Chester and Delaware counties are among the Top 100 counties nationwide with the most patents granted between 2000 and 2015, writes Christopher Boone for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

The ranking was created using data from the U.S. Patent Office. It shows that the majority of counties with the largest number of granted patents nationwide are clustered in large metropolitan areas. These especially include tech-hubs such as San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, and Seattle.

The situation is similar in Pennsylvania, where innovation is also centered near the state’s largest cities.

Overall, Chester County ranked 68th with 5,268 granted patents over the analyzed period. Delaware County placed 85th with 4,266 patents.

Also among the Top 100 counties with the most patents granted are Montgomery and Bucks counties, with 7,897 and 4,705, respectively.

Among the reasons that more patents were granted around metro areas is the large concentration of population, presence of leading research universities, and high percentage of college-educated people.

The county with the largest number of patents and well ahead of the rest of the country is California’s Santa Clara County. It had a massive 142,998 patents granted over the analyzed period.

Read more about the counties with the most patents granted between 2000 and 2015 in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star here.

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