Privacy Policy

Last Updated; 13th December 2024

WBR (“We”) are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy (together with our terms of use and any other documents referred to in it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. By visiting any of our websites including https://www.wbresearch.com you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018 (the Act), the Controller is Worldwide Business Research Ltd. registered in England 3154581. Registered Address: 7 Savoy Court, London WC2R 0EX.

ICO Registration Number: Z6984926

Data Protection Officer’s details are as follows:

dpo@wbresearch.com
Tel. +44 207 368 9812

Our EU Representative

As we do not have an establishment in the European Union ("EU"), we have appointed a representative based in Germany, who you may address if you are located in the EU to raise any issues or queries you may have relating to our processing of your Personal Data. Our EU Representative is IQPC Gesellschaft für Management Konferenzen mbH, located at Friedrichstrasse 94, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Our EU Representative can be contacted directly by emailing them at the following address: database@wbresearch.com

About Us

Worldwide Business Research Ltd (WBR) runs over 80 industry leading, annual conferences worldwide, along with a full complement of content marketing services, and intimate networking events - all aimed at educating, supporting, and connecting the leadership of the world's core industries. WBR has offices in London, New York, Singapore and Toronto. Find out more here: https://www.wbresearch.com/about

Information We Collect From You

We will collect and process the following data about you:

Information you give us. This is information about you that you give us by filling in forms on our websites (our site) or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. We may record your phone calls with us for quality control and for governance purposes. The information you give us may include your name, address, e-mail address and phone number, financial and credit card information.

Information we collect about you. With regard to each of your visits to our site we will automatically collect the following information:

technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL), clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time), products you viewed; page response times, download errors, duration of page visits, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number.

Information we receive from other sources. This is information we receive about you if you use any of the other websites we operate or the other services we provide. In this case we will have informed you when we collected that data if we intend to share those data internally and combine it with data collected on this site. We will also have told you for what purpose we will share and combine your data. We are working closely with third parties (including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors in technical, payment and delivery services, advertising networks, analytics providers and search information providers). We will notify you when we receive information about you from them and the purposes for which we intend to use that information.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of text that is stored on your computer by your web browser. We use cookies to monitor how people use our site so we can develop and improve the design, layout and function of the site.

Cookies enable us to identify your device. We use cookies that are strictly necessary to enable you to move around the site or to provide certain basic features. We use cookies to enhance the functionality of the website by storing your preferences, for example. We also use cookies to help us to improve the performance of our website to provide you with a better user experience. We also allow cookies that may be served where we embed social media links such as Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

If you do not want us to use cookies in your browser, you can remove cookies from your computer's hard drive, or set your browser to block cookies or to send a warning notice before a cookie is stored on your computer. However, please note that you may not be able to use many of the services on our website or other websites without cookies.

More detailed information on cookies can be found in our Cookie Policy and at www.allaboutcookies.org.

The legal basis for processing your Personal Data

In order to comply with applicable data privacy laws, we are required to set out the legal basis for the processing of your Personal Data. In accordance with the purposes for which we collect and use your Personal Data, as set out above, the legal basis for processing your Personal Data will typically be one of the following:

our own or our third parties’ legitimate business interests (for example, in maintaining and promoting our business by providing customers with feedback opportunities or other instances where we have carried out a legitimate interests assessment and have established an existing legitimate interest);
the performance of a contract that we have in place with you;
your consent where appropriate; or
compliance with our legal obligations.

Uses made of the information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

Information you give to us. We will use this information:

to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us;
to provide you with information about other goods and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about;
to notify you about changes to our service;
to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.

Information we collect about you. We will use this information:

to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
to improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure;

Information we receive from other sources. We will combine this information with information you give to us and information we collect about you. We will use this information and the combined information for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).

