The top patent earner in Iowa 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 Iowa 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.

Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. was the top patent-earner in Iowa last year. It was issued 174 patents from the USPTO within the state, comprising 34.2% of all patents considered for the statewide analysis. Pioneer is a DuPont-affiliated, U.S.-based producer of genetically modified organisms used in agriculture. In 2022 the firm earned patents for novel insecticides, methods for identifying and creating rot-resistant crops, and novel breeds of corn crops.

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 Iowa last year.

#7. Vermeer Manufacturing Co.
- Patents issued: 10

#6. University of Iowa Research Foundation
- Patents issued: 17

#5. Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.
- Patents issued: 19

#4. Fisher Controls International LLC
- Patents issued: 34

#3. M.S. Technologies LLC
- Patents issued: 117

#2. Rockwell Collins
- Patents issued: 138

#1. Pioneer Hi Bred International, Inc.
- Patents issued: 174