Heiko Wongel is Director of Patent Information Promotion at the European Patent Office in Vienna. The task of his team is to enable the understanding and the effective use of patent information by informing and supporting users of the EPO's patent information products and services. He holds a degree in physics from the University of Hamburg, Germany. He joined the EPO (The Hague) in 1990 as a patent examiner in the field of electro-optics. From 2009 to 2010, he was acting Director of Classification in the EPO's branch in The Hague.