Disclosure of your information

You agree that we have the right to share such portions of your personal information as may be appropriate with selected third parties including the categories of recipients listed below. If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or the United Kingdom (“UK”) we may transfer your personal information to other countries which may have different data protection laws. If we do so, we will transfer your personal data only for the purposes described in this section and we will use appropriate safeguards as described in this privacy policy. By registering for an event you agree to such transfer of your personal data.

business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you;
analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site. Personal data of conference speakers including name and image may be placed on WBR event websites and indexed by search engines, for example Google;
professional organisations including hotels and venue owners, as well as our event sponsors and exhibitors. Speakers’ profiles including their images may be shared on WBR event websites and indexed by search engines, for example Google.
professional organisations involved in the provision of services for the event contracted for, such as, for example hotels, venue owners, live conference and online event service providers.
event sponsors, exhibitors and other attendees - If you are a delegate or a visitor attendee we may share your information with event sponsors, exhibitors and other (vendor) delegates representing companies that provide relevant business solutions. They may contact you in relation to special offers, products and services related to your role within your company.
other event attendees through our virtual event platforms and event app’s – To enhance your event experience WBR uses a mobile app that you can download onto your smartphone at any of our events. We also use a virtual event platform that allows people to experience our events remotely. The features of the virtual platforms and the app include viewing the agenda, sponsors and speakers along with enhanced networking and interactivity at the event. The enhanced networking allows all attendees to see the name, job title and company name of any one who attends the event. By downloading the app or attending a virtual event you agree to sharing these basic details and to be contacted by other attendees within the app or platform solely for networking purposes in connection with the event.
event sponsors and exhibitors. When you allow your badge to be scanned at event your personal data will be shared with the relevant event sponsor or exhibitor and used in accordance with applicable data protection laws, sponsor’s or exhibitor’s privacy notice and other notices or consents you are provided with or given at the event.

At some of our events, we may take photographs and record videos of presentations and networking to be published across various marketing channels. We will display notices at events to advise participants of this and how they can notify us if they do not wish to be photographed or filmed.

We will disclose your personal information to third parties:

In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
If WBR or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of WBR, our customers, or others.

Event Apps

When you register for our event, you may have the opportunity to download the event app for that event.

The app allows you to view the agenda, sponsors and speakers for the event, and provides enhanced networking and interactivity at the event, which allows all attendees to see the name, job title and company name of anyone who attends the event. Should you choose to download and/or use the app, you agree to sharing these basic details with, and to be contacted by, other attendees within the app solely for networking purposes in connection with the event. You can update your data sharing and networking preferences in your app profile at any time.

As a condition of downloading and/or using the event app, you agree that your use of the personal data of other member on the app will be solely for the purpose of in-event networking while at the event. You will not download, copy, save, publish, distribute, scrape, extract, or otherwise use the personal data on the app for any other purpose. You further agree not to share access to the app or make the app data available to any third party, or use a third- party software for any prohibited use, including downloading, copying, saving, publishing, distribution, scraping or extraction of the app data.

You agree, as a condition of access to the app, that you will hold harmless and indemnify the event organizer for any breach of the above terms and conditions or any other misuse of app data.

Where we store your personal data

The data that we collect from you is stored in the United Kingdom (“UK”) and inside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). It will be processed by staff who work for us or on our behalf. This includes staff engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services. However, your information may also be transferred outside the UK and the EEA where privacy laws may be less strict. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and where necessary will put in place suitable contractual controls with other controllers and processors with whom we may share such personal data in accordance with this privacy policy.

To help protect the privacy of data and personally identifiable information you transmit through use of our site, we maintain physical, technical and administrative safeguards. We update and test our security technology on an on-going basis. When users submit sensitive information (such as a credit card number) over the internet, we protect it through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. We restrict access to your personal data to those employees who need to know that information to provide benefits or services to you. In addition, we train our employees about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your information. We commit to taking appropriate disciplinary measures to enforce our employees' privacy responsibilities.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

International Transfers

We may transfer your personal data to controllers or processors outside of the United Kingdom (“UK”) and the European Economic Area (“EEA”). If we do so, we will transfer your personal data only for the purposes described in this privacy policy. To the extent required by applicable law, when we transfer your personal data to recipients in other countries, we will take measures to protect your data by using the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Data Transfer Addendum, or by selecting data recipients that are certified under a suitable data privacy framework. Jointly with the recipient we will assess whether the laws and practices in the recipient’s country are not preventing them from fulfilling their obligations under the Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Addendum.

