Terms of Use

1. What the Platform is

The Platform connects innovators who present their innovations with investors who look for them. LUKITECH is not a broker, agent or party to any agreement, investment or deal users make with each other; we only enable publication and access to information.

The Platform is intended for adults and legal entities. By registering you confirm that you are at least 18 years old or authorised to represent the legal entity you register, and you accept these Terms and the Privacy Policy (we record the time of acceptance).

2. Accounts

Publishing an innovation, purchasing access and other actions require a user account with a confirmed e-mail address. You are responsible for the accuracy of your details and for keeping your password safe; all actions taken through your account count as yours.

You can delete your account in your profile settings. Order and payment records are retained as long as accounting and tax law require (see the Privacy Policy).

3. Membership packages

The Platform is used with yearly membership packages. Innovators choose Basic (publishing innovations, writing on the IWS Community forum, browsing investor profiles), Limited access (everything in Basic plus the contact details and confidential innovation data – patent numbers and documents – of one innovator and the name and contact details of one investor, of their choice) or Full access (everything in Basic plus the contact details and confidential data of every innovator and the names and contact details of every investor). Investors choose Limited access with one or five innovators of their choice (contact details and confidential innovation data of the chosen innovators; packages can be added together) or Full access (every innovator). Innovation agents have their own packages (see section 8). Prices are shown before the purchase.

A package is valid for one year from the payment confirmation, does not renew automatically and is not refunded pro rata if you stop using it; you are notified by e-mail before it expires. With Limited access you pick the profiles you unlock at any time during the term; an unlocked profile stays visible until the package expires. A free account lets you browse the public part of the Platform, read the forum, and read and post problems and ideas.

4. Publishing innovations and contact details

An innovator with an active package submits an innovation for publication; the LT-IWS team reviews it and publishes it if it complies with these Terms, and may request changes or refuse a listing that violates them. A published innovation stays published after the package expires until the innovator withdraws it or we remove it; new listings and edits need an active package.

By publishing you warrant that you are the author or rights holder of the innovation and its content (text, photos, documents, video) or have the rights holder's permission, and that the listing infringes no third-party rights or laws. You decide what you publish. The public part of a listing is visible to everyone; contact details, patent numbers and confidential documents are visible only to members who unlocked you with a package and to innovation agents with an active agent package. Do not publish what you want to keep secret; protect inventions with the appropriate legal instruments (patent, NDA). Adding a co-innovator invites another person to confirm their participation; they appear only after accepting.

Information obtained by unlocking may be used solely to make contact about a possible investment or cooperation. Harvesting, reselling, publishing or using it for marketing is prohibited.

Investor profiles are shown anonymously ("Investor #number"). An investor's name and contact details are seen by innovators who unlocked them with a Limited or Full access package, by the innovator that investor has unlocked (so that communication works both ways) and by innovation agents with the investors add-on. An investor may follow an innovator and is then e-mailed when the innovator publishes a new innovation; following can be turned off at any time. An innovator's affiliation (association, school, company…) is visible only to those who unlocked them.

5. Problems & ideas

Any visitor can post a problem or an idea, even without an account; a guest post requires e-mail confirmation. All posts are approved by the LT-IWS team before they appear. Posts, proposed solutions and comments can be read by signed-in members with a confirmed e-mail address only (no package needed). The contact of the innovator who proposed a solution is unlocked with a package. Comments must not contain contact details; the LT-IWS team may remove comments that break these Terms.

The author decides whether to show their e-mail address; it is seen only by members with an active package that unlocks the author's contact and never by visitors or members without a package.

6. IWS Community (forum)

The IWS Community forum can be read by every visitor. Topics and replies are posted by signed-in members with a confirmed e-mail address and an active membership package (any innovator, investor or innovation-agent package). Depending on the settings, new topics, and replies where required, appear only once the LT-IWS team approves them, and the team may remove, close or pin any post without giving reasons. On the forum members appear only under their public ID (INO-… for innovators, INV-… for investors, AGT-… for innovation agents) and a nickname of their choice; names, companies and contact details are not shown.

Posting contact details, advertising or arranging contact outside the Platform is not allowed, because contact details are unlocked only through a package; doing so may lead to removal of the post and suspension of the account (see section 11).

Every post has a "Report" button through which anyone can notify us of content they consider illegal or contrary to these Terms; we handle reports without undue delay (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services).

