Intellectual Property
archive will be digitized

Automation of workflow processes

at the Ministry of Economy and Trade

The Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET) has launched a $522,000 project to computerize workflow processes at its General Directorate and to electronically archive paper documents at its Office of Intellectual Property.

The automation part of the project will cost $440,000 while the archiving will cost $82,000.

The project will be executed in collaboration with the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR).

The funding will come from part of the proceeds of a loan of nine million Kuwaiti dinars ($29.6 million) granted to OMSAR by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

The project is being implemented by two local companies, Image Systems and Integrated Digital Systems (IDS). Image Systems is carrying out the archiving work which is to be completed in 15 months, according to the contract. IDS is executing the automation work at MoET’s General Directorate which will be completed in two years. The automation will be followed by three years of maintenance to make sure that the system is operating properly.

Nearly 3.6 million documents accumulated by the Office of Intellectual Property since 2003 will be archived, said Mansour Bteish, the Minister of Economy and Trade.

The project is part of the country’s e-government plan and the next project will be to computerize the MoET’s Consumer Protection Directorate, Bteish said.