Privacy policy

In fulfilling its role to support and promote the technology sector in the region, the Reading Tech Cluster is committed to ensure that it manages the personal data of its members, visitors, speakers and attendees at events in accordance with the applicable data privacy legislation.

This policy sets out how the Reading Tech Cluster will collect, use, share and hold personal data including information provided by users of the website.  This policy has been implemented on the date set out at the foot of the policy, and may be updated from time to time to accommodate changes to the legal requirements and/or operations of Reading Tech Cluster.

Data collected:

The Reading Tech Cluster will collect, use and hold personal data including names, email addresses, phone numbers, payment information, social media profiles, business addresses, business information including industry sector of businesses individuals are associated with, and details of any events that individuals express and interest in or attend.

Information may be provided by the individual directly, obtained from public sources or shared by third parties with the Reading Tech Cluster.

Additional information, including some personal data, is automatically collected by interacting with the Reading Tech Cluster website, registering for events or information or engaging with any online materials.  This information can include the browser used, the type of computer, the operating systems, the Internet service providers, information about pages and links visited and other information collected via cookies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.

The Reading Tech Cluster website and material may include links to third party websites – these websites may have their own, separate privacy notices, which are not managed by The Reading Tech Cluster.

How we use personal data and our legal basis for processing

Personal data is collected and used by the Reading Tech Cluster to support members engagement with the Reading Tech Cluster and our business support services – this may include applications for and the management of membership; providing information to members and visitors about networking, training or other events, member services or other information services.

Information is used to enable us to continually review our offerings to ensure that we are supporting the needs of our members and the wider technology community in Reading and the surrounding areas.

We will also use personal data and other business information to send marketing communications – including notices about events that we run or other relevant activities in the local community.

Aggregated or anonymised data may also be used to support the Reading Tech Cluster’s engagement with third parties including other business networks, members, supporters or sponsors, and government schemes related to our objective and activities.

We process your data with your consent (where you voluntarily submit information to us) to provide you with services (where you sign up to attend or participate in our networking activities) and for our legitimate interests to promote our objectives and the technology sector in the region. We may also receive information from third party sources where this is provided to us.

We may use anonymised information and general information about the business activities of members to help us develop our business support offering, improve our communications and activities, and to manage and improve our online services.

Members will receive service information from the Reading Tech Cluster from time to time as part of its administration and constitution.

Individuals have the ability to opt out of marketing and similar communications from time to time.  Events and activities may be sent by the Reading Tech Cluster or other organisations and businesses on a collaborative basis.  The Reading Tech Cluster will provide the ability to “opt out” or unsubscribe on all marketing materials to enable individuals to manage the communications that they receive – in addition, you may contact the Reading Tech Cluster using the contact information below.

Information on members and non-members will be held on electronic and manual data management systems.  Personal data may be shared with third parties who are hosting events (to enable that event to operate) or with our partners and supporters.  We will not routinely disclose information to third parties without prior agreement.

The Reading Tech Cluster processes and stores personal data using Microsoft.  Microsoft acquires no rights over it and your emails and documents held by Microsoft are not used for other purposes.  For more details, please see Microsoft’s Office 365 privacy statement https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement, If personal data is stored in the cloud on servers outside the European Economic Area (EEA) we will ensure that this transfer is compliant with the GDPR and other relevant data protection laws.

How long do we hold personal data

The Reading Tech Cluster will hold information whilst individuals and/or their employers are members.  Information on non-members who engage with our services will be held for at least 2 years after the last contact point between the Reading Tech Cluster and the individual.

We will review the length of time that information is held on a regular basis, to ensure that it remains relevant and up to date.

Protecting personal data

The Reading Tech Cluster will use reasonable measures to protect and secure personal data and other data it collects.  It will comply with its obligations as a data “controller” under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, which ensure that measures reflect the nature of the data and the risks to individual privacy, and individuals rights to manage the way that information is used for marketing activities where this is undertaken in a business capacity.

Your rights

Under the data protection legislation individuals have various rights, which we at the Reading Tech Cluster will seek to support:

  • The right to ask for a copy of personal data that that we hold about you
  • The right to request deletion of personal data in some circumstances
  • The right for data to be corrected in some circumstances
  • The right to opt out of marketing communications and/or object to us processing personal data in some circumstances
  • The right to ask us to restrict our processing activities in some circumstances.

If you wish to exercise any of your legal rights, please use our contact us form on the website here https://readingtechcluster.com/contact/

Personal data is regulated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk). If you have any complaints we would ask you contact us first to allow us time to investigate and deal with your concerns, before contacting the Information Commissioner.

This policy was last updated May 2025