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South Dakota

Innovation Scorecard

Total Patents

2,050

National Rank

#49

Top Category

Biotech & Life Sciences

YoY Growth

9.6%

Population

906,458

Patents / $B GDP

27

Patents / 100K Pop

226

Innovation DNA

Patent activity distribution across technology categories

Innovation Ecosystem

Economic and research indicators that shape South Dakota's innovation landscape.

State GDP

$77B

Median Income

$71,810

Unemployment

2.2%

Bachelor's+

33.3%

Per Capita Income

$73,959

Fed. Spending

$3.4B

NIH Grants

73

NSF Awards

43

SBIR/STTR

256

~$74M awarded

Biz Formation

316/mo

STEM Workers

5.7%

27,104 employed

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

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Patent Activity by Year

215
2016
229
2017
202
2018
241
2019
218
2020
207
2021
178
2022
188
2023
206
2024
166
2025

Top Patent Holders

RankOrganizationPatents
1POET Research, Inc. 99
2PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL, INC. 97
3SOUTH DAKOTA BOARD OF REGENTS 76
4Monsanto Technology LLC 70
5Raven Industries, inc. 57
6Sanford Health 54
7Amesbury Group, Inc. 48
8Bedford Industries, Inc. 37
9Asfora IP, LLC 31
10Daktronics, Inc. 31

Technology Categories

CategoryPatents
biotech & life sciences 678
mechanical & manufacturing 318
software & computing 245
chemistry & materials 180
mechanical engineering 150
construction 149
electronics & semiconductors 147
textiles 4

Universities in South Dakota

Dakota State University

Madison 1 patents

South Dakota School Of Mines And Technology

Rapid City 1 patents

South Dakota State University

Brookings 4 patents

University Of South Dakota

Vermillion 3 patents