Terms & Conditions

These Terms & Conditions (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and the Texas Defense Innovation Forum, a Texas nonprofit corporation recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (“TDIF,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They govern your access to and use of texasdefenseinnovation.org and any related pages we operate (the “Site”).

By accessing or using the Site, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.

The Site is an informational resource describing TDIF's role as a nonprofit research institution under the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program and related activities. It exists so that companies, advisors, and government stakeholders can understand what we do and start a conversation.

The Site is not:

• an offer to enter into any research, teaming, or subcontract agreement;
• a solicitation of funds, securities, or investment;
• a representation that TDIF is able or willing to serve as the research institution for any particular topic, company, or solicitation; or
• a substitute for reading the governing solicitation, the applicable agency policy directive, or the STTR statute.

Any research partnership between you and TDIF is created only by a separate signed written agreement. If anything on this Site conflicts with that agreement, the signed agreement controls.

Content on this Site — including descriptions of the STTR program, the 30% research-institution requirement, workshare, intellectual-property allocation, and compliance frameworks — is general information. It is not legal advice, not accounting or tax advice, not export-control advice, and not a compliance determination for your specific circumstances.

Some TDIF personnel are licensed attorneys or licensed professional engineers. Nothing on this Site, and no communication initiated through this Site, creates an attorney-client relationship or any other professional or fiduciary relationship with you, and no such person is acting in a licensed professional capacity through this Site.

Federal contracting requirements change. You are responsible for verifying current requirements against the governing solicitation and agency guidance, and for obtaining your own professional advice.

Award decisions are made solely by the funding agency. TDIF does not and cannot guarantee that any proposal will be selected, funded, or awarded, or that any award will proceed to a subsequent phase.

Statistics, case descriptions, and past-performance information on this Site describe past engagements. They are not a prediction or promise of any future result. Descriptions of speed — for example, agreements executed in hours or days — reflect typical experience under normal conditions and are not a commitment applicable to every engagement.

This is the most important clause on this page. Please read it.

Communications initiated through this Site — including the booking scheduler and any email address published here — are not a secure or protected channel. Until a written agreement with appropriate protections is in place, do not transmit through this Site:

• information subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR, 22 C.F.R. Parts 120–130) or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR, 15 C.F.R. Parts 730–774);
• classified information of any kind, or information subject to a classification guide;
• Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), including Controlled Technical Information;
• trade secrets, unpublished invention disclosures, or other proprietary technical data you are not prepared to disclose without protection; or
• personal information about third parties.

Information you send us before a written agreement is in place is received on a non-confidential basis, and we assume no obligation of confidentiality with respect to it — except where a separate signed non-disclosure agreement already covers it, or where a legal duty applies regardless.

If you need to discuss protected material, tell us that first and we will set up an appropriate channel before you send anything. We would much rather have that extra exchange than receive something you should not have sent.

Our booking calendar is provided by a third-party scheduling service, and our videos are hosted by a third-party video platform. When you use those features, your information is handled under that provider's terms and privacy policy in addition to ours. See our Privacy Policy for what is collected.

We are not responsible for the availability, content, or practices of third-party services or of any external site we link to. A link is not an endorsement.

You agree not to:

• use the Site in violation of any applicable law, export control, or sanctions regulation;
• book meetings in bad faith, submit false information, or impersonate another person or organization;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, its infrastructure, or any connected system;
• probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Site without our prior written permission;
• scrape, harvest, or systematically extract content or contact information, including for training machine-learning models, without our prior written permission; or
• interfere with the Site's operation or with any other user's use of it.

We may restrict or terminate access to the Site at any time, for any reason, without notice.

The Site and its contents — text, graphics, logos, layout, and the compilation of that material — are owned by TDIF or its licensors and are protected by United States and international intellectual-property law.

You may view, download, and print Site content for your own internal, non-commercial evaluation of a potential partnership with TDIF, provided you keep all proprietary notices intact. Any other use — republication, redistribution, modification, or commercial use — requires our prior written permission.

“Texas Defense Innovation Forum,” “TDIF,” and our logo are our marks. Other names and marks appearing on the Site belong to their respective owners and are used with permission or for identification only; their appearance does not imply any endorsement of TDIF by those parties unless we say so explicitly.

If you send us suggestions, ideas, or feedback about the Site, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use it without restriction or compensation. This clause covers feedback about the website only. It does not apply to technical information exchanged under a research engagement, which is governed by that engagement's written agreement — including our standard 0% claim on your resulting intellectual property.

THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, TDIF DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that its content is accurate, complete, or current.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, TDIF AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, OR ANTICIPATED AWARD, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE — WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SITE WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless TDIF and its directors, officers, employees, and agents from any claim, loss, liability, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the Site, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or third-party right — including any unauthorized transmission of controlled, classified, or proprietary information through the Site.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You agree that the exclusive venue for any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Site is the state or federal courts located in Travis County, Texas, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there.

We may update these Terms at any time. The “Last updated” date above reflects the current version, and changes take effect when posted. Continued use of the Site after a change means you accept the revised Terms. For material changes we will make a reasonable effort to flag them.

If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and TDIF regarding the Site.

Questions about these Terms: info@texasdefenseinnovation.org.