Companies can buy patents and other intellectual property online. It is often difficult for small businesses to invest time and money in research and development. Other companies have trouble finding the talent to create such property.
Companies who do not have the human resources to complete complex projects can find help at http://www.hellobrain.com/. When merchants post the projects they need completed and the compensation they are ready to pay, proposed answers will be sent from companies and contractors that can help. It acts as the middle man offering free postings to merchants.
The Question Exchange (http://www.questionexchange.com/) allows businesses and individuals to access programming specific troubleshooting as well as customer service. Companies pay a subscription fee to gain access to the system - in exchange, users are able to ask programming-related development questions andaccess a database of archived questions.
Yet2 (http://www.yet2.com/) is an e-business designed to help companies raise capital by selling intellectual property such as patents and trademarks. Yet2 is backed by industry leading companies who wish to sell intellectula property assets. You must register to get a full view of the properties, but Yet2 does offer a sample listing.