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