Case Study: Fraunhofer‑Gesellschaft achieves fast, paperless patent management and cost savings with OpenText

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Introduces Electronic Patent Files to Germany

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a leading German applied-research organization with 60 institutes and hundreds of technology projects, faced rapidly growing patent volumes that made paper filing impractical—costly transport, large archive space and slow access. The organization needed a user-friendly, paper-like electronic patent file with sub-second performance, fine-grained access control and integration into its existing IT landscape.

Fraunhofer implemented Open Text Content Server and Open Text Contract Management, launching the system in July 2008 and digitizing roughly 17,500 active files for about 300 users. The solution delivered real-time company-wide search, lower paper-archive costs, greater transparency and higher process productivity, with plans to add digital signatures and automated workflows to further boost efficiency.

Fraunhofer

Michael Schmidt-Tesch

Project Manager of Electronic Patent File Implementation