With the recently celebrated opening of the nation’s first satellite office of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Detroit, I thought it might be fun to explore which metropolitan regions in the Rust Best are hotspots for new innovation as measured by the number of patents issued. The data provided is cumulative for the five year period of 2006 through 2010.

For Detroit and Buffalo, I also included patent data for adjacent areas in Ontario since they are a part of the metropolitan region. Needless to say, I was rather thrilled to find out which of the metropolitan regions came in first place (even without Windsor’s 376 American patents included). Buffalo’s ranking moved up two spots on the list either with the inclusion of 189 American patents from Niagara Falls and St. Catharines, Ontario.

Min 250 patents (or 50/year) between 2006-2010

1. Detroit-Ann Arbor-Windsor, MI-ON  – 13,121
2. Chicago-Naperville-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI - 12,526
3. Twin Cities Region, MN-WI - 11,554
4. Philadelphia-Trenton-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE - 10,345
5. Rochester, NY – 5,227
6. Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH - 4,540
7. Cincinnati-Hamilton-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN - 3,446
8. Baltimore, MD - 2,950
9. Pittsburgh, PA – 2,968
10. Albany-Glens Falls, NY - 2,952
11. St. Louis, MO-IL - 2,750
12. Milwaukee-Racine, WI - 2,551
13. Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN  – 2,423
14. Worcester, MA – 2,037
15. Providence-Fall River, RI-MA – 1,884
16. Madison-Beaver Dam, WI  – 1,864
17. Rochester, MN - 1,789
18. Columbus-Newark-Lancaster, OH - 1,612
19. Allentown-Bethlehem, PA-NJ – 1,404
20. Grand Rapids-Holland-Muskegon, MI - 1,385
21. Des Moines-Ames, IA  – 1,351
22. Buffalo-Niagara Falls-St. Catharines, NY-ON – 1,268
23. Lake Winnebego (Appleton-Oshkosh-Fond du Lac), WI – 1,187
24. Dayton-Springfield, OH - 1,079
25. Fort Wayne-Warsaw-Van Wert,  IN-OH - 894
26. Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, IA - 881
27. Peoria-Canton, IL - 872
28. St. Joseph Valley (South Bend-Elkhart-Niles), IN-MI – 800
29. Syracuse, NY - 796
30. Lafayette-Kokomo, IN - 723
31. Binghamton-Oneonta, NY-PA – 720
32. Rock Valley, IL-WI – 671
33. Harrisburg-Gettysburg, PA - 663
34. Elmira-Corning-Sayre, NY-PA – 644
35. Toledo- Findlay-Fremont, OH - 638
36. Springfield, MA – 555
37. Kalamazoo Valley, MI - 550
38. Champaign-Urbana, IL - 523
39. Lancaster, PA – 509
40. Ithaca-Cortland, NY - 503
41. Lansing-Jackson, MI - 490
42. Saginaw Bay, MI - 448
43. York, PA – 428
44. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Poconos, PA  – 347
45. Youngstown-Warren-Salem, OH-PA – 342
46. Quad Cities, IA-IL - 309
47. Erie, PA - 306
48. Reading-Pottsville, PA - 301
49. Evansville, IN-KY-IL - 293
50. State College-Lewistown, PA – 258

- Rick Brown