Terms of Use

1. Who we are

HBS is an unincorporated student initiative based in Heidelberg, Germany, operated personally by Pierre Jacob (see Impressum). HBS is not a registered legal entity, employment agency, or placement service. We facilitate informal introductions between students, mentors, and biotech companies.

2. Eligibility and accounts

To register a student account you must be enrolled at a university or higher-education institution and at least 16 years old. You must provide accurate information when applying and keep it up to date. You are responsible for safeguarding your password and for all activity that occurs under your account. Sharing accounts or impersonating another person is prohibited.

3. Acceptable use

When using HBS you agree not to:

• provide false, misleading, or fraudulent information;
• harass, threaten, or discriminate against any other user, mentor, or partner;
• use the platform or any introduction made through it to send unsolicited commercial communications (spam);
• scrape, copy, or systematically extract data from the platform for purposes other than legitimate, individual use;
• attempt to bypass authentication, access controls, or rate limits, or otherwise probe the service for vulnerabilities without our prior written permission;
• upload content that infringes intellectual property rights, contains malware, or violates applicable law.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules. For severe or repeated violations we may add the account to an internal blocklist that prevents re-application.

4. Introductions, mentorship, and venture matching

HBS facilitates introductions between students and mentors or biotech companies. Any subsequent professional relationship, internship, employment, contract, or commercial arrangement is agreed solely between the parties involved. HBS is not a party to those agreements, makes no guarantees about outcomes, and accepts no responsibility for the conduct, qualifications, or obligations of mentors, companies, or students introduced through the service.

5. Your content

You retain ownership of any content you submit (e.g. profile text, CV, messages). You grant HBS a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, and display your content within the platform for the purposes of operating the service, and to share specific content (such as your CV) with mentors or companies when you have agreed to that introduction. You can withdraw your content at any time by editing your profile or deleting your account.

6. Privacy

Our handling of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

7. Availability and changes

HBS is provided “as is” and “as available”. We do not guarantee uninterrupted access. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the service at any time. We will give reasonable notice of material changes that affect active members where practicable.

8. Disclaimer and liability

To the maximum extent permitted by German law, HBS, its organisers, volunteers, and partners accept no liability for: (a) the accuracy or completeness of any content posted by users, mentors, or companies; (b) outcomes of introductions or agreements you enter into with other users; (c) loss of data, profits, or opportunity. Statutory liability for damages arising from injury to life, body, or health, and liability under the German Product Liability Act, remains unaffected. For other damages, our liability is limited to cases of intent and gross negligence; in cases of slight negligence we are only liable for breach of material contractual obligations (“Kardinalpflichten”), and only up to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of agreement.

9. Termination

You may delete your account at any time from your profile settings. We may suspend or terminate your account if you breach these Terms, if your profile is inactive for an extended period, or if continued operation creates legal or security risk for the platform.

10. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The current version is always available at this page with the “last updated” date above. Material changes affecting active members will be communicated by email; continued use of the service after such notice constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

11. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Mandatory consumer-protection provisions of your country of residence remain unaffected. The exclusive place of jurisdiction for disputes with merchants, public-law legal entities, or special public-law funds is Heidelberg, Germany.

12. Contact

Questions about these Terms? heidelberg.simulator@gmail.com