SURGE Summit Privacy Policy

Ventourage i.f. organizes the SURGE Summit, a yearly event that brings together AI, Robotics and Energy. This website is operated by Ventourage i.f. Users of the website may express their interest or buy tickets for the SURGE summit and/or our other events, apply for a speaker role or register to the newsletter on the website.

1. What is the purpose of this privacy policy?

This Privacy Policy explains how Ventourage i.f., c/o S. Manoj Harasgama, Gustav-Gull-Platz 11, 8004 Zurich, Switzerland (“Controller”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), collects, uses, and discloses your personal data as a Controller when you visit the SURGE Summit website, buy a ticket to participate in one of our events (“Participants”) or otherwise engage with us (e.g., by browsing our website, contacting us or signing up for our newsletter) (“Website”).

We take the privacy of our users and Participants very seriously and process personal data in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (“FADP”) and, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) (together “Applicable Data Protection Laws”).

2. Who is the Controller of your personal Data?

Ventourage i.f., c/o S. Manoj Harasgama, Gustav-Gull-Platz 11, 8004 Zurich, Switzerland is the Controller within the meaning of Applicable Data Protection Laws in relation to the processing of your personal data.

You may address any questions you have to the following email address: privacy@surgesummit.ch

3. Which personal data is collected and processed, when, and why?

3.1 Technical logs by utilizing our Website

While accessing our Website we collect and process the following (personal) data:

Time zone information: time zone settings of the system or device.
Language settings: language preferences set on your system or device.
User and Participant agent information: details about your browser, such as its name and version.
System hardware information: details about the type of device you are using, such as whether it is a PC, smartphone, or macOS device.
Browser canvas fingerprint: technical identifiers generated by your browser's canvas element.
Network information: IP address, network information (e.g., WHOIS data), and inferred or approximate geolocation based on your IP address.

We collect and process this data for the following purposes:

Access facilitation: to enable you to access and use our Website.
Optimisation of our Website: to adapt and customize the Websites functionality to suit your system configuration and preferences.
Development of our events: to adapt and optimise the experience in relation to our events.
Security and stability: to ensure the security, integrity, and stability of our Website, including detecting and preventing fraudulent activity and protecting our network infrastructure.

The processing of this personal data is based on:

Legitimate interests to ensure the functionality, security, and continuous optimization of our Website (art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).
In certain cases, where explicitly required by applicable law, we may request your consent before collecting or processing specific information (e.g., for optional features such as cookie-based tracking) (art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR).

3.2 Ticket sale and speaker application-related data

If you purchase a ticket for one of our events or apply for a speaker role at one of our events, we will collect and process the following personal data:

Basic identity and contact data: full name, title, organization, profile photo (optional), LinkedIn URL, and contact data (email, postal address and phone number).
Purchase and application information: For example, time of purchase or application as a speaker, interests/topic, number of tickets.

To the extent that any of the above data points are mandatory the respective forms will indicate this with an asterisk.

We collect and process this personal data for the following purposes:

Administration of tickets and events: to sell our tickets to you, contact you in connection with your purchase and participation and manage your participation in our events, including processing payments, billing, and renewals.
Administration of speakers: to review your suitability as a speaker for the event, to advertise the event and you as a speaker, to administer your participation as a speaker, including making any payments, sending you information, ensuring entry to our events.
Analytics, statistics and internal/external reporting: to enable us to measure the sale of tickets and interest in our events, improve our Website and our events, to design and create new products and services.
Technical maintenance and security: to monitor and maintain the security, performance, and proper functioning of our Website.

The processing of this personal data is based on:

The conclusion and performance of any contract between you/your organization and us (art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR).
Our legitimate interests in maintaining and improving the security, functionality, and user experience of our Website, as well as providing support and communicating with you (i.e., answering your requests or providing information on our events) (art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

3.3 Volunteering

If you volunteer at one of our events we will collect and process your name, contact data (email, address and telephone number) and affiliation. The purpose is to contact you in connection with your volunteer work, administer your shifts and keep in touch for future events.

The processing of this personal data is based on:

The conclusion and performance of any contract between you and us (art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR).
Our legitimate interests in ensuring that our volunteers are properly informed and manage and in answering any questions or requests you may send (art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

3.4 Contact form, communication and other requests

If users and Participants contact us for support purposes or requests, we store and process your name, contact details and all content of such communication and requests.

We collect and process this personal data to communicate with you or your organization regarding our events and our Website, including sending relevant event information and answering any other queries.

