Privacy policy

The protection of personal data is an important concern for the Werner Siemens Foundation.

This privacy statement informs you about the nature, scope and purpose of the processing of personal data by the Werner Siemens Foundation (hereinafter "WSS", "we" or "us") and indicates what measures are taken to ensure data protection in accordance with applicable legal provisions. In addition, this privacy statement informs you about your rights in connection with the processing of your data by WSS.

If you have any questions about your personal data, please use the contact details below; we will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible.

I. Responsibility

The responsible person within the meaning of the Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") is the:

Werner Siemens Foundation
Guthirthof 6
CH-6300 Zug

+41 (0)41 720 21 10
infonoSpam@wernersiemens-stiftung.noSpamch

II. Overview

WSS processes personal data in various ways. A detailed list of our data processing activities can be found in section III of this privacy policy.

Generally, your personal data is processed and stored in Switzerland. In some cases, WSS also works with third-party providers who may store and process your data in another country. Further information on this can be found in section VI of this privacy policy.

III. Nature and purpose of data processing

The collection, processing and storage of your personal data is carried out as described below.

1. Operation of our website

We use your personal data to operate, optimise and protect this website, to ensure that the website loads correctly and to analyse the use of our website. Different data is processed depending on how you use our online offer. For these purposes, we collect, process and store the following personal data (in our log files) from you: URL of the accessed website, file, date and time of access, status code of the request, amount of data transferred, browser type incl. version, the user's operating system, referrer URL (the previously visited page), IP address and the requesting provider.

In addition, we evaluate the behaviour of visitors to our website. The data is analysed statistically and in no way used to observe or identify individuals. The insights gained help us to optimise the online presence in the interest of the users.

2. Contact requests

When you contact us, for example, in a contact form or by email, we process personal data (such as your name, contact details, email address and the content) from you in order to respond to your enquiries, complaints or other questions in your correspondence with us.

3. Subscription of newsletters

We only send marketing emails if you have subscribed to our newsletter or if we have a business relationship with you. The personal data collected in this case concerns your email address.

If you no longer wish to receive newsletters from us, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of the email or by contacting us in accordance with section XI of this privacy policy.

4. Social plugins

We use social plugins on our website (Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn), which you can recognise by the respective icon on our website.

If you interact with these social networks, e.g. if you click on one of the icons on our website, the information collected by the social plugin (log files and your IP address, as well as your user data of the social network when logging in) is forwarded to the respective social network and your visit is recognised by Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. This data is processed by the respective social network and not WSS.

These social plugins are not activated automatically. However, if you have an account with one of the social networks just listed and are logged in with your account when you click on the respective icon on our website, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn can link this information to your profile.

For more information on how our social media partners process your personal data, please refer to the respective social network's privacy policy.

5. Grants and other support contributions

The collection, processing and storage of personal data other than those already mentioned may be necessary for the evaluation of your application for support or application for support funds, the internal and external reporting of WSS in connection with supporting funds and grants and for the payment of the contractually agreed support contributions or support funds. This includes your bank account details, contact details, information from the application for grants, requested or submitted information for reporting purposes as well as the data to be provided when submitting the self-disclosure form, such as the tax identification number.

IV. Cookies and Analytics

1. Cookies

Like almost all websites, we also use cookies: small text files that are stored on users' devices. Session cookies are automatically deleted when the browser is closed. Other cookies have an expiry date or remain permanently stored to recognise your browser the next time you visit.

We use cookies to enable certain functions and to make your browsing experience more pleasant. We also use cookies to analyse how our website is used.

An objection to the use of cookies for marketing purposes can be declared for a large number of the services, especially with regard to tracking, via the US site http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or the EU site http://www.youronlinechoices.com/.

You can also block cookies in general in your browser settings or delete them at any time. However, you may then unfortunately no longer be able to use all the functions of this website.

Furthermore, you can adjust your consent to the use of cookies at any time, as follows:

Update cookie settings

2. Google Analytics

This website includes Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. Google processes information (usage data, device information and location information) on our behalf, provides us with reports on the activities on our website and provides other services so that we can evaluate and optimise the use of our online offering. Pseudonymous user profiles can be created from the processed data.

We use Google Analytics with IP anonymisation. This means that the IP address of the user is shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. The IP address is not merged with other data from Google.

We use "demographic and interest reports" in Google Analytics. These reports include statements about the age, gender and interests of our site visitors. The information comes from users who are logged into a Google service or is derived from activities in Google products and its display network. The data cannot be assigned to a specific person.

If you do not want us to collect your data with Google Analytics, you can either deactivate cookies in your browser or install the following plugin: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en

You can find out more information about Google's use of data and about setting and objection options on the Google website:
https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites?hl=en
https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads
https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated

3. Matomo

Matomo is an open source platform that uses cookies to analyse the use of our online offering. In the process, pseudonymous user profiles can be created from the processed data in order to generate statistics.

