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