# **RULES AND REGULATIONS**

#### • One account per participant
You cannot sign up to Kaggle from multiple accounts, and therefore you cannot submit from multiple accounts.

#### • Submission Requirement
The final version of the AI model and the associated python codes and libraries should be submitted and validated by Competition Organisers.
An output file (e.g., submission.csv) containing the predicted cooling load values should be submitted for the given evaluation dataset.
A two-page report containing the introduction and detailed description of the AI model should be submitted to Competition Organisers.

#### • Competition-specific Terms
Competition Title: Global AI Challenge for Building E&M Facilities 2025
Competition Organisers: Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Guangdong Provincial Association for Science and Technology
Data Access and Use: Competition Use, Non-Commercial Purposes & Academic Research

*Competitions are open to residents of Hong Kong and worldwide. Other local rules and regulations may apply to you, so please check your local laws to ensure that you are eligible to participate in skills-based competitions. The Competition Organisers reserve the right to award alternative Prizes where needed to comply with local laws.*

**ENTRY IN THIS COMPETITION CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES.**

The Competition named above is a skills-based competition to promote and further the field of AI development. The competition will be conducted in two stages:
Part 1 – Building Cooling Load Forecasting Challenge
For this stage, your competition submissions ("Submissions") must conform to the requirements stated on Kaggle. Your Submissions will be scored based on the evaluation metric described on Kaggle. 
Part 2 - Physical Competition Session
Shortlisted teams from Part 1 will be invited to the final round of the competition. The specific logistics and requirements for the final presentation session will be provided to the shortlisted teams upon notification of their advancement to this stage.
Subject to compliance with the Competition Rules, Prizes, if any, will be awarded to participants with the best scores, based on the merits of the data science models submitted and the most impressive final presentations, as determined by the panel of expert judges. See below for the complete Competition Rules.


## • General Competition Rules
###1. Binding Agreement
To enter the Competition, you must agree to these Official Competition Rules, which incorporate by reference the provisions and content of Kaggle and any Specific Competition Rules above (collectively, the "Rules"). Please read these Rules carefully before entry to ensure you understand and agree. You further agree that submission of an entry in the Competition constitutes agreement to these Rules. You may not submit an entry to the Competition and are not eligible to receive the prizes associated with this Competition (“Prizes”) unless you agree to these Rules. These Rules form a binding legal agreement between you and the Competition Organisers with respect to the Competition.

###2. Eligibility
A. To be eligible to enter the Competition, you must: (i) be a registered account holder at Kaggle.com; (ii) complete and submit the online application form available at [https://esurvey.emsd.gov.hk/form/view/73464445-1740537479839] by the Application Deadline stated in Section 4 (Application Process); and (iii) be the older of 18 years old or the age of majority in your jurisdiction of residence (unless otherwise agreed to by Competition Organisers and appropriate parental/guardian consents have been obtained by Competition Organisers).
If you are entering as a representative of a company, educational institution or other legal entity, or on behalf of your employer, these rules are binding on you, individually, and the entity you represent as an employee. If you are acting within the scope of your employment, as an employee, a contractor, or an agent of another party, you warrant that such party has full knowledge of your actions and has consented thereto, including your potential receipt of a Prize. You further warrant that your actions do not violate your employer's or entity's policies and procedures.
The Competition Organisers reserve the right to verify eligibility and to adjudicate on any dispute at any time. If you provide any false information relating to the Competition concerning your identity, residency, mailing address, telephone number, email address, ownership of right, or information required for entering the Competition, you may be immediately disqualified from the Competition.
B. Unless otherwise stated in the Specific Competition Rules above or prohibited by internal policies of the Competition Entities, employees, officers and directors of Competition Entities may enter and participate in the Competition, but are not eligible to win any Prizes. "Competition Entities" means the Competition Organisers and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliates. If you are such a participant from a Competition Entity, you are subject to all applicable internal policies of your employer with respect to your participation.

