| Patent figures
by state: 1998-2001
State Science and Technology Institute
March 14, 2003
Knowledge
in the "knowledge economy" can
be an extremely difficult entity to measure with any
consistency. Innovation and technological change, both
key drivers of economic growth, are elusive to grasp
and even harder to measure reliably in geographic terms.
Patent activity, however, has long been considered
an important measure of innovation in the New Economy.
Patents are seen as an insightful proxy to help measure
and understand economic growth through technological
change and for research on the economics of innovation.
States
may then ask, how inventive are we? How does our "inventiveness" compare
with other states? The United States Patent and Trademark
Office produces
helpful online reports presenting the number of patents
filed within each state distributed across technology
sector or organization. To standardize the aggregate
data, to permit easier comparisons and to help some
trends to appear, the State Science and Technology
Institute (SSTI) has compiled a table showing patent
activity per 10,000 residents for the most recent four
years of data, 1998-2001.
Idaho maintained the top spot for number of patents
per 10,000 people throughout the time frame, largely
driven by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory. Vermont rose from 5th in 1998 to 2nd in
2001. North Dakota made the biggest jump in ranking
position from 44th in 1998 to 35th in 2001. Oklahoma
presented the second largest gain, moving up to 30th
in 2001 from 37th in 1998.
SSTI's table of
state patent figures is available online.
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