A new
Brookings Institution report released February 1 found that Huntsville inventors received an average of 156 patents between 2007 and 2001, placing the metropolitan area 88th among the 358 areas analyzed in the report. The city ranked even higher in patent claims with an average 17 claims per patents in the same time period. High patent rates often are viewed as a major driver of long-term economic growth. In an
AL.com story on the new report,
Frank Caprio, partner in the firm’s Huntsville office and chair of the Intellectual Property Practice, commented on the challenge companies face when first seeking to identify the creative ideas of their employees, and then when trying to determine which of those ideas and solutions are worthy of the expense associated with applying for a patent.