###3. Competition Period
For the purposes of Prizes, the Competition will run from April 2025 to August 2025 (such duration the “Competition Period”). The Competition Timeline is subject to change, and Competition Organisers may introduce additional deadlines during the Competition Period. Any updated or additional deadlines will be published on Kaggle and event website. It is your responsibility to check the event website regularly to stay informed of any deadline changes. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING THE CORRESPONDING TIME ZONE IN YOUR LOCATION.

###4. Application Process
In order to participate in the Competition, you must first complete the application process. Visit the [https://esurvey.emsd.gov.hk/form/view/73464445-1740537479839] and submit the online application form by the Application Deadline of 23 May 2025. Ensuring you and your team members have active Kaggle accounts is a prerequisite for entering the Competition.
All completed applications received by the Application Deadline will be reviewed. Successful applicants will be notified and provided with further instructions for the Competition Entry process.

###5. Competition Entry
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. After your application is approved, you will receive the notification email with competition details on the upcoming Monday. You are required to follow the instructions for developing and entering your Submission through Kaggle. Your Submissions must be made in the manner and format, and in compliance with all other requirements, stated on the Competition Website (the "Requirements"). Submissions must be received before any Submission deadlines stated on the Competition Website. Submissions not received by the stated deadlines will not be eligible to receive a Prize.
Submissions may not use or incorporate information from hand labelling or human prediction of the validation dataset or test data records.
Submissions are void if they are in whole or part illegible, incomplete, damaged, altered, counterfeit, obtained through fraud, or late. Competition Organisers reserve the right to disqualify any entrant who does not follow these Rules, including making a Submission that does not meet the Requirements.

###6. Individuals and Teams Account
Individual Account: You may make Submissions only under one, unique Kaggle account. You will be disqualified if you make Submissions through more than one Kaggle account, or attempt to falsify an account to act as your proxy. You may submit up to the maximum number of Submissions per day as specified in Rules and Regulations.
Teams: Multiple individuals may collaborate as a Team; however, you may join or form only one Team. The team leader must register on behalf of all team members according to Section 4 - Application Process. No new members can be added after the application. Team membership may not exceed the Maximum Team Size stated in Rules and Regulations.
Private Sharing: No private sharing outside of Teams. Privately sharing code or data outside of Teams is not permitted. It's okay to share code if made available to all Participants on the forums.

###7. Competition Data
"Competition Data" means the data or datasets available from Kaggle for the purpose of use in the Competition, including any prototype or executable code provided on Kaggle. The Competition Data will contain private and public test sets. Which data belongs to which set will not be made available to participants.
A. Data Access and Use. You may access and use the Competition Data for only non-commercial purposes, including for participating in the Competition, and for academic research and education. The Competition Organisers reserve the right to disqualify any participant who uses the Competition Data other than as permitted by Kaggle and these Rules.
B. Data Security. You agree to use reasonable and suitable measures to prevent persons who have not formally agreed to these Rules from gaining access to the Competition Data. You agree not to transmit, duplicate, publish, redistribute or otherwise provide or make available the Competition Data to any party not participating in the Competition. You agree to notify Competition Organisers immediately upon learning of any possible unauthorised transmission of or unauthorised access to the Competition Data and agree to work with Competition Organisers to rectify any unauthorised transmission or access.

