Around 67% of all patents granted in the US were concentrated in the Northeast, the West Coast and the Rust Belt in the 2000s according to a study by economists from the Saint Louis Federal Reserve.
Overall the US had almost three times more patents in 2010 than I 1980, when patents were more concentrated in the Northeast and Rust Belt. The number of patents per person on the West Coast went from 1.4 per 1000 persons in the 1980s to 6.3 per 1000 persons in the 2000s.
The growth in the number of patents has been largely driven by the number of new patents in computer and electronic products in the 2000s reaching more than 400,000 compared to almost 100,000 granted in the 1980s.
In comparison patents in the machinery sector, which is largely concentrated in the Rust belt, rose from almost 100,000 in the 1980s to approximately 125,000 in the 2000s.
The least innovative states in that period were Mississippi, Arkansas and Alaska.
By Staff