Records retention

We will keep your personal data for as long as we need it, or as otherwise prescribed by law, for the purposes set out above, and so this period will vary depending on your interactions with us. For example, where you have paid to attend a conference with us, we will keep a record of your payment for the period necessary for invoicing, tax and warranty purposes. We may also keep a record of correspondence with you or where recorded via telephone (for example if you have made a complaint about a conference) for as long as is necessary to protect us from a legal claim. Our data retention policy further describes our retention practices. Please note that where you unsubscribe from our marketing communications, we will keep a record of your email address to ensure we do not send you marketing emails in future.

Data subject rights

Data subjects in the UK, the EEA and other jurisdictions may have rights in relation to their personal data which include:

Right to rectification. Data subjects may request that we rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

Right to withdraw consent. Data subjects may at any time withdraw their consent to the processing of their personal data carried out by us on the basis of their previous consent. Such withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on such previous consent.

Right to make a subject access request (SAR). Data subjects may request in writing copies of their personal data. However, compliance with such requests is subject to certain limitations and exemptions and the rights of other individuals. Each request should make clear that a SAR is being made. You may also be required to submit a proof of your identity and any payment permitted by law, where applicable.

Right to object to processing including automated processing and profiling. We do not make automated decisions about data subjects. However, we may rely on information provided by third parties such as credit reference agencies which may score data subjects on the basis of automated decisions. Profiling may be carried out for business administration purposes, such as monitoring trends in user visits of our website and in order to deliver relevant ads to users’ devices. We will comply with valid objection requests unless we have a compelling overriding legitimate ground for the continuation of our processing or we have another lawful reason to refuse such request. We will comply with each valid opt-out request in relation to marketing communications.

Right to erasure. Data subjects may request that we erase their personal data. We will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so. For example, there may be an overriding legitimate ground for keeping the personal data, such as, our business record retention obligations that we have to comply with. Please note that, if your data is resubmitted to us via legitimate means, you may be re-added to our database after an erasure request has been processed.

Restriction. Data subjects may request that we restrict our processing of their personal data in various circumstances. We will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so, such as, a legal obligation to continue processing your personal data in a certain way.

Right to data portability. In certain circumstances, data subjects may request the controller to provide a copy of their personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have it transferred to another provider of the same or similar services. We do not consider that this right applies to our Services. However, to the extent it does, we will comply with such transfer request. Please note that a transfer to another provider does not imply erasure of the data subject’s personal data which may still be retained for legitimate and lawful purposes.

Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. We suggest that data subjects contact us about any questions or complaints in relation to how we process their personal data. However, each data subject has the right to contact the relevant supervisory authority directly.

In order to exercise any of these rights, please email your request to database@wbresearch.com

Your rights

Among other rights described in this privacy policy you have the absolute right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will inform you (prior to collecting your data) if we intend to use your details for marketing purposes and, if we collect your data from other sources, we will inform you at the time of the first communication. We will also tell you if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for their marketing purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data. Other ways to unsubscribe are ‘contact preferences’ link in the footer of our marketing emails, or emailing database@wbresearch.com.

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

California residents

WBR has taken steps to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, as it applies to gathering and exchange of personal data in the B2B context. Residents of the State of California consent to the personal information they provide being used by WBR for internal marketing purposes and shared with event sponsors and exhibitors who may contact you in relation to special offers, products and services related to your role within your company. If you are a California resident, click here to view our California Consumer Privacy Notice.

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation

WBR has taken all reasonable steps to comply with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation. We only email contacts with whom we have had a business relationship within the last 2 years, individuals who may have enquired about an event in the last 6 months or who have opted in to receiving our electronic marketing communications. Should you receive an unsolicited email from WBR please email database@wbresearch.com and we will remove your details within 48 hours.

Correcting, Updating or Removing Your Personal Information

WBR will make every attempt to keep your personal data accurate, complete and up to date. If your personal information is incorrect, changes or if you no longer wish to receive information from us, we will endeavour to correct, update or remove your data as swiftly as possible. You can email your request to database@wbresearch.com

Social media features

Our site may also include social media or lead generation features, such as Facebook or Twitter buttons and widgets, such as the share this button. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media and lead generation features and widgets may be hosted by a third party. Your interactions with these features and widgets are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

Children

Our site is directed at an adult audience and we do not knowingly collect information from or about children.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to dpo@wbresearch.com

Connected Manufacturing Forum 2026

Mark Swomley