olves patenting, but may entail copyrights, trademarks, and technology licensing. 12.10.1.2 Idea Standardization The second stage in the mobile technology commercialization typically involves standardization of the innovation. The IP (Intellectual Property) owners usually manufacturers, bring it to one of the key SDOs (3GPP, 3GPP2, IEEE-SA, etc.) or Forums (WiMAX Forum, IMS Forum, etc.) most of the time to get the necessary protection and royalty payments down the road if it becomes part of a standard. 12.10.1.3 Technology and Product Development and Market Assessment This stage is primarily driven by manufacturers and vendors. At this stage, the primary task is to implement the idea (standard) according to the chosen technology route and its activities will include R&D, product testing and manufacturing. The crucial actors of the stage are network equipment (infrastructure) manufacturers, terminal manufacturers, chip providers and test equipment providers who undertake technology innovation tasks. The market assessment of the technology needs to be conducted in parallel in order to understand the true potential of the innovation. In some cases, even if the invention is technically viable, the cost of production is too high and would result in a final product priced outside the existing market. The most promising inventions are often platform technologies that have the potential for numerous applications from a single invention. Inventions with a broad spectrum of applications have an increased chance of commercial success. A good example will be of the Smart Antenna technology that is present in WLAN (802.11n), WMAN (WiMAX) and WWAN (EPS, EV-DO). Along with market and competitors' assessment, the business case also needs to be developed. The success of the idea will rely heavily on the strength of the business case. Based on the commercial interest and the business plan, the next step will be to identify appropriate sources of financing. The funding could come from the existing business itself, or selling shares