SOILL-Startup is committed to maintaining transparency and preventing conflicts of interest to build mutual trust and collaboration with stakeholders, including entities applying to establish the Mission Soil Living Labs (MSLL).
To ensure fair practices and equal opportunity, SOILL-Startup follows a strict conflict of interest policy. This policy emphasises the secure handling of sensitive information, such as MSLL contacts, progress statistics, stakeholder data, and other relevant data that could inadvertently give any partner a competitive advantage. As part of this approach, partners with potential interests in establishing SHLLs are carefully selected, with clear organisational separations in place to prevent any unintentional information-sharing between departments or affiliates.
SOILL-Startup partners adhere to the conflict of interest terms set out by the European Commission. Each partner signs a Conflict of Interest Declaration at the start, renewed annually, affirming (a) their lack of direct involvement in project proposals by the Mission Soil to set up Soil Health Living Labs or Lighthouses or applying to dedicated European funding opportunities to establish such entities in the future and (b) to provide an updated list of the Party staff involved in the Project and their contacts who do not incur in potential Conflict of Interest. Any organisational changes that may affect conflict status are reported promptly to ensure transparency and compliance.
LGI - one of the SOILL-Startup partners - has implemented comprehensive measures to prevent conflicts of interest in the SOILL project, anchored by their 'Ethical screen' procedure - a robust framework that has been professionally audited to ensure its effectiveness. This procedure meticulously details how the organisation maintains strict information compartmentalisation between potentially conflicting projects. Within LGI's four distinct departments (Tech, Communication, Strategy, and Management), only the Tech and Communication departments are involved in SOILL FPA. Partners involved in SOILL FPA do, by default, not have access to the project data unless these partners are involved in the SGAs and cleared of any potential conflicts of interest. In particular, these teams are explicitly prohibited from participating in any projects that could create conflicts of interest with SOILL-Startup members. This separation is reinforced by having all LGI consultants sign specific Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) tailored to the project's requirements. Data security and access control form another crucial layer of protection and preventing conflicts of interest. The Hub's architecture implements stringent access restrictions, with the admin area accessible to only a select few personnel. Database access is even more tightly controlled, limited to just two authorised technical staff members. This comprehensive approach combines procedural safeguards, strict team isolation, legally binding confidentiality agreements, technical access controls and (disciplinary) actions in case of violations to create a secure and ethically compliant operational environment.
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