Publication: Winner Takes All? Tech Clusters, Population Centers, and the Spatial Transformation of U.S. Invention
No Thumbnail Available
Open/View Files
Date
2022-03
Authors
Published Version
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier BV
The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you.
Citation
Chattergoon, Brad, and William R. Kerr. "Winner Takes All? Tech Clusters, Population Centers, and the Spatial Transformation of U.S. Invention." Art. 104418. Research Policy 51, no. 2 (March 2022).
Research Data
Abstract
U.S. invention has become increasingly concentrated around major tech centers since the 1970s, with implications for how much cities across the country share in concomitant local benefits. Is invention becoming a winner-takes-all race? We explore the rising spatial concentration of patents and identify an underlying stability in their distribution. Software patents have exploded to account for about half of patents today, and these patents are highly concentrated in tech centers. Tech centers also account for a growing share of non-software patents, but the reallocation, by contrast, is entirely from the five largest population centers in 1980. Non-software patenting is stable for most cities, with anchor tenants like universities playing important roles, suggesting the growing concentration of invention may be nearing its end. Immigrant inventors and new businesses aided in the spatial transformation.
Description
Other Available Sources
Keywords
Management of Technology and Innovation, Management Science and Operations Research, Strategy and Management
Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles (OAP), as set forth at Terms of Service