I think the collaborative model has the most promise, but we actually have a unique model where we're not just collaborating as a company with universities and research organizations, but have brought two forest product companies together to collaborate.
Resolute Forest Products and Mercer International technically are competitors with each other in their general markets. When we created the joint venture, we actually carved out the market. In traditional paper and tissue applications where these two companies or parent companies are competitors, they are interacting, dealing, and developing those markets for cellulosic filaments independently of Performance BioFilaments. Our role is to create new applications and new markets where the current companies and current sector is not focusing. We have two companies that we've brought together, and they fund a separate company, Performance BioFilaments.
We in turn reach out to what I call “centres of excellence”, whether that's a research institution, a private contract lab, or a university, and we know which areas of the market we want to accelerate in. We find those experts, the expertise, equipment, and laboratories, and we actually do collaborative research work with them.
The question of intellectual property does come up and we deal with that on an individual basis. Some universities are very open, in particular if we're providing all the funding, to allowing us complete access to IP. Some are a little more closed with respect to allowing access to IP for research purposes. With each of those, we haven't come across a situation where we weren't able to address IP in a formal contract. We address those on a one-on-one basis, given the project they're undertaking.