The following data is stored on our server in Switzerland: Browser type and version, operating system, country of origin, date and time of server request, number of visits, time spent on the website, external links clicked. The IP address is shortened before storage.

You can object to the pseudonymised data collection by Matomo at any time with effect for the future by deactivating the box below. This will place an opt-out cookie in your browser, which means that Matomo will no longer collect session data. Please note that when cookies are generally deleted, this opt-out cookie is also deleted and must be activated again.

4. Extensions for the website

We use extensions for our website in order to be able to use additional functions.

We use Google reCAPTCHA in particular for this purpose. This serves in particular to protect against spam (differentiation between wanted comments from humans and unwanted comments from bots as well as spam). The provider of Google reCAPTCHA is Google Inc. For more information on how Monotype processes personal data, please consult Monotype's privacy policy.

V. Disclosure of personal data to third parties

1. Disclosure of personal data

Your personal data will only be disclosed to third parties if you have expressly consented to this, if we are legally obliged to do so, if it is necessary in the context of using our website, answering questions, processing enquiries or performance of grants and other support services.

2. Type of recipients

Your personal data may be disclosed to the following categories of recipients:

Service providers
Service providers are mainly IT service providers from whom we obtain services in the areas of data storage, cloud services, and sending e-mails, among others, or marketing agencies and consultants.
Courts and authorities
If required by law or authorities, we may disclose your personal data to third parties (e.g. tax authorities in the context of the provision of grants and other support services).
Advisers, lawyers and insurers
Where it is in our interests or there is a legal obligation to do so, we may disclose your personal data to our advisers, lawyers or insurers.
We may also disclose your personal data to other third parties if:
- where required, you have given your consent to do so;
- we are required to do so by legal, regulatory or business obligations;
- this is necessary in connection with a takeover or dissolution of the Foundation or other similar event, or in the event of insolvency or a similar event;
- it is necessary in connection with legal proceedings or to assert or defend claims.

VI. Disclosure of personal data abroad

Your personal data is mainly processed on our own local servers in Switzerland. In particular, the use of the third parties mentioned in section IV may result in data being disclosed abroad, to the USA and to EU member states. A disclosure of data to EU member states is permissible as these countries offer adequate data protection. For the disclosure of data to the USA, we conclude contractual guarantees with our service providers, in particular the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (incl. Swiss Addendum), or rely on corresponding decisions of the competent authorities, such as in relation to the Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework as of its entry into force.

VII. Automated individual decisions and profiling

At present, we do not carry out any profiling with your personal data and no automated individual decisions are made on the basis of personal data. If this should change, we will inform you by means of a corresponding update of the privacy policy.

VIII Storage and deletion

Data that you send us, e.g. via the contact form, or that we collect about you is used by us exclusively for its intended purpose.

We will thus store your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected (e.g. for sending newsletters or providing funding and support). Your personal data will be deleted at the latest after expiry of the statutory retention period or, if there is no statutory retention period, ten years after the termination of a support agreement. If you unsubscribe from our newsletter, your personal data will be deleted immediately.

We may store personal data for a longer period of time if you have consented, as long as the consent is not revoked or if this is necessary to comply with a legal obligation (for example, accounting regulations or tax law), on the order of a public authority, as part of a procedure or for our legitimate interests.

IX. Security measures

We have taken technical and organisational measures to protect your data from misuse when using our website and the associated functions and services, and to generally store your personal data securely internally in electronic and physical form to protect it from unauthorised access, improper use or disclosure, unauthorised modification or unlawful destruction or accidental loss. The security precautions include, among other things, encryption of the data transmission between browser and server (https) as well as secure sending of e-mails (SSL/TLS).

When using order processors, we ensure by means of suitable contractual agreements that data protection is also guaranteed by the order processors during the entire processing of your personal data. Our order processors are obliged to process your personal data exclusively on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions and to take suitable technical and organisational measures for data security.

Our employees and contracted service providers who have access to confidential information (including your personal data) are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

X. Your rights

Your rights in relation to the processing of your personal data include:

the right to request information about your personal data stored by us and how it is processed;
the right to receive your personal data in a structured and machine-readable format;
the right to check the accuracy of your data and, if necessary, request an update or correction;
the right to have your personal data deleted;
the right to withdraw consent to the processing of your personal data at any time;
the right to restrict the processing of your data in certain circumstances; and
the right to object to the processing of your data.

It is important to note that certain legal requirements and exceptions apply to these rights. In some circumstances, we may refuse your request to exercise these rights where this is permitted by law. We would notify you accordingly and give reasons for this.

Finally, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection supervisory authority. In Switzerland, this is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

XI. Our contact information