The following Terms & Conditions establish the rules of participation in the competition Zinemaldia Startup Challenge promoted by the San Sebastian Festival in collaboration with the Basque Government Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment, and the SPRI-Business Development Agency of the Basque Government. Participation in the call for submissions implies acceptance of these terms & conditions, with neither exceptions nor conditioning factors, and of any decisions potentially made in this respect.
This competition seeks to foster and recognise new business projects in the field of innovative technology applied to the audiovisual sector. The initiative therefore has the following objectives:
Said objectives are in line with the strategies to foster entrepreneurship promoted by the Basque Government Department of Economic Development, Sostenibility and Environment and, also, with the Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) in place in the Basque Country.
The competition is mainly intended for:
The Zinemaldia Startup Challenge seeks to recognise the best business project proposals in the field of innovative technology applied to the audiovisual sector, understanding as such projects intending to either create a new company or to develop a recently created company.
The proposals can be:
Proposals involving the production of audiovisual content (e.g. proposals for short films, screenplays, documentaries, etc.) will not be accepted.
Projects having received an award at an earlier edition of the competition will not be accepted.
To submit a project:
The projects can be presented individually or as a team, and in Spanish, Basque or English.
If the project is being presented as a team, each team must appoint a representative, who will be the person to complete the form and with whom the Competition Coordination Team will exchange official communications.
Participants should note that:
Project submission period
The period for receiving ideas will run from 19 April 2021 to 1 June 2021 at 23:59 horas (Central European Time).
Conditions of the project content
The participants guarantee that the works and their contents voluntarily submitted to the competition (including the different summaries or presentations) do not violate the rights of third parties, or have, where appropriate, all of the authorisations necessary to participate in the competition. Also, that they are not offensive or insulting, that they do not incite violence or racism or violate the fundamental rights or public freedoms recognised by applicable laws, or the laws on the protection of children and youths, and that they neither constitute nor imply interference in the personal or family privacy of individuals or violate the right to honour of third parties or the duty to secrecy of communications or contravene existing regulations.
Any proposals failing to meet this condition will be excluded from the competition.
The process to assess and select the winning project is divided into three stages:
The competition coordination team will evaluate all of the submissions received.
Submissions meeting all of the requirements stipulated in these Terms & Conditions will be considered to be “valid” projects. Submissions failing to meet at least one of the requirements stipulated will be rejected, and notification sent to the email address indicated on the application.
The pre-selected projects will be evaluated by an expert committee of professionals from the Basque BIC-Business Innovation Centres, Tecnalia and Vicomtech, which will pre-select a maximum of 5 finalist projects. Each submission will receive from 0 to 35 points based on the following criteria:
Evaluation criteria | Maximum points |
Value proposal | 10 |
Degree of innovation of the service/product | 5 |
How the service/product fits in with the audiovisual sector | 5 |
Startup/promotion team members | 10 |
Academic/professional background of the promotion team | 5 |
Involvement, commitment and motivation of the promotion team | 5 |
Viability and growth potential | 15 |
Technical and economic viability of the project | 5 |
Global growth potential in the next 10 years (scalability) | 5 |
Employment generation in the next 10 years | 5 |
The expert committee will decide which submissions will be considered as finalists and continue on to the next stage; these will be the projects to have received the highest points according to the selection criteria established.
The submissions rejected for the next stage will be informed of the decision by means of the email address provided on the application.
The 5 finalist projects will be evaluated by a jury made up of professionals of recognised prestige in the audiovisual, technology and business fields at pitching-type sessions.
The presentations will take place as part of the event Zinemaldia & Technology 2021. The projects can be presented in Spanish, Basque or English.
Each project will be evaluated from 0 to 40 points according to the following criteria:
Criteria | Maximum points |
Value of the startup | 20 |
Degree of innovation of the service/product | 10 |
Potential impact of the service/product on the audiovisual market | 10 |
Quality of the proposal submission | 20 |
Pitching quality | 10 |
Ability to answer the questions asked by the Jury | 10 |
The winner of the competition will be the project to obtain the highest points.
The winning business project will receive an award of 10,000 euros gross.
Furthermore, the 5 finalist projects will receive the following:
(*) Some programmes providing funding support and backing require proof of registered residence in the Basque Autonomous Community and/or of having a registered company address in the Basque Autonomous Community.
The award money will be subject to tax under currently existing tax regulations; said tax will be paid by the winners.
The winning entrepreneurial project will be announced at the Zinemaldia & Technology 2021 event.
The representatives of the award-winning project shall include, if possible, the following mention in the award-winning project website: Zinemaldia Startup Challenge Award 2021 - San Sebastian International Film Festival.
The San Sebastian Festival will cover the cost of accommodation for 3 nights and of travel for a maximum of two representatives from each finalist promoter/startup team in order that they may participate in the event Zinemaldia & Technology 2021.
Each participating team must appoint a representative to complete the project registration form and with whom the San Sebastian Festival will exchange official communications. Said person must be over 18 years of age and be able to express fluently at all levels in Spanish, Basque or English; this person will also act as the business project leader and will proceed with sufficient dedication for the duration of the competition.
The appointed representative must have the legal conditions to travel to and remain in the Basque Country at least for the duration of the Festival.
The appointed representative for each project will have sole responsibility for making decisions corresponding to the promoter/startup team during the competition and related to their project.
Should the competition coordinators observe a repeatedly negative attitude in the appointed representative, the latter could eventually be expelled from the competition with no right to compensation or damages of any kind from the San Sebastian Festival.
Negative attitudes can include, among others, lack of availability or communication, failing to attend the pitching event, or to provide any additional information requested within the given time and in the adequate format.
The participants undertake to accept and obey the competition Terms & Conditions. Submitting a business project implies the express and formal acceptance of the requirements and obligations expressed herein.
The San Sebastian Festival will solve any doubts arising from the interpretation of these terms & conditions. Its decision will be final.
The intellectual and material property of the projects or ideas developed belong to the promoters of the project; the same applies to their industrial exploitation.
The contents of candidatures presented to the Zinemaldia Startup Challenge competition, and all documents and information of any kind provided, will be confidential in nature, and as such will be processed by the bodies promoting the competition. The participating startups and individuals give their general consent for use of the basic project data by the competition team, the expert committee and the jury during the evaluation and selection processes envisaged in these Terms and Conditions.
The participating startups and participants agree, as a general rule, to the sharing of the basic company data and contact details with a view to disseminating, immersing and connecting the startup with companies and agencies in the Basque Country.
The participants guarantee that the works and their contents voluntarily submitted to the competition (including the different summaries or presentations) do not violate the rights of third parties, or have, where appropriate, all of the authorisations necessary to participate in the competition. Also, that they are not offensive or insulting, that they do not incite violence or racism or violate the fundamental rights or public freedoms recognised by applicable laws, or the laws on the protection of children and youths, and that they neither constitute nor imply interference in the personal or family privacy of individuals or violate the right to honour of third parties or the duty to secrecy of communications or contravene existing regulations.
Similarly, the participants guarantee that the projects presented will not use a sexist approach towards language and the processing of images.
The participating startups/people authorise the institutions promoting the competition to use their name and image in advertising material related to the competition, including on the Internet, with no right to any payment whatsoever in exchange.
All notifications related to the Zinemaldia Startup Challenge competition, including the list of finalist projects and the winning project, will be published on the Festival website.
The participants will validate all communications sent by the competition team by email to the address of the representative appointed for each project as identified in the registration process.
Any doubts arising from the interpretation of these regulations will be solved by the San Sebastian Festival Management.