us or our systems or networks. If you are making a request for erasure, we will ask that you confirm that you would like us to delete your personal data again before your request is submitted. If you wish to exercise your rights, we may need to verify your identity. To do so, we will request that you match specific pieces of information you have provided us previously, as well as, in some instances, asking you to provide a signed declaration that you are the individual whose personal data is the subject of the request. If it is necessary to collect additional information (including personal data) from you, we will use the information only for verification purposes and will delete it as soon as practicable after complying with the request. If you make a request through an authorized agent, we will require written proof that the agent is authorized to act on your behalf. We will process your request within the time provided by applicable law. If you wish to exercise any of your rights under applicable law, please contact us using the details below.


Retaining Your Personal Data

UK/EU Disclosure: Align will keep the personal data we process as described in this Privacy Notice to comply with our legal and contractual obligations, or to communicate with you because you still have another connection with Align. Where we process personal data for marketing purposes or with your consent, we process the personal data until you ask us to stop and for a short period after that (to allow us to implement your request). We keep a record of the fact that you have asked us not to send you direct marketing or to process your personal data so we can respect your request in future. Align may be required by law to hold personal data for specific periods. In other cases, Align will retain your personal data for an appropriate period after our relationship ends to protect ourselves from legal claims or to administer our business.


Security

We have implemented reasonable precautions to protect the information we collect from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. Please be aware that despite our best efforts, no data security measures can guarantee security.


Changes to Align to Innovate’s Privacy Policy

Align may change this Privacy Policy from time to time, without prior notice to you. Align may change this Privacy Policy, for example, to reflect changes in Align’s business, including changes to this Site, or changes in applicable laws. Any use of the Site after Align changes this Privacy Policy is subject to such changes.


Contacting Align to Innovate

If you need to contact us regarding your personal information, please contact us as indicated below.

contact [at] alignbio [dot] org

Align to Innovate
160 Alewife Brook Parkway
Unit 1228
Cambridge, MA 02138