Terms & Conditions

Last updated:  January 8, 2021

Please read these Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) carefully before accessing Synergist websites and using the Global Landscape Mapping & Networking Tool Synapse (“Synapse”) found at www.SynapseConnect.org 

These Terms and Conditions are a binding agreement (“Agreement”) between you and the Synergist ASBL, having its registered office at Avenue Louise 231, 1050 Brussels, Belgium (“The Synergist”), and governs your access and use of the Site and Synapse, which includes any information, data, tools, products, services and other content (together, “Content“) available on or through the Site and Synapse.

By accessing or using the Site or Synapse you agree to be bound by the Terms described herein and all terms incorporated by reference. If you disagree with any part of these Terms, do not use the Site or Synapse.

These Terms do not alter in any way the terms or conditions of any other signed agreement you may have with The Synergist, or its affiliates, for products, services or otherwise. If you are using Synapse on behalf of any entity, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to accept these Terms on such entity’s behalf, and that such entity agrees to indemnify you and The Synergist for violations of these Terms. The services contained on or provided in connection with the Site, Synapse, or The Synergist Content shall be collectively considered the “Services”.

To the full extent permitted by applicable law, The Synergist reserves the right to change or modify any of the terms and conditions contained in the Terms or any policy or guideline of the Site and Synapse, at any time and in its sole discretion by providing notice the Terms have been modified. Such notice may be provided by sending an email, by posting a notice on the Site, by posting the revised Terms on the Site and revising the date at the top of these Terms or by such other form of notice as determined by The Synergist.

Your continued use of the Site or Synapse following the posting of the revised Terms or other notice of such changes will constitute your acceptance of such changes or modifications if you fail to notify The Synergist of any objections. Otherwise, any changes or modification will be effective within thirty (30) days of the notice of the revisions on the Site unless you notify The Synergist within such thirty (30) days that you do not agree to the changes and stop using the Site or Synapse. Therefore, you should review these Terms whenever you access the Site or Synapse and at least every thirty (30) days to make sure that you understand the terms and conditions that will apply to your use of the Site or Synapse.

1. Usage of the Site and Synapse

Synapse provides a global overview of the health and societal issues landscapes by means of two main functionalities, to bring together and categorizes  initiatives from around the world:

1. A professional networking functionality: A comprehensive public mapping and search function to identify potential partners or collaborators, find and understand existing initiatives to get involved in, and network-building opportunities
2. A CRM functionality: A private environment for registered users part of an organisation in which they can add extra information in the context of their activities with external partners and collaborators. This information could describe projects and the qualification and history of the relationship. The information is kept private to the organisation who registered the data. In the context hereof, registered users can also create a report with visual mapping snapshots showing where each of their initiatives fits in the landscape or track relationships for internal knowledge sharing purposes.

Unauthorized individuals, institutions and other entities may not act on behalf of The Synergist, use its property or solicit contributions without express authorization from The Synergist. You may not violate or attempt to violate the security of the Site or Synapse. You may not decompose, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise deconstruct all or any portion of the Site or Synapse.

Should you have any questions concerning The Synergist or its tools such as The Global Landscape Mapping & Networking Tool Synapse, please feel free to contact us at info@thesynergist.org.

2. Registration/ Sign-up

Some parts of the Site or Synapse require signing up in order to use the functionalities. There are also Member functionalities reserved only for member organisations of The Synergist. For more information regarding The Synergist membership, please contact the team via the online form on the Site.

In consideration of your use of the Services, you agree to (a) provide accurate, current and complete information about you as may be prompted by any registration forms on the Site or Synapse (“Registration Data”); (b) maintain the security of your password and identification; (c) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data, and any other information you provide to the Site or Synapse, to keep it accurate, current and complete; and (d) accept all risks of unauthorized access to the Registration  Data and any other information you provide to The Synergist’s Site and Synapse.

For more information regarding The Synergist’s use of your Registration Data and other personal data, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

3. Submissions and suggestions

In the event that features, enhancements or improvements are made to The Synergist’s products and services, the Site or Synapse as the result of your questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, plans, notes, drawings, original or creative materials or other information, that are provided by you in the form of an email or other submissions to The Synergist (“Suggestions”), such Suggestions shall be deemed non-confidential and shall become the sole property of The Synergist. The Synergist shall own exclusive rights, including all intellectual property rights, and shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these materials for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgement or compensation to you.

