The past few weeks have been eventful for wireless research, showing how new advances in mobile communication, one of the fundamental building blocks for so much technology today, have to be driven by both the grassroots and policymakers to be successful.

Just before the new year, 3GPP in Lisbon — the standards-setting body that drives cellular wireless — successfully completed the first 5G specification. That work brought together dozens of companies and included the efforts of our team of researchers at InterDigital, including one who chaired one of the most important sub-committees. For them and all our engineers, it was a significant milestone after many years of advanced research. Those are the grassroots of wireless innovation.