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District of Columbia

Innovation Scorecard

Total Patents

5,781

National Rank

#40

Top Category

Software & Computing

YoY Growth

-6.4%

Population

668,576

Patents / $B GDP

31

Patents / 100K Pop

865

Innovation DNA

Patent activity distribution across technology categories

Innovation Ecosystem

Economic and research indicators that shape District of Columbia's innovation landscape.

State GDP

$184B

Median Income

$108,210

Unemployment

6.7%

Bachelor's+

65.9%

Per Capita Income

$108,233

Fed. Spending

$11.4B

NIH Grants

549

NSF Awards

153

SBIR/STTR

616

~$219M awarded

Biz Formation

372/mo

STEM Workers

14.6%

56,326 employed

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

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Patent Activity by Year

354
2016
435
2017
507
2018
686
2019
679
2020
620
2021
616
2022
738
2023
691
2024
455
2025

Top Patent Holders

RankOrganizationPatents
1CAPITAL ONE SERVICES, LLC 1,069
2The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy 186
3Palantir Technologies Inc. 183
4The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services 163
5United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force 130
6AdrenalineIP 106
7International Business Machines Corporation 103
8United States Postal Service 94
9AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 81
10Comcast Cable Communications, LLC 77

Technology Categories

CategoryPatents
software & computing 2,845
electronics & semiconductors 1,160
biotech & life sciences 765
chemistry & materials 403
mechanical & manufacturing 226
mechanical engineering 70
construction 27
textiles 9

Universities in District of Columbia

American University

Washington 62 patents

Catholic University Of America

Washington 28 patents

Georgetown University

Washington 205 patents

Howard University

Washington 60 patents

University Of The District Of Columbia

Washington 2 patents