Comparing Metro Phoenix
Inventor Intensity
Description: Inventor intensity is based upon the number of utility patents (also known as patents for inventions) granted. The allocation of patents to a metropolitan area is based upon the address provided in the application. The application date, not the award date, is used to allocate patents by year. The number of patents is averaged over five years and is divided by the average of either employment or population over the same five-year period to generate a measure of inventor intensity.
Rationale: Innovation is aligned with both ability and creativity. The pace of successful patent applications is one measure of the region’s ability to attract and retain successful inventors.
Data Sources: A proprietary patent dataset was supported by the Harvard Business School and was developed using data on patents granted provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The matching of patents and inventors is done using a name-matching procedure developed by Lee Fleming (Harvard Business School) and Deborah Strumsky (Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Charlotte), which in turn builds on a name-matching algorithm developed by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Comments on the Quality of the Data: The data provide an accurate measure of patent awards but do not distinguish between patents that result in new product development or newly-adapted processes. There also is no attempt to adjust for single inventors who are awarded multiple patents; these inventors are double counted. Many years are often required before a patent leads to productive output. In further refinements of this measure, it would be useful to distinguish patent awards by industrial classification.