7. Sponsorship

Companies and individuals may support the Platform with a sponsorship of any amount. After payment the sponsor's name is shown in the page footer, linked if a website was given. We may refuse or remove a sponsor whose name, link or business conflicts with these Terms or the law, refunding the payment.

8. Innovation agents

Innovation agents are LUKITECH associates for whom we open an account (ID "AGT-number"). An agent helps innovators and investors: they look for engineers, manufacturers, investors and fairs, and connect innovators with each other. The list of agents with the categories they cover is public; an agent's contact details are visible to members with an active package. An agent pays a yearly agent package (the contact details and confidential innovation data of every innovator; with the investors add-on also the names and contact details of every investor), uses the data solely to mediate and is bound by the Agent Rules: they accept them at the first sign-in, record whom they work with and report the phase of every project to us. An agent may write on the IWS Community forum, post problems and ideas and propose solutions, and is shown there as an agent (ID AGT-number); agents do not publish innovations. An agent is not authorised to conclude contracts on behalf of LUKITECH or to charge members anything outside the Platform.

An innovator may mark on their profile what they are looking for (an investor, engineering help, a sponsor, a partner); that mark is public. When an agent records a collaboration with you, you are notified by e-mail. If an innovation agent works with you, your name and public ID may be listed on the agent's public profile under "Works with" (investors only as "Investor #number"); project phases and the agent's reports are visible only to the agent and the LT-IWS team. Working with an agent is voluntary and you can end it at any time by writing to us.

9. Prices, payment and invoices

All prices are in euros. Payments are one-time for one year, by card (Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay) through Stripe or by PayPal; we do not store card data. Before paying you enter the invoice details; the invoice is sent by e-mail.

The service (membership package, sponsorship) is activated once we receive the payment confirmation, normally immediately and at the latest within one business day. Upgrading to a higher package during the year is charged at the full price of the higher package.

10. Right of withdrawal and refunds

If you are a consumer (a natural person acting outside their trade or profession), you have the right to withdraw from the contract within 14 days without giving reasons. Because the package is activated immediately after payment, by confirming the payment you expressly agree to the service starting at once and acknowledge that you lose the right of withdrawal to the extent the service has been performed (Art. 16(a)/(m) of Directive 2011/83/EU).

A package is not refundable once contact details have been unlocked or an innovation has been submitted for publication, unless the service was unavailable because of a technical fault. If we refuse your innovation by our own decision and you have not used the package for anything else, the fee is refunded in full. Send requests to [email protected].

11. Prohibited conduct

• posting false, misleading or third-party content, or content that infringes others' rights
• harvesting user data, sending unsolicited messages, reselling access
• circumventing payment, sharing accounts, automated scraping
• disrupting the Platform, attempting unauthorised access
• any use contrary to law or fair business practice

Violations may lead to removal of content and temporary or permanent suspension of the account without refund of amounts paid.

12. User content and licence

You keep all rights to the content you publish. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to display, store, adapt (e.g. resize images) and promote that content on the Platform and its channels for as long as it is published. The licence ends when the content is removed, except for copies we are obliged to keep.

The LT-IWS name, logo and the Platform's design belong to LUKITECH.

13. Liability

The Platform is provided "as is". We do not guarantee that an innovation will attract investment, that users' information is accurate or that the Platform will run without interruption. We are not liable for agreements and deals between users or for damage arising from them.

Our total liability towards a user is limited to the amount that user paid to the Platform in the 12 months before the event causing the damage, except where the law does not allow a limitation (intent, gross negligence, personal injury).

14. Changes and termination

LUKITECH reserves the right to change these Terms, the Privacy Policy, the agent rules, the prices and content of the packages, and the way the Platform is run and operates. Packages paid before a change stay valid on the terms under which they were bought, until the end of the period they were paid for.

We may change these Terms; we will announce material changes by e-mail or a notice on the Platform at least 15 days before they apply. Continued use means acceptance. We may close the Platform with reasonable notice; active paid access is then refunded pro rata.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the law of the Republic of Croatia. We will try to settle disputes amicably; otherwise the competent court in Split has jurisdiction, and for consumers the court determined by consumer-protection law.

Contact: LUKITECH j.d.o.o., Poljička cesta 5, 21000 Split, Croatia, tax ID (OIB) 82624892753, e-mail [email protected].