Requirements for the expression and communication of product knowledge amongst industrial OEM's, suppliers, customers and compliance bodies are rapidly changing. Experiences with current product data technologies have revealed that standardized neutral file-based exchange of product data is no longer sufficient: business processes have to be aligned and data in the supply chain need to be synchronized. Engineering changes and release information need to be propagated almost instantly. CAD knowledge cannot be seen in isolation from other business knowledge. Solutions for point-to-point transactions need to be replaced by solutions for product lifecycle knowledge sharing, supporting "fit for purpose" access. Open solutions need to respect intellectual property rights. Future information technologies will have to respect industrial needs for the handling of product lifecycle across organizational borders. Current PLM solutions and product data technologies appear to be limited and will have to be revised or replaced. Preliminary implementations of alternate solutions emerge within the automotive and aerospace industries, and pose new challenges for the research communities and technology providers. Herewith we announce a Special Issue on Emerging industry needs for frameworks and technologies for exchanging and sharing of product lifecycle knowledge. Objectives are to survey and assess emerging technologies from an industry perspective and to explore tracks of future scientific development. Emphasis will be on integrated solutions and their industrial applications. Researchers and experts from industry are invited to share their knowledge and experience, by submitting survey, research and application papers for this Special Issue.