Privacy policy

Commitment to Privacy

PhotonHub is committed to protecting your privacy and providing information via the Internet that give you a powerful and safe online experience.  This policy statement applies to the PhotonHub website and data gathered via the PhotonHub website. By using the PhotonHub website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), with registered offices at Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Elsene, KBO 0449.012.406, is the data controller. VUB has appointed a data protection officer, who may be contacted by email on: dpo@vub.be

The Information We Collect & Use

In this section we discuss the different types of information that we may collect about you and the ways in which this information may be collected.

Information We Collect from Unregistered Visitors

You must register to formally request PHOTONHUB support for an innovation project, however you may access certain areas of the PHOTONHUB website without registering.   This information is captured using cookies and the section below entitled “Use of Cookies” further describes how we use cookies and how you can limit our use of cookies. This information is used by PHOTONHUB to report general statistics regarding the use of the PHOTONHUB website.

Information We Collect From Registered Users

Contact Form

  • Collection and processing of data : In case of the use of the PhotonHub Online contact form we will process your identity and contact data , your request or remark.
  • Purpose : the purpose of this data processing is mainly to provide an answer to your questions and remarks and to provide eventually further support
  • Legal basis : execution of contract and delivering of service, requested by the data subject (art. 6.1.b GDPR)
  • Data storage : we will store your data as long as the questions or remarks are not  completely answered. After answer on your request or remarks , the data will be deleted.

Online webform to receive more information about the registration for an online training

  • Collection and processing of data : In case of the use of the PhotonHub Online form for training support activities we will process the following data :
    • Name
    • Company name
    • Email
    • Job title
    • Telephone
    • Website of your organisation
    • Country
    • Industry sector
    • Date of training interested to follow
    • Indication on the interested Technology platform
    • Indication of the application domain of interest
    • Your interest to visit a demo centre
    • Your interest to visit an experience centre
    • How did you hear about PhotonHub
    • Comments
  • Purpose : the purpose of this data processing is mainly to provide an answer to your request about a training programme
  • Legal basis : execution of contract and delivering of service, requested by the data subject (art. 6.1.b GDPR)
  • Data storage : we will store your data as long as the questions or remarks are not  completely answered. After answer on your request or remarks , the data will be deleted.  Only for statistic reasons and reporting to the EU about the performance of the PhotonHub project , we will process the data of the indicated interest without a link to your identification.

Online webform to receive more information about the PhotonHub support activities

  • Collection and processing of data : In case of the use of the PhotonHub Online form for training support activities we will process the following data :
    • Name
    • Company name
    • Email
    • Job title
    • Telephone
    • Information on the company : website , year founded, company size, approx. size of annual turnover, n° of employees, n° of empoyees in R&D, country, industry sector , does the company have core in-house expertise in Photonics , main industry sector
    • Your interest in different types of support activities of PhotonHub
    • Short description on the support activities you would like to discuss with PhotonHub
    • How did you hear about PhotonHub
  • Purpose : the purpose of this data processing is mainly to provide an adequate support offer to support your innovation request.
  • Legal basis : execution of contract and delivering of service, requested by the data subject (art. 6.1.b GDPR)
  • Data storage : we will store your data as long as the questions or remarks are not  completely answered. After given a complete answer  to your request or remarks , the data will be deleted.  Only for statistic reasons and reporting to the EU about the performance of the PhotonHub project , we will process the data of the indicated interest without a link to your identification.

When you register with us to have your project idea considered for support by PHOTONHUB, you are asked to provide identifying information such as your name, e-mail address, telephone number and other company information (e.g., industry sector). We also request an outline description of your project in the registration form and you are advised that you should not submit any confidential information through the PHOTONHUB website in the absence of a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).  We use your registration information to initiate an engagement under NDA to discuss the potential for an PHOTONHUB project with you, but we may also use your information to send you communications by e-mail about additional PHOTONHUB products and services or the products and services of our partners.

Other Websites: PHOTONHUB encourages you to review the privacy statements of websites you choose to link to from the PHOTONHUB website so that you understand how those websites collect, use and share your information. PHOTONHUB is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on websites outside of the PHOTONHUB website.

Third Parties: PHOTONHUB may share your data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you e-mail or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to PHOTONHUB, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

Legal Requirements: PHOTONHUB may release account and other personally identifiable information when we believe release (1) is required to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; or (2) is reasonable in response to a physical threat to you or others, to protect property or defend or assert legal rights. In the event that we are legally compelled to disclose your personally identifiable information to a third party, we will attempt to notify you unless doing so would violate the law, court order or government instruction. 

PHOTONHUB does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties.

Security of your Personal Information

PHOTONHUB secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. PHOTONHUB secures the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. However, no security system is impenetrable. We do not warrant the security of our servers, nor do we warrant that your information, including Personal Information, will be completely secure or not be intercepted while being transmitted over the Internet. 

We also protect your information by requiring that all our employees and others who have access to or are associated with the processing of your data respect your confidentiality.  We use security methods to determine the identity of registered users, so that appropriate rights and restrictions can be enforced for that user. Reliable verification of user identity is called authentication. We use both passwords and usernames to authenticate users. Users are responsible for maintaining their own passwords. 

Use of Cookies

The PHOTONHUB website may use “cookies” to help personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie originally. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the features of the PHOTONHUB website. 

Children’s Privacy

We are committed to protecting the privacy of children. The PHOTONHUB website is intended for use by adults, and is not intended for, nor designed to be used by children under the age of 18. We do not collect personally identifiable information from any person we know is under the age of 18. 

Your rights

You have the right to access your information held by PHOTONHUB and where necessary, to have it amended. You can also request not to receive marketing information from PHOTONHUB.  If you believe that there are errors in the registration information associated with your record held by PHOTONHUB, you may contact us to request that the information is corrected.

You also have the right to request the erasure of your personal data, the restriction of the processing of your personal data and the portability of your personal data.

To the extent that your data are processed on the basis of public or legitimate interest, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.

Insofar as the processing of your personal data is based on consent, you can withdraw the consent at any time; the legality of the data processing performed on the basis of the consent remains unaffected until the consent is revoked.

Should you wish to assert these rights or have any questions concerning personal data, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time by email at dpo@vub.be. When doing so, please provide us with a proof of identity, to enable us to verify the legitimacy of your request and to safeguard the confidentiality of your data against false requests.

Irrespective of this, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority – in particular in the EU Member State in which you reside, or work or the place of the alleged infringement – if you believe that the processing of your personal data violates the GDPR or other applicable data protection laws.

Changes to this Statement

PHOTONHUB reserve the right to change, modify, add or remove portions of this Policy at any time and without prior notice, and any changes will become effective immediately upon being posted to the PHOTONHUB website unless we advise you otherwise. Your continued use of the Site or Services after this Policy has been amended shall be deemed to be your continued acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Policy, as amended. PHOTONHUB encourages you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how PHOTONHUB is protecting your information. 

Contact Information
PHOTONHUB welcomes your comments regarding this Privacy Policy. If you believe that PHOTONHUB has not adhered to this Policy, please contact the PHOTONHUB Central Contact Point (CCP) at PhotonHubccp@b-phot.org. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and remedy the problem.

For privacy related questions, you may contact the DPO of VUB: dpo@vub.be

You may also contact VUB, by mail: Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Elsene; by phone: 02 629 20 10; by email: info@vub.be.