Consequent application of reusable components (IP: Intellectual Property) is indispensable to enhance the productivity in system design. With its focus on "IP Qualification", the IPQ project subsidized within the German EkompaSS initiative addresses an area facing still considerable problems in implementation of an IP-based design methodology. Methods and tools to be developed in IPQ should allow fundamental improvements in quality assurance for the application and development of IP modules. This includes specification methods, intelligent IP search, incoming check, methods for IP adaption and contributions to standardization.