Illinois

Innovation Scorecard

Total Patents

74,922

National Rank

Top Category

Software & Computing

YoY Growth

0.5%

Population

12,563,096

Patents / $B GDP

Patents / 100K Pop

596

Innovation DNA

Patent activity distribution across technology categories

Innovation Ecosystem

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

State GDP

$1.15T

Median Income

$80,306

Unemployment

4.6%

Bachelor's+

38.3%

Per Capita Income

$74,197

Fed. Spending

$42.9B

NIH Grants

2,870

NSF Awards

496

SBIR/STTR

3,931

~$1435M awarded

Biz Formation

4,558/mo

STEM Workers

7.0%

444,907 employed

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

Patent Activity by Year

7,569

2016

7,852

2017

7,426

2018

8,633

2019

8,396

2020

7,677

2021

7,103

2022

7,362

2023

7,397

2024

5,507

2025

Top Patent Holders

Rank	Organization	Patents
1	Caterpillar Inc.	3,068
2	State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company	2,061
3	International Business Machines Corporation	1,437
4	Motorola Mobility LLC	1,150
5	Northwestern University	1,144
6	Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (HSC)	1,105
7	CNH Industrial America LLC	977
8	Allstate Insurance Company	915
9	The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois	890
10	UOP LLC	881

Technology Categories

Category	Patents	Share
software & computing	19,016	29.1%
electronics & semiconductors	13,359	20.4%
biotech & life sciences	12,213	18.7%
mechanical & manufacturing	8,489	13.0%
mechanical engineering	5,040	7.7%
chemistry & materials	4,973	7.6%
construction	2,090	3.2%
textiles	211	0.3%

Universities in Illinois

Illinois

Innovation DNA

Innovation Ecosystem

Patent Activity by Year

Top Patent Holders

Technology Categories

Universities in Illinois

Bradley University

Illinois Institute Of Technology

Illinois State University

Kendall College

Midwestern University

Northshore University Healthsystem

Northwestern Memorial Healthcare

Northwestern University

Rosalind Franklin University Of Medicine And Science

Rush University

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Toyota Technological Institute At Chicago

University Of Chicago

University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign