SSTI Report: Patents per 100K Workers, 2001-2006.

The Patent Librarian recently posted on a report by The State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI), a nonprofit organization that supports economic development through science, technology and innovation.  The report shows the ranking in number of patents issued per 100,000 workers in the U.S.A. from 2001-2006.  The top ten increases by state in patents per 100,000 workers was reported as follows:

% Change 2001-2006

1. Washington 46%
2. Oregon 36.8
3. Massachusetts 14.1
4. Kansas 13.4
5. California 12.9
6. Rhode Island 11
7. Oklahoma 7.7
8. Minnesota 6.3
9. Georgia 6.2
10. Colorado 5.9

We found the following listing of the bottom ten states in the rankings to be equally interesting:

% Change 2001-2006

1. West Virginia -35.2%
2. Louisiana -22.9
3. Tennessee -22.3
4. Idaho -18.7*
5. Montana -18.5
6. Wyoming -17.6
7. South Dakota -16.9
8. Arkansas/Ohio/North Dakota/New Mexico -16.8
9. Mississippi -16.4
10. Alaska -16

*Idaho also has the most patents per capita, however, due to the presence of Boise-based Micron.

AT! performed a similar analysis of geographical patent trends several months ago and found the rankings in the U.S. States to be similar (a slight difference in order likely due to the use of “workers” by the SSTI study versus the “census numbers” employed by the AT!, but overall the same). 

As we noted in our earlier studies, these are certainly some interesting figures.  We repeat, however, as general food-for-thought for commenting – What do these trends show, if anything?  Are Oregon, Washington, California, and Kansas doing anything different to foster innovation in their respective states?  What is Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois doing wrong, if anything?  Comment as you may!