###8. Submission Licence
A. You hereby grant and will grant the Competition Organisers the following license(s) with respect to your Submission if you are a Competition winner participant:
          i. MIT Licence: You hereby license and will license your Submission and the source code used to generate the Submission under the MIT Licence (https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT), which permits unrestricted commercial use, modification, distribution, and sublicensing, provided that the original copyright notice and licence text are included in all copies or substantial portions of the Submission.
         ii. Third-Party Software: For generally commercially available software that you used to generate your Submission that is not owned by you, but that can be procured by the Competition Sponsor without undue expense, you do not need to grant the licence in the preceding Section for that software.
         iii. Incompatible Licences: In the event that input data or pretrained models with an incompatible licence are used to generate your winning solution, you do not need to grant an open source licence in the preceding Section for that data and/or model(s).
         iv. Intellectual Property Ownership: All intellectual property rights (including but not limited to copyright, patents, and trade secrets) in your winning Submission are hereby exclusively assigned to and shall be owned by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD). You agree to execute any additional documents required to formalise this transfer of ownership upon request.
B. You may be required by the Competition Organisers to provide a detailed description of how the winning Submission was generated, to the Competition Organisers’s specifications, as outlined in Section 13, Winner’s Obligations. This may include a detailed description of methodology, where one must be able to reproduce the approach by reading the description, and includes a detailed explanation of the architecture, preprocessing, loss function, training details, hyper-parameters, etc. The description should also include a link to a code repository with complete and detailed instructions so that the results obtained can be reproduced.

###9. External Data and Tools
A. External Data. You may use data other than the Competition Data (“External Data”) to develop and test your models and Submissions. However, you will (i) ensure the External Data is available to use by all participants of the Competition for purposes of the competition at no cost to the other participants and (ii) post such access to the External Data for the participants to the official competition forum prior to the Entry Deadline.
B. The use of external data and models is acceptable unless specifically prohibited by the Host. Because of the potential costs or restrictions (e.g., “geo restrictions”) associated with obtaining rights to use external data or certain software and associated tools, their use must be “generally accessible to all” and of “minimal cost”. Also, regardless of the cost challenges as they might affect all Participants during the course of the competition, the costs of potentially procuring a license for software used to generate a Submission, must also be considered. The Host will employ an assessment of whether or not the following criteria can exclude the use of the particular LLM, data set(s), or tool(s):
          Are Participants being excluded from a competition because of the "excessive" costs for access to certain LLMs, external data, or tools that might be used by other Participants. The Host will assess the excessive cost concern by applying a “Reasonableness” standard (the “Reasonableness Standard”). The Reasonableness Standard will be determined and applied by the Host in light of things like cost thresholds and accessibility.
          By way of example only, a small subscription charge to use additional elements of a large language model such as Gemini Advanced are acceptable if meeting the Reasonableness Standard by the Competition Organisers. Purchasing a licence to use a proprietary dataset that exceeds the cost of a prize in the competition would not be considered reasonable.

###10. Submission Code Requirements
A. Modular Codebase Allowed. You are permitted to modularise your submission codebase into separate components for various stages of the machine learning workflow. This includes, but is not limited to, tasks such as data preprocessing, feature engineering, model training, and prediction. These modular components can be organised and structured as you see fit, as long as the final submission executes as a single, unified model.
B. Environment and Dependencies. All required dependencies, environment specifications, and installation instructions must be clearly provided with the submission. This is to ensure the model can be properly executed and evaluated by Competition Organisers.
C. Disqualification. Submissions that fail to provide necessary environment and dependency information, or are unable to be properly executed and evaluated will be disqualified from the Competition.
D. Private Code Sharing. Unless otherwise specifically permitted under Kaggle or Competition Specific Rules above, during the Competition Period, you are not allowed to privately share source or executable code developed in connection with or based upon the Competition Data or other source or executable code relevant to the Competition (“Competition Code”). This prohibition includes sharing Competition Code between separate Teams. Any such sharing of Competition Code is a breach of these Competition Rules and may result in disqualification.
E. Public Code Sharing. You are permitted to publicly share Competition Code, provided that such public sharing does not violate the intellectual property rights of any third party. If you do choose to share Competition Code or other such code, you are required to share it on Kaggle associated specifically with the Competition for the benefit of all competitors. By sharing, you are deemed to have licensed the shared code under an Open Source Initiative-approved licence (see www.opensource.org) that in no event limits commercial use of such Competition Code or model containing or depending on such Competition Code.
F. Use of Open Source. Unless otherwise stated in the Specific Competition Rules above, if open source code is used in the model to generate the Submission, then you must only use open source code licensed under an Open Source Initiative-approved licence (see www.opensource.org) that in no event limits commercial use of such code or model containing or depending on such code.
###11. Determining Winners
Each Submission will be scored and ranked by the evaluation metric stated on the Kaggle.

