# PatentWorld > Interactive exploration of 9.36 million US patents (1976-2025) from USPTO PatentsView ## Overview PatentWorld is a data exploration platform presenting 50 years of United States patent activity through interactive visualizations. Created by Saerom (Ronnie) Lee, Assistant Professor of Management at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. - Data source: USPTO PatentsView bulk data download, accessed February 2026 - Temporal coverage: January 1976 - September 2025 - Patent types: utility, design, plant, and reissue - Total patents: 9.36 million - Chapters: 34 - Visualizations: 449 ## Pages - https://patentworld.vercel.app/ : Homepage with site overview, hero statistics, and chapter navigation - https://patentworld.vercel.app/methodology/ : Methodology, measurement definitions, derived metrics, data limitations - https://patentworld.vercel.app/about/ : About the project, author, suggested citation - https://patentworld.vercel.app/explore/ : Interactive search of patents by assignee, inventor, CPC class, and WIPO field ## Chapters ### Act 1: The System - How the patent landscape took shape - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/system-patent-count/ : Annual patent volume and grant pendency; grants grew from approximately 70K in 1976 to 374K - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/system-patent-quality/ : Claims, scope, citations, originality, and knowledge flow indicators - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/system-patent-fields/ : Technology classes, field-level dynamics; CPC sections G and H rose from 27% to 57% - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/system-convergence/ : Cross-domain technology convergence; multi-section patents rose from approximately 21% to 40% - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/system-language/ : Semantic analysis of 8.45 million patent abstracts via NLP topic modeling - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/system-patent-law/ : 21 landmark legislative and judicial events from 1980 to 2025 - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/system-public-investment/ : Government funding and the Bayh-Dole Act; NIH leads with 55,587 patents ### Act 2: The Organizations - Firms and institutions driving innovation - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/org-composition/ : Corporate, foreign, and country-level composition of patent assignees - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/org-patent-count/ : Patent output rankings; IBM leads with 161,888 cumulative grants - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/org-patent-quality/ : Citation impact and blockbuster patents; Amazon leads at 6.7% blockbuster rate - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/org-patent-portfolio/ : Portfolio diversification, competitive proximity, and strategic pivots - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/org-company-profiles/ : Interactive profiles for individual companies with five analytical views ### Act 3: The Inventors - Who invents and how they differ - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/inv-top-inventors/ : Top 5% of inventors (by cumulative output) account for 63.2% of annual patent grants in 2024; most prolific holds 6,709 patents - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/inv-generalist-specialist/ : Specialist inventors rose from 20% to 48% of the workforce - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/inv-serial-new/ : Career patterns and survival; only 37-51% survive past five years - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/inv-gender/ : Female inventor share rose from 2.8% to 14.9% (1976-2025) - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/inv-team-size/ : Average team size grew from 1.7 to 3.2 inventors ### Act 4: The Geography - Where innovation happens - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/geo-domestic/ : State and city-level concentration; California holds 23.6% of all US patents - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/geo-international/ : Cross-border patterns; Japan leads foreign filings with 1.45M patents ### Act 5: The Mechanics - How knowledge flows through organizations, inventors, and places - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/mech-organizations/ : Exploration vs. exploitation and inter-firm citation flows - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/mech-inventors/ : Co-invention networks and inventor mobility among top 50 firms - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/mech-geography/ : International co-invention rose from 1.0% to 10.0% (1976-2025) ### Act 6: Deep Dives - Established and emerging technology domains - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/deep-dive-overview/ : Cross-domain comparison of 12 technology domains with shared metrics, volume benchmarks, quality indicators, and spillover analysis - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/3d-printing/ : Additive manufacturing; top-four concentration fell from 36% to 11% by 2024 - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/agricultural-technology/ : Precision agriculture, plant breeding, and farm technology patents - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/ai-patents/ : AI patents grew 5.7-fold from 2012 to 2023, reaching 9.4% of all utility grants - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/autonomous-vehicles/ : Driving systems, navigation, and scene understanding patents - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/biotechnology/ : Gene editing, CRISPR, enzyme engineering, and nucleic acid detection - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/blockchain/ : Distributed ledger patents; grants peaked in 2022 then reversed - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/cybersecurity/ : Cryptography, authentication, and network security patents - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/digital-health/ : Patient monitoring, surgical robotics, and health informatics - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/green-innovation/ : Climate technology; green patents rose to 9-10% of all utility patents - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/quantum-computing/ : Quantum algorithms, hardware, and error correction patents - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/semiconductors/ : IC design, packaging, manufacturing; rising concentration trend - https://patentworld.vercel.app/chapters/space-technology/ : Spacecraft, propulsion, and satellite communications patents ## Data - Source: USPTO PatentsView (patentsview.org), bulk data download accessed February 2026 - Coverage: 9.36 million granted US patents (utility, design, plant, reissue) - Time period: January 1976 - September 2025 - Classifications: Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), WIPO technology fields - Variables: Patent grants, technology classifications, inventor demographics, geographic distribution, citation networks, patent quality indicators, team sizes, organizational data, government interest ## Methodology Raw data downloaded as TSV files from PatentsView bulk data downloads, processed using DuckDB analytical SQL database (Python). Key processing: joining patent records with inventor/assignee/location/classification data, aggregating by year/technology/geography/organization, computing derived metrics (citation counts, team sizes, concentration ratios, diversity indices). ## Technology Built with Next.js 14, Recharts, D3.js, Tailwind CSS. All data pre-computed and served as static JSON. Static site export with dark/light theme support.