DevBrains Innovation Awards 2026 — This policy explains what personal data we collect from participants, why we collect it, how we protect it, and your rights under Indian law.
The data controller responsible for your personal information submitted through the DevBrains Innovation Awards 2026 is:
This Privacy Policy applies specifically to data collected through the DevBrains Innovation Awards program — including the registration form at innovation-awards/index.html and the quick-register page at innovation-awards/register.html. It supplements (and should be read alongside) our general Privacy Policy.
When you register for the DevBrains Innovation Awards, we collect the following personal data:
Identity & Contact Data
Demographic Data
Project & Idea Data
Preference Data
Technical & Tracking Data
| Data | Purpose | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Name, Email, Phone | To contact you with idea review results, payment link, project guidelines, and certificate delivery | Contract performance; Legitimate interest |
| Date of Birth | To automatically determine and verify your participation category (School / College / Professional) | Contract performance |
| State, City | To maintain geographic distribution data for program reporting; for certificate issuance | Legitimate interest |
| Project Idea & Details | To evaluate the submitted idea for originality and feasibility before approval | Contract performance |
| Talent Network Opt-in | To send internship, career, and community opportunities if you opt in | Consent (optional) |
| Referral Source | To understand which marketing channels drive registrations (analytics) | Legitimate interest |
| Submission Timestamp | To maintain audit trails and determine submission order | Legitimate interest |
We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or significant effects.
We collect personal data through:
innovation-awards.html and awards-register.html, submitted voluntarily by the participantWe do not purchase, rent, or acquire personal data from third-party data brokers.
Registration data submitted through the Innovation Awards forms is stored in Google Firebase Firestore (project: jsbillsystem), a cloud-hosted NoSQL database provided by Google LLC. Firebase operates data centres in multiple regions and complies with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and applicable Indian data protection standards.
Access to Innovation Awards registration data in Firestore is controlled by Firestore Security Rules:
Additional protections in place:
We do not sell your personal data. We do not share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or unrelated third parties.
We may share limited data with the following categories of recipients, strictly for the purpose of operating the Innovation Awards:
| Recipient | What Is Shared | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| DevBrains Review Team (internal) | Name, email, project idea details | Idea review and approval |
| Judging Panel (internal mentors) | Project title, domain, submission files (no contact details) | Project evaluation and scoring |
| Razorpay (payment processor) | Name, email, phone, amount — for payment processing | PCI-DSS compliant payment collection |
| Google Firebase (infrastructure) | All registration data stored in Firestore | Cloud database hosting |
| Law Enforcement / Courts | Any data required by a valid legal order | Legal compliance |
If you opt into the Talent Network, your name and email may be used to send you DevBrains internship and career communications. You can unsubscribe from these at any time.
| Data Type | Retention Period | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Registrations (not approved / rejected) | 6 months from submission date | Review records and anti-fraud |
| Approved participant records | 5 years from the edition year | Certificate verification and audit trail |
| Winner records | 7 years (or indefinitely for Hall of Fame) | Public recognition; certificate verification |
| Payment records | As required by Razorpay and Indian financial law (7 years) | Legal and tax compliance |
| Talent Network opt-ins | Until you unsubscribe | Consent-based communications |
After the retention period, personal data is either permanently deleted from Firestore or anonymised so that it can no longer identify you.
As a participant, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
To exercise any of these rights, email hello@jsdevbrains.com with the subject line "Innovation Awards Data Request" and include your registered name and email. We will respond within 30 days.
If you are dissatisfied with how we handle your data, you may file a complaint with the appropriate authority under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (India).
The Innovation Awards registration pages use minimal cookies. Specifically:
The source field in Firestore (e.g., instagram-qr) is set server-side from the referral URL and is not a cookie — it is stored as part of your registration record only.
The DevBrains Innovation Awards is open to participants as young as 10 years of age (School Student category, under 18).
For participants under 18 years of age:
We do not knowingly collect data from children under 10. If we discover we have inadvertently collected data from a child under 10, we will delete it promptly.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or program scope. When we make material changes, we will:
Continued participation in the program after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
For all data privacy queries, requests, or grievances related to the Innovation Awards, contact our designated Privacy Point of Contact:
For complaints under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (India), you may also approach the Data Protection Board of India once operational.