in terms of the cost of its upkeep, as it has the asset on which the company was founded and continues to prosper. The company has recently taken the step of turning intellectual property into a fourth product stream with a view of making it self-financing within 24 months. It intends to achieve this through the out-licensing or sale of non-core intellectual property with, where appropriate, materials, data and if necessary access to the skills for development of the technology. It will also be pursuing exploitation of non-core aspects of its core technologies, through non-exclusive or exclusive field-of-use licenses that will not impinge on its core activities. Conclusion Leveraging the value in intellectual property assets to generate a return on investment not only reduces the liability and risk of this costly investment to the company but makes eminent commercial sense. Treating intellectual property as a product stream within the company places in the right commercial context to achieve this aim.