###12. Notification of Winners & Disqualification
The potential winner(s) will be notified by email.
If a potential winner (i) does not respond to the notification attempt within one (1) week from the first notification attempt or (ii) notifies AI Challenge within one week after the End Date that the potential winner does not want to be nominated as a winner or does not want to receive a Prize, then, in each case (i) and (ii) such potential winner will not receive any Prize, and an alternate potential winner will be selected from among all eligible entries received based on the Competition’s judging criteria.
Competition Organisers reserve the right to disqualify any participant from the Competition if the Competition Organisers reasonably believe that the participant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Competition by cheating, deception, or other unfair playing practices or abuses, threatens or harasses any other participants or Competition Organisers.
Determinations of Competition Organisers are final and binding.

###13. Winners Obligations
As a condition to being awarded a Prize, a Prize winner must fulfil the following obligations:
(a) deliver to the Competition Organisers the final model's software code as used to generate the winning Submission and associated documentation. The delivered software code should follow these documentation guidelines, must be capable of generating the winning Submission, and contain a description of resources required to build and/or run the executable code successfully; for avoidance of doubt, delivered software code should include training code, inference code, and a description of the required computational environment.
(b) grant to the Competition Organisers the licence to the winning Submission stated in the Competition Specific Rules above, and represent that you have the unrestricted right to grant that license;
###14. AUTOMATED MACHINE LEARNING TOOLS (AMLT)
A. Individual Participants and Teams may use automated machine learning tool(s) (“AMLT”) (e.g., Google toML, H2O Driverless AI, etc.) to create a Submission, provided that the Participant or Team ensures that they have an appropriate license to the AMLT such that they are able to comply with the Competition Rules.
B. To the extent that the final model’s software code includes generally commercially available software that is not owned by you, but that can be procured by the Competition Sponsor without undue expense, then instead of delivering the code for that software to the Competition Sponsor, you must identify that software, method for procuring it, and any parameters or other information necessary to replicate the winning Submission; Individual Participants and Teams who create a Submission using an AMLT may win a Prize. However, for clarity, the potential winner’s Submission must still meet the requirements of these Rules, including but not limited to Section 8 (Submission License), Section 13 (Winners Obligations), and Section 18 (Warranty, Indemnity, and Release).”
C. Individual Participants and Teams who create a Submission using an AMLT may win a Prize. However, for clarity, the potential winner’s Submission must still meet the requirements of these Rules,
          i. Grant to the Competition Organisers the licence to the winning Submission stated in the Competition Specific Rules above, and represent that you have the unrestricted right to grant that licence;
          ii. Sign and return all Prize acceptance documents as may be required by Competition Sponsor or Kaggle, including without limitation: (a) eligibility certifications; (b) licences, releases and other agreements required under the Rules.

###15.Prizes
Prize(s) are as described on the event website and are only available for winning during the time period described on the event website. The odds of winning any Prize depends on the number of eligible Submissions received during the Competition Period and the skill of the participants.
All Prizes are subject to Competition Organisers’ review and verification of the participant’s eligibility and compliance with these Rules, and the compliance of the winning Submissions with the Submissions Requirements. In the event that the Submission demonstrates non-compliance with these Competition Rules, Competition Organisers may at its discretion take either of the following actions: (i) disqualify the Submission(s); or (ii) require the potential winner to remediate within one week after notice all issues identified in the Submission(s) (including, without limitation, the resolution of licence conflicts, the fulfilment of all obligations required by software licences, and the removal of any software that violates the software restrictions).
A potential winner may decline to be nominated as a Competition winner in accordance with Section 12 (Notification of Winners & Disqualification).
Potential winners must return all required Prize acceptance documents within two (2) weeks following notification of such required documents, or such potential winner will be deemed to have forfeited the prize and another potential winner will be selected. Prize(s) will be awarded within approximately 30 days after receipt by Competition Organisers of the required Prize acceptance documents. Transfer or assignment of a Prize is not allowed.
You are not eligible to receive any Prize if you do not meet the Eligibility requirements in Section 2 above.

