After he passed the college for mechanical engineering Gerhard visited the Technical University of Vienna and graduated as a Master of Business and Engineering. He was a patent examiner for sixteen years at the Austrian Patent Office. Since ten years ago he is deputy head of the “Patent Support & PCT” department. In this function he is organizing the technical IP-Rights-Helpdesk of the customer service center, making IP audits and consultations for SMEs, working for the quality management in the patent granting process of the Austrian Patent Office and doing in-house and external training.