Project support for patent information centres in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Abstract

In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), information on industrial property rights is made available at four patent information centres. Three of these are located at universities (Aachen, Dortmund and Krefeld), while the fourth (the Bielefeld patent information centre) is run as an Eingetragener Verein (registered association) by a number of partners (among them the Bielefeld Chamber of Industry and Commerce). The three patent information centres in Aachen, Dortmund and Bielefeld are receiving financial support from the NRW Economics Ministry as part of a project running from 1995 to 1999. The aim is to achieve a substantial improvement in the range of services offered by the centres. Apart from ensuring high performance in the areas of document supply and search on demand, a primary objective is to enhance the technical infrastructure. One of the early results has been the building up of local area networks allowing for efficient, user-friendly access to CD-ROMs to help the public conduct their own searches. At the same time the local collections of patents have been methodically extended on the basis of full-text CD-ROMs and made available in a convenient form through jukebox technology. This package of measures in conjunction with targeted promotional activities has resulted in greater acceptance and usage of the patent information centres in NRW. A further project starting in the year 2000 is to focus on maintaining the level that has been attained and on adapting the structures to match new developments in the field of national and international networks.