The top patent earner in New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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.

DEKA Products LP was the top patent-earner in New Hampshire last year. It was issued 79 patents from the USPTO within the state, comprising 25.0% of all patents considered for the statewide analysis. DEKA works in robotics and device manufacturing for those with disabilities and other health conditions as well as products like Segway and the Coca-Cola Freestyle drink machines. In 2022 it earned patents for object tracking via RFID systems as well as technology for dispensing products from a machine.

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 New Hampshire last year.

#10. Hypertherm, Inc.
- Patents issued: 10

#9. Bottomline Technlogies, Inc.
- Patents issued: 11

#7. Trustees of Dartmouth College (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#7. Centripetal Networks, LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#6. Soclean, Inc.
- Patents issued: 13

#5. Cole Haan LLC
- Patents issued: 22

#4. Parallel Wireless, Inc.
- Patents issued: 50

#3. Allegro Microsystems, LLC
- Patents issued: 51

#2. Bae Systems
- Patents issued: 56

#1. Deka Products L.P.
- Patents issued: 79