Innovation
Patents Granted by Technology Class
Description: Considerably less than half of patent applications result in a patent granted. Patents typically are granted at least two years after the application. The number of patent applications is included as an input to innovation, in the research and development subcategory.
Many patent applications list more than one inventor. The geographic allocation of a patent granted is determined by the residence of the first-named inventor at the time of the grant.
The numbers of patents granted to Arizonans during the most recent five-year period, tallied by technology class, are presented in a table on the dashboard, ranked from the greatest number of patents over the five-year period to the fewest. The table also can be sorted by technology class number and alphabetically by the title of the technology class. Only “utility” patents, also known as “patents for inventions,” are included.
Rationale: Inventive activity is a proxy for the quality of the innovation environment. Innovation requires both ability and creativity. Thus, the number of patents granted is one measure of a region’s ability to innovate. Regions where companies, universities, and individuals are engaged in innovation should have more patents granted. The presentation of the data by technology class gives an indication of the technological strengths and weaknesses in an area.
Data Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/clsstc/az_stc.htm.
Comments on the Quality of the Data: The geographic distribution of patents could be different if the residence of all inventors was considered. A simple count of number of patents granted does not distinguish between patents with considerable near-term commercialization potential and those with more nebulous marketability.
