The top patent earner in Illinois last year

Tech and engineering firms were the most inventive patent winners across the U.S. last year—a year marked by growing tension with foreign nations racing to bring world-changing tech like artificial intelligence and space satellites to market.

Nearly 160,000 patents were assigned across the U.S. in 2022, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. When a patent is awarded through the USPTO, the individual or company that it's given to has the license to a temporary monopoly on business for that specific product or service. Companies have used patent law for decades to defend their intellectual property—including designs and devices against competitors that might attempt to profit off of stolen ideas.

ClickUp used data from the Patent and Trademark Office to find the top patent earner in Illinois based on the number of patents assigned in USPTO's fiscal year 2022, which ran from Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022. This analysis was part of a broader national report on the top patent earner in every state. The data looks at the assignees for both regular utility and design patents and was limited to assignees that received at least 10 patents within the year.

The Boeing Co. was the top patent-earner in Illinois last year. It was issued 544 patents from the USPTO within the state, comprising 19.4% of all patents considered for the statewide analysis. Aerospace manufacturer Boeing obtained patents in 2022 for radar imaging system capabilities and improvements for aircraft parts like a noise-reducing landing gear technology.

Nationally, the vast majority of top patent earners last year were private organizations. Private spending on research and development by U.S. companies has skyrocketed since the economic downturn of the late 2000s. In 2020, it was estimated to total $531 billion, according to the latest available data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. But nine colleges and universities rose to the top in their respective states for patent filing, as well.

Read on to see who else scooped up the rights to the most cutting-edge tech in Illinois last year.

#45. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. (tie)
- Patents issued: 10

#45. Suncoke Technology and Development LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 10

#45. Acco Brands Corp. (tie)
- Patents issued: 10

#45. AbbVie Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 10

#41. Tempus Labs, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 11

#41. Sage Products, LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 11

#41. Kraft Foods (tie)
- Patents issued: 11

#41. Appleton Group LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 11

#35. United States Gypsum Co. (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#35. Sram, LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#35. Signode Industrial Group LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#35. Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#35. Precision Planting LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#35. Fenwal, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#32. Vyaire Medical, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 13

#32. The Chamberlain Group, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 13

#32. Panduit Corp. (tie)
- Patents issued: 13

#28. Trading Technologies International, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 14

#28. O2Cool, LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 14

#28. Klein Tools, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 14

#28. ISCO International, LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 14

#27. Littelfuse, Inc.
- Patents issued: 19

#26. Weber-Stephen Products LLC
- Patents issued: 21

#25. The University of Chicago
- Patents issued: 24

#24. Baxter International, Inc.
- Patents issued: 27

#23. Hollister, Inc.
- Patents issued: 28

#22. UOP LLC
- Patents issued: 30

#21. Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Inc.
- Patents issued: 33

#19. Medline Industries (tie)
- Patents issued: 34

#19. Knowles Electronics, LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 34

#18. Nucurrent, Inc.
- Patents issued: 41

#17. Abbott Laboratories
- Patents issued: 42

#16. Ball Horticultural Co.
- Patents issued: 48

#15. UChicago Argonne, LLC
- Patents issued: 53

#14. Allstate Insurance Co.
- Patents issued: 57

#13. The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
- Patents issued: 62

#12. Brunswick Corp.
- Patents issued: 67

#11. Northwestern University
- Patents issued: 80

#10. Molex, LLC
- Patents issued: 87

#9. Groupon, Inc.
- Patents issued: 100

#8. Motorola Mobility LLC
- Patents issued: 107

#7. Zebra Technologies Corp.
- Patents issued: 114

#6. Motorola Solutions, Inc.
- Patents issued: 117

#5. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
- Patents issued: 125

#4. Caterpillar, Inc.
- Patents issued: 192

#3. Illinois Tool Works, Inc.
- Patents issued: 217

#2. Deere & Co.
- Patents issued: 255

#1. The Boeing Co.
- Patents issued: 544