Alabama flag

Alabama

Innovation Scorecard

Total Patents

7,512

National Rank

#35

Top Category

Biotech & Life Sciences

YoY Growth

-0.1%

Population

5,063,778

Patents / $B GDP

23

Patents / 100K Pop

148

Innovation DNA

Patent activity distribution across technology categories

Innovation Ecosystem

Economic and research indicators that shape Alabama's innovation landscape.

State GDP

$325B

Median Income

$62,212

Unemployment

2.7%

Bachelor's+

28.9%

Per Capita Income

$56,684

Fed. Spending

$18.4B

NIH Grants

952

NSF Awards

169

SBIR/STTR

3,950

~$1395M awarded

Biz Formation

1,522/mo

STEM Workers

6.4%

146,855 employed

Sources: FRED, Census ACS, USAspending.gov, NIH RePORTER, NSF, SBIR.gov

Advertisement

Patent Activity by Year

761
2016
769
2017
734
2018
864
2019
818
2020
793
2021
743
2022
737
2023
736
2024
557
2025

Top Patent Holders

RankOrganizationPatents
1The Boeing Company 313
2THE UAB RESEARCH FOUNDATION 160
3The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama 157
4AUBURN UNIVERSITY 143
5Universal Lighting Technologies Inc. 141
6Rheem Manufacturing Company 141
7Adtran, Inc. 132
8NVIDIA Corporation 112
9Nektar Therapeutics 93
10Board of Trustees of the Univeristy of Alabama, for and on behalf of the University of Alabama in Huntsville 86

Technology Categories

CategoryPatents
biotech & life sciences 1,496
software & computing 1,433
electronics & semiconductors 1,215
mechanical & manufacturing 1,065
mechanical engineering 659
chemistry & materials 637
construction 279
textiles 47

Universities in Alabama

Air University

Maxwell AFB 1 patents

Old School

Testville 3 patents

The University Of Alabama

Tuscaloosa 291 patents

Tuskegee University

Tuskegee 21 patents

University Of Alabama At Birmingham

Birmingham 3 patents

University Of South Alabama

Mobile 32 patents

Virginia College

Birmingham 6 patents