The processing of this personal data is based on:

The conclusion and performance of any contract between you/your organization and us (art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR).
Our legitimate interests in providing support and communicating with you (i.e., answering your requests or providing information on the Website and our events) (art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

3.5 Newsletter subscription

If you subscribe to our Newsletter we will collect and process your email address. The purpose is to send you updates and news about our service and events.

The processing of this personal data is based on:

Your consent you provide by subscribing to our newsletter (art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR). This consent can be revoked any time by contacting us as described below in section 9.

4. Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?

We do not use any cookies or other tracking technologies on our Website. If this changes, we will inform you as required by applicable law.

5. Do we share your personal data with third parties?

Generally, only Ventourage and its employees as well as our volunteers have access to your personal data.

We may share your data with:

Participants so you can connect with each other;
service providers (e.g., email and payment providers, platform providers/developers, SaaS providers, hosting and cloud providers or IT/software providers, AI tool providers) that work as data processors on behalf of or in cooperation with Ventourage;
institutional partners (e.g., universities and technical colleges) and sponsors who endorse, support and leverage our events.

All third parties who have access to personal data on the Website are bound by strict confidentiality agreements and have to the extent required by law, signed so-called data processing agreements.

We may also disclose your data if we are legally required to respond to subpoenas, court orders, claims, legal proceedings, or other legal obligations.

Additionally, we may share your data if we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, emergencies involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our terms of use, or if it is otherwise required by law.

Finally, we may also share your data with other third parties if you have given your consent, if we are obligated to do so under legal, regulatory, or business requirements, if it is necessary for the Website of the organisation or a merger with another organisation or a similar event, or if it is required in connection with legal proceedings or to establish or defend legal claims.

6. Do we transfer your personal data abroad?

We may transfer your data to third parties located abroad in connection with the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

The countries to which your personal data may be transferred include:

If a country provides a lower level of data protection than Switzerland or the European Union as is the case for the US, we rely on the Swiss or EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, where applicable and/or use contractual agreements, specifically the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) including a Swiss Addendum as required under the FADP or other legal agreements, to ensure that your data is adequately protected.

7. How long do we retain your personal data?

The personal data that we collect is, generally, stored for the duration of any contractual relationship plus any statutory retention requirements. Therefore, we store your information for at least ten (10) years after our events or our last contact with you.

Logs of the use of our Website (e.g., browsing, filing of contact form, registering to the newsletter) are stored indefinitely for back-up, analytics and security purposes.

If we have a legal obligation to store personal data for a longer period than the above, we comply with such requirements. We may also store your personal data for longer periods if we or third parties have an overriding interest in doing so (e.g., if this is necessary in connection with legal proceedings or to establish or defend legal claims).

8. How do we protect your personal data?

We want you to feel confident about using our Website. To this end, we have put in place appropriate technical and organisational safeguards intended to protect your data against accidental loss as well as unauthorised access, misuse, modification or disclosure. Nonetheless, as the internet is inherently open, we cannot provide a guarantee that unauthorised individuals will never circumvent these safeguards or misuse your personal information for improper reasons.

For added protection, this Website employs SSL or TLS encryption to secure the transmission of sensitive information, including any queries you submit to us as the website operator.

All partners, employees and external service providers who access your information (including personal data) are bound by strict confidentiality requirements.

9. What rights do you have as a data subject?

Under the conditions and within the limits of applicable data protection laws, you have the following rights:

right of access;
right to rectification;
right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”), subject to statutory retention obligations;
right to restriction of processing;
right to data portability (where applicable);
right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.

Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. In Switzerland, this is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (www.edoeb.admin.ch). In the EU, the respective data protection authority of the country you are based in is responsible. You can find the respective data protection authorities here.

If you have given your consent for the processing of your personal data for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for this specific processing at any time. Once we receive notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your personal data for the purpose(s) you initially agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis to do so.

Please note that we may refuse or restrict the exercise of these rights on legal grounds or as permitted under data protection laws. In such cases, we will inform you of the reasons for our decision as required by law.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights listed above, you can contact us at: privacy@surgesummit.ch. At our discretion, we may request proof of identity in order to process your request. If you contact us, we will do our best to respond to you as soon as possible and take the necessary steps accordingly.

10. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to update and amend this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the way we process your personal data or due to changes in legal requirements. Any changes we make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be published on this Website. Please check back regularly to stay informed about updates or changes to our Privacy Policy.

Material changes will be communicated through the Website, by email or other suitable means.

Effective Date: 17 August 2026

Last update: 17 August 2026