The City of Sunnyvale, the Heart of Silicon Valley, has been named the second-most inventive town in America by the Wall Street Journal. Sunnyvale joins 10 other Silicon Valley cities in the report’s Top 20. The report, published July 22, looked at 12,000 cities nationwide to compare the number of utility patents issued both to individual inventors and to large companies.
Sunnyvale, which is home to industry leaders and startups alike, has long been identified as a hotspot for innovation, from the founding of the Ames Research Center (now NASA Ames Research Center) in 1938, to current efforts to attract biotechnology businesses to the City.
For Sunnyvale, the ranking is more than simply a number. More patents mean more innovation, and according to the article’s authors, this often leads to the creation of new companies and more jobs in the community. All of which adds up to a significant economic benefit to the City.
Town # Patents 2005
1- San Jose, Calif. - 3,867
2 - Sunnyvale, Calif. - 1,881
3 - Austin, Texas - 1,705
4 - Palo Alto, Calif. - 1,601
5 - Fremont, Calif. - 1,440
6 - San Diego, Calif.- 1,382
7 - Cupertino, Calif. - 1,360
8 - Boise, Idaho - 1,213
9 - Mountain View, Calif.-1,128
10 - Santa Clara, Calif. - 1,096
11 - Houston, TX - 1,071
12 - San Francisco, Calif.-1,022
13 - Portland, Ore. - 784
14 - Seattle - 756
15 - Los Altos, Calif. - 719
16 - Rochester, N.Y. - 664
17 - Plano, Texas - 643
18 - Saratoga, Calif. - 620
19 - Menlo Park, Calif. - 619
20 - New York - 614