Factory of the Future?

Microsoft alum Nathan Myhrvold runs a firm that doesn't make anything, but it's hoarding the key to a new business age:
intellectual property

Myhrvold reflects on his early days at Microsoft when he was criticized for selling pure software, a collection of ethereal bits unattached to something tangible like computer hardware. Today, this "ethereal" industry is one of America's largest, and Myhrvold repeats almost as a mantra, "Intellectual property is the next software." In other words, he expects a whole new industry of firms like Intellectual Ventures that deal only in the currency of ideas. He is so sure of it, he has even adopted a new hobby: studying for the patent bar exam.