###16. Publicity
By accepting a Prize, you agree that Competition Organisers and its affiliates may use your name and likeness for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law. The winners may be requested to participate in various publicity events, for example interviews, winners’ sharings etc.

###17. Privacy
You acknowledge and agree that Competition Organisers may collect, store, share and otherwise use personally identifiable information provided by you during the AI Challenge account registration process and the Competition, including but not limited to, name, mailing address, phone number, and email address (“Personal Information”). AI Challenge acts as an independent controller with regard to its collection, storage, sharing, and other use of this Personal Information, and will use this Personal Information in accordance with its Privacy Policy, including for administering the Competition and promotion of subsequent events organized by E&M AI Lab. As a globalaichallenge.com account holder, you have the right to request access to, review, rectification, portability or deletion of any personal data held by AI Challenge about you by contacting AI Challenge.

###18. Warranty, Indemnity and Release
You warrant that your Submission is your own original work and, as such, you are the sole and exclusive owner and rights holder of the Submission, and you have the right to make the Submission and grant all required licenses. You agree not to make any Submission that: (i) infringes any third party proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, industrial property rights, personal or moral rights or any other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity or confidentiality obligations, or defames any person; or (ii) otherwise violates any applicable Hong Kong SAR law.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify and agree to keep indemnified Competition Entities at all times from and against any liability, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses resulting from any of your acts, defaults or omissions and/or a breach of any warranty set forth herein. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Competition Entities from and against any and all claims, actions, suits or proceedings, as well as any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising out of or accruing from: (a) your Submission or other material uploaded or otherwise provided by you that infringes any third party proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, industrial property rights, personal or moral rights or any other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity or confidentiality obligations, or defames any person; (b) any misrepresentation made by you in connection with the Competition; (c) any non-compliance by you with these Rules or any applicable Hong Kong SAR law; (d) claims brought by persons or entities other than the parties to these Rules arising from or related to your involvement with the Competition; and (e) your acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any Prize, or your participation in the Competition and any Competition-related activity.
You hereby release Competition Entities from any liability associated with: (a) any malfunction or other problem with Kaggle; (b) any error in the collection, processing, or retention of any Submission; or (c) any typographical or other error in the printing, offering or announcement of any Prize or winners.

###19. Internet
Competition Entities are not responsible for any malfunction of Kaggle or any late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, undeliverable, or destroyed Submissions or entry materials due to system errors, failed, incomplete or garbled computer or other telecommunication transmission malfunctions, hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, typographical or system/human errors and failures, technical malfunction(s) of any telephone network or lines, cable connections, satellite transmissions, servers or providers, or computer equipment, traffic congestion on the Internet or at Kaggle, or any combination thereof, which may limit a participant’s ability to participate.

###20. Right to Cancel, Modify or Disqualify
If for any reason the Competition is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Competition, Competition Organisers reserve the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Competition. Competition Organisers further reserve the right to disqualify any participant who tampers with the submission process or any other part of the Competition or Competition Website. Any attempt by a participant to deliberately damage any website, including the Competition Website, or undermine the legitimate operation of the Competition is a violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such an attempt be made, Competition Organisers reserve the right to seek damages from any such participant to the fullest extent of the applicable law.

###21. Not an Offer or Contract of Employment
Under no circumstances will the entry of a Submission, the awarding of a Prize, or anything in these Rules be construed as an offer or contract of employment with Competition Organisers or any of the Competition Entities. You acknowledge that you have submitted your Submission voluntarily and not in confidence or in trust. You acknowledge that no confidential, fiduciary, agency, employment or other similar relationship is created between you and Competition Organisers or any of the Competition Entities by your acceptance of these Rules or your entry of your Submission.