Delaware has always taken pride in the number of patents that over the years have included Gore-Tex fiber and DuPont’s Kevlar.
Commercial Cafe, a commercial real estate blog, recently released a study that looked at more than four decades of national patent activity. Delaware remains a hotspot for patent activity among smaller states.
The study cited ties to patent activity and growth in economic activity nationwide and at the state level.
Delaware’s 85 patents came close to matching the figure for neighboring Maryland.
Some highlights from the study related to Delaware.
- A total of 59,777 U.S.-based assignee patents were filed and granted in Delaware between 1975 and 2019.
- The section with the most patent activity in Delaware was Chemistry & Metallurgy, with a patent count of 18,884.
- The most innovative patent class in Delaware was Technical Subjects Covered by the former United States Patent Classification, followed by Electric Communication Technique, with 11,622 and 8,548 patents, respectively.
- Fixed Constructions was the least innovative section in the state, with a patent count of 1,399.
- Nationally, USPTO data for the past 44 years shows that the highest patent applicability falls under Physics, with 1.1 million patents, followed closely by Electricity, with 900,000 patents.
You can read the full study here.
One of the more interesting features is a moving “race chart” that shows how industrial giants like Delaware-based DuPont, GE and others were leading players in filing patents.
That changed over the decades as tech companies took the lead. The tech center of California is now a leading center for patents, with New York holding the top position on the East Coast.
Below is a map showing 2019 patent numbers for Delaware, with its 85 patents outpacing figures for other states with similar populations.
Delaware’s patent numbers even compared favorably with neighboring Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The other map below from Commercial Cafe offers more details on patent activity in Delaware.