4. User Conduct

You agree, the extent permitted by applicable law, that you are solely responsible for your conduct while using the Site or Synapse, and you agree that you will not do any of the following in connection with Synapse, the Site, or its users:

1. Use Synapse in any manner that could interfere with, disrupt, negatively affect or inhibit other users from fully enjoying Synapse or that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the functioning of Synapse in any manner;
2. Impersonate or post on behalf of any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
3. Cheat or utilize unauthorized exploits in connection with Synapse;
4. Stalk, intimidate, threaten, or otherwise harass or cause discomfort to other users;
5. Send, distribute or post spam, unsolicited commercial electronic communications, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
6. Harvest or otherwise collect information about end-users, including email addresses, without their consent;
7. Use Synapse or any The Synergist content for any illegal or unauthorized purpose or engage in, encourage, or promote any illegal activity or any activity that violates these Platform Terms; or
8. Circumvent or attempt to circumvent any filtering, security measures or other features The Synergist may from time to time adopt to protect the Site, Synapse, its users or third parties.

Any use of the Site or Platform in violation of the foregoing violates these Terms and may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your rights to use the Site or Synapse and any services incorporated into Synapse.

5. User Content

The Site and Synapse will provide you with the opportunity to create your own profile, create your organisation’s profile, and allow you to post, link, share and otherwise make available certain information, text, graphics, videos, or other material (“User Content”). You are solely responsible for your use of these features and use them at your own risk. You agree not to knowingly post, upload to, transmit, distribute, store, create or otherwise publish through Synapse any of the following:

1. User Content that contains special categories of personal data, such as health data;
2. User Content that is unlawful, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, indecent, lewd, suggestive, harassing, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, false, misleading, fraudulent or otherwise legally objectionable;
3. User Content that would constitute, encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense, violate the rights of any party, or that would otherwise create liability or violate any local, national or international law;
4. User Content that may infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual or proprietary right of any party. By posting any User Content, you represent and certify that you have the lawful right to distribute and reproduce such User Content;
5. User Content that impersonates any person or entity or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity;
6. Any unsolicited: promotions, political campaigning, advertising or solicitations;
7. On the public professional networking functionality, private information from any third party that is not your data, including, without limitation, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers;
8. Viruses, corrupted data or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files; and
9. On the public professional networking functionality, User Content that, in the reasonable judgment of The Synergist, is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying Synapse or the Site, or which may expose The Synergist or its users to any harm or liability of any type.

The Synergist takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any User Content posted, stored or uploaded by you or any third party, or for any loss or damage thereto, or for any user conduct, nor is The Synergist liable for any mistakes, defamation, slander, libel, omissions, falsehoods, obscenity, pornography or profanity you may encounter. Your use of the Services is at your own risk. In the event that you do not comply with the above restrictions with regard to User Content, we reserve the right to delete such User Content as soon as we find out and without providing any notice.

Enforcement of the User Content or conduct rules set forth in these Terms is solely at The Synergist’s discretion, and failure to enforce such rules in some instances does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce such rules in other instances.

In addition, these rules do not create any private right of action on the part of any third party or any reasonable expectation that the Site or Synapse will not contain any content that is prohibited by such rules.  As a provider of interactive services, The Synergist is not liable for any statements, representations or User Content provided by its users in any public forum, website, message or other communication.

Although The Synergist has no obligation to screen, edit or monitor any of the User Content posted in or related to any campaign, The Synergist reserves the right, and has absolute discretion, to remove, screen or edit any User Content posted or stored on Synapse at any time and for any reason without notice, and you are solely responsible for creating backup copies of and replacing any User Content you post or store on Synapse at your sole cost and expense.

Any use of the Site or Platform in violation of the foregoing violates these Terms and may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your rights to use the Site or Synapse and any services incorporated into Synapse.

You own all User Content that you post to Synapse. You represent and certify that (a) you own and control all of the rights to the User Content that you post or you otherwise have the right to post such User Content to Synapse; (b) the User Content is accurate and not misleading, and (c) use and posting of the User Content you supply does not violate these Terms and will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity.

Solely for the purposes of utilization of Synapse and facilitation of Services, if you post User Content on the public professional networking functionality of Synapse, unless indicated otherwise, you grant The Synergist and its affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such User Content throughout the world in any media on or in connection with Synapse and the promotion thereof including without limitation the right to use your name, likeness, or identity.

