This paper analyses the use of Information Technology (IT) tools in the management of Intellectual Property (IP) in collaborative projects involving groups of firms and their customer organisations in the design, development, manufacture and maintenance of complex products. We find that IT tools have long offered management capacities that have not been fully utilised.
Through an in-depth study of IP management practice in collaborative defence projects we analyse the slow diffusion of available technological solutions and identify two contrasting models to set up inter-organisational networks for the exchange of large amounts of technical data.