Commercial use of ontology

Hi there,

I am currently building a database that will be used to manage intellectual assets (both technologies and know-how) throughout their research, development and commercialisation. This involves capturing and representing a large amount of information about each asset including details of protection, development, contracts, revenue etc.

I am exploring the use of an ontology (using Protégé) to represent this knowledge, which would form the base of a wider system with functionalities such as workflow, document storage etc. I was wondering if anyone has heard of any similar uses of ontologies in a commercial setting, and if so: what was it used for, how was it used, was it successful/not successful, etc. Any information would be useful!

Thanks!