You grant The Synergist and its affiliates the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content in connection with Synapse and the promotion thereof, at its discretion. You understand and agree that the use of your or other users’ name, likeness, or identity in connection with various features on Synapse does not imply any endorsement of such feature or of Synapse of The Synergist unless explicitly stated otherwise.

The Synergist will only modify, translate, create derivative works or use in any other way the User Content and your name, likeness or identity that you publish on the public professional networking functionality of the in connection with the Service and Synapse. The Synergist will not use User Content or your name, likeness or identity for commercial or marketing purposes without your prior consent.

6. Links to Other Web Sites

Our Service may contain links to third-party web sites or services that are not owned or controlled by The Synergist. The Synergist has no control over and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party web sites or services. You further acknowledge and agree that The Synergist shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such web sites or services.

7. Limitation of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranties

7.1 The Synergist, its affiliates, their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, suppliers, or licensors (collectively, “The Synergist Parties“) make no warranties or representations about the Services, including but not limited to their accuracy, reliability, completeness, timeliness or reliability. The Synergist Parties shall not be subject to liability for the veracity, accuracy or completeness of the content or any other information conveyed to the user or for errors, mistakes or omissions therein or for any delays or interruptions of the data or information stream from whatever cause. You agree that you use the site and the content at your own risk.

The Synergist Parties do not warrant that the Site or Synapse will operate error-free or that the Services are free of computer viruses or similar contamination or destructive features. If your use of the Services results in the need for servicing or replacing equipment or data, no The Synergist Party shall be responsible for those costs.

The use of Synapse is free of charge. As a result, the Services and Synapse are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without any warranties of any kind. The Synergist disclaim all warranties, including, but not limited to, the warranties of title, merchantability, non-infringement of third parties rights, and fitness for particular purpose. The Synergist does not provide any support, maintenance or other professional services in the context of these Terms.

7.2 To the full extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall any The Synergist Party be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, incidental and consequential damages, lost profits, or damages resulting from lost data or business interruption) resulting from the use or inability to use the Services, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), or any other legal theory, even if such The Synergist Party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

8. Indemnification

You agree to defend and hold harmless The Synergist, its independent contractors, service providers and consultants, and their respective directors, employees and agents (“The Synergist Indemnitees”) from and against any claims, actions, and lawsuits, and indemnify The Synergist Indemnitees for all damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to any User Content you post, store or otherwise transmit on or through the Site or Synapse or your use of the Services, including without limitation any actual or threatened suit, demand or claim made against The Synergist and/or its independent contractors, service providers, employees, directors or consultants, arising out of or relating to the User Content, your conduct, your violation of these Terms or your violation of the rights of any third party.

9. Termination of the Agreement

9.1 The Synergist reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to restrict, suspend, or terminate this Agreement and your access to all or any part of the Services at any time and for any reason without prior notice or liability. The Synergist reserves the right to change, suspend, or discontinue all or any part of the Services at any time without prior notice or liability.

9.2 Sections 1-4, 6 and 7 shall survive the termination of this Agreement.

10. Intellectual property

The intellectual property rights in the Site, Synapse and The Synergist Content and copyright in all material stored, displayed and accessible on the Site or Synapse is either owned by The Synergist or duly licensed by third parties. All such rights are reserved.

You are permitted to download, print, store temporarily, retrieve and display information from the Site or Synapse on a computer screen (or in the case of a podcast or an RSS feed on a mobile phone or iPod), print individual pages on paper (but not photocopy them) and store such pages in electronic form on disk (but not on any server or other storage device connected to the network) for your personal use or for internal use within your organisation.

You are not permitted (except where you have been given express permission to do so) to adapt or modify the information on this Site or Synapse or any part of it and the information or any part of it may not be copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, posted, broadcasted or transmitted in any other way to any third parties for commercial gain.

11. Events beyond our control

The Synergist will not be responsible for any breach of these Terms caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control.

12. Severability

It is The Synergist’s policy to comply with all applicable laws and regulations as they may be modified from time to time. If these Terms or any part of them should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, then to the extent that they are so illegal, invalid or unenforceable, they shall be treated as severed and deleted from these Terms and the remaining Terms shall survive and remain in full force and effect and continue to be binding and enforceable.

13. Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions and your use of this Site are and shall be governed and construed in accordance with Belgian law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Belgian courts, without regard to its rules concerning conflict of laws.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at info@thesynergist.org