16. Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 1,045
Average patents per year: 120
Top industry: N/A
The Kohler Company is by far the area's biggest employer, founded in the area in 1873.
Source: Brookings

20 Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota

Flickr / Doug Wallick

Patents per million residents: 945
Average patents per year: 3,068
Top industry: Surgery and medical instruments
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is a huge center for medical devices, and hosts the headquarters for Medtronic and St. Jude Medical. That industry is particularly aggressive about patenting and litigation. It's also the home of 3M, which has always been uniquely research focused.
Source: Brookings

19. Ithaca, New York

Ithaca, New York

Courtesy of Jason Barell

Patents per million residents: 959
Average patents per year: 97
Top industry: Biotechnology
Technology and life science companies are drawn to the area by Cornell University, which provides an unusually highly educated workforce for such a small area.
Source: Brookings

18 .Albany, NY

Albany, NY

Matt H. Wade via Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 981
Average patents per year: 846
Top industry: Power systems
General Electric's primary global research center is located in nearby Niskayuna, which accounts for a large portion of the region's patents.
Source: Brookings

17 San Diego, California

San Diego, California

SD Dirk via Flickr 

 

Patents per million residents: 1,041
Average patents per year: 3,165
Top industry:  Communications
San Diego is a huge biotech hub, driven by UC San Diego and its medical center. Qualcomm was founded and is headquartered in the area. 
Source: Brookings

15.Trenton, New Jersey

Trenton, New Jersey

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 1,073
Average patents per year: 393
Top industry: Biotechnology
New Jersey's capital is not the manufacturing center it once was, but the city still has a large concentration of health care employers beyond a large state workforce, and is helped by the state's incredible density. 
Source: Brookings

14.Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina

14 Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 1,120
Average patents per year: 552
Top industry: Biotechnology 
This area of North Carolina, with Raleigh, is part of a huge concentration of education institutions (the University of North Carolina, Duke, and North Carolina State,) pharmaceutical companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Biogen, and Merck, and tech companies like IBM and the headquarters of Red Hat (headquartered in Raleigh). The area's known as the "Research Triangle."

Source: Brookings

13.Rochester, New York

 Rochester, New York

Patrick Ashley via Flickr

Patents per million residents: 1,149
Average patents per year: 1,198
Top industry: Optics
Rochester in the home of Xerox and Eastman Kodak.

Source: Brookings

12.Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina

Flickr / NCDOTcommunications

Patents per million residents: 1,164
Average patents per year: 1,273
Top industry: Computer hardware and peripherals
The other major part of the "research triangle" with Durham/Chapel Hill.
Source: Brookings

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RzXxKGAO

11.Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Zillow

Patents per million residents: 1,174
Average patents per year: 3,968
Top industry: Computer software
Microsoft's not quite in Seattle, but it's well within the metro area. Amazon is headquartered there as well. A tax regime friendly to the wealthy doesn't hurt. 
Source: Brookings

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RzXgC8QT

10.Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz, California

flickr/mark.hogan

Patents per million residents: 1,204
Average patents per year: 310
Top industry: Computer hardware and peripherals
UC Santa Cruz is the major employer, and the corridor of tech startups and companies continues south from San Francisco and Silicon Valley. 

Source: Brookings

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RyUkpZ7K

9.Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Flickr / Visualist Images

Patents per million residents: 1,503
Average patents per year: 2,497
Top industry: Computer hardware/peripherals
Austin hosts the main campus of the University of Texas, a burgeoning startup community, and major campuses of tech companies like Dell and IBM.

Source: Brookings

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RyULlE4P

8 .San Francisco-Oakland, California

San Francisco-Oakland, California

Flickr / Creative Commons

Patents per million residents: 1,638
Average patents per year: 7,003
Top industry: Biotechnology
San Francisco is a startup and biotech hub, producing more patents overall than anywhere except San Jose. It hosts the head offices of Twitter, Salesforce, and countless others.

Source: Brookings 
 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RyThu05J

7.Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Patents per million residents: 1,697
Average patents per year: 590
Top industry: Motors, engines, and parts
Ann Arbor's the home of the University of Michigan, one of the "public Ivies," which is the major researcher and employer and draws other companies to the area. Auto companies like General Motors also have a presence.

Source: Brookings

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RyT9bSZB

6. Poughkeepsie, New York

Poughkeepsie, New York

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 1,829
Average patents per year: 1,226
Top industry: Semiconductor devices
IBM has one of its largest campuses in the area, and recently announced that it received more patents than any other US company for the 20th straight year, including the first patents on the WATSON supercomputer.

Source: Brookings

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RySQ2Kfd

5.Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 2,274
Average patents per year: 666
Top industry:  Communications
The University of Colorado, a presence from IBM, and the biotech and communications industries help Boulder lead its state in patents per capita.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RT8kcpcO

 

4. Corvallis, Oregon

Corvallis, Oregon

saml123 / Flickr

Patents per million residents: 2,319
Average patents per year: 194
Top industry: Semiconductor devices
Hewlett Packard moved its advanced products division to Corvallis from Silicon Valley in the 70s, providing a long stream of patents. Corvallis is also home to Oregon State University. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RT7pkeWV

 

3.Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester, Minnesota

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 3,300
Average patents per year: 606
Top industry: Computer hardware and peripherals
Productivity growth
Rochester is the home of the Mayo Clinic, which employs more than 33,000 people in the area. It's a hospital model where research is intensely involved in patient care, so there's a focus on turning patents into treatments. IBM also has a large presence in the area.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RT5MlWFv

2.Burlington, Vermont

Burlington, Vermont

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 3,951
Average patents per year: 826
Top industry: Semiconductor devices
Productivity growth:
A tiny city (around 211,261 people) that leads the Northeast. It's the home of the University of Vermont, companies like Seventh Generation, and GE's healthcare software business.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RT4SOmoE

 

1.San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California

Wikimedia Commons

Patents per million residents: 5,066
Average patents per year: 9,237
Top industry: Computer hardware/peripherals
The San Jose area crushes the competition in every category. It's home to incredibly inventive companies like Google and elite universities like Stanford. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-innovative-cities-in-the-us-2013-2?op=1#ixzz2RT3qiOFD