The changing composition of innovative activity in the US - a portrait based on patent analysis

In this paper, patent bibliometrics are used to investigate shifts underway in the American innovation system. Patent indicators point to extraordinar ily dynamic innovation in information and health technologies accompanied b y a shift in the center of US innovation from the East to the West Coast. I nnovating companies are adapting to the demise of large corporate basic res earch laboratories by using their own research instead. Growth in universit y patenting is also striking, and universities have become dominant patente es in a few large, economically vibrant cities. The importance of universit ies to local innovation has also been revealed by the growth in referencing from patents to papers which allows us to see that companies preferentiall y reference papers from in-state public sector institutions. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.