The academic field of Engineering Informatics addresses the particular issues the author raised as well as other connected issues. These problems are acutely re

The academic field of Engineering Informatics addresses the particular issues the author raised as well as other connected issues. These problems are acutely relevant today although the issues have been known and attempts have been made to address them by many other concerned folk many times over for at least the last 20+ years with varying degrees of success. Given the poor state of engineering knowledge storage and collaboration and the effect this has on engineering productivity, it is a space begging for one of Clay Christensen's famous "Disruptive Innovations". As you point out the change is unlikely to come from existing vendors at they prefer file format lock-in. When the tide shifts this could be an Achilles' heel although I would expect the vendors to adapt. One of the most intractable issues is that each type of engineering has it's own heterogenous method of describing and recording their work. The best research I have encountered seems to point to Semantic technologies having the most to offer to possible solutions.