Photo courtesty of Flickr user Outsanity Photos
A long overdue but very important piece of good California economic news was announced this week when San Jose was chosen as the new location of a Regional U.S. Patent Office.
The announcement, which was made possible in great part because of the leadership of Carl Guardino and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, will enable a much needed uptick in` response time to the innovators of California. The support garnered by Guardino and SVLG’s effort is a fantastic example of how a statewide effort can support regionally led initiatives.
To underscore how important this announcement is, a top priority of the California Economic Summit Action Plan is to encourage innovation to thrive in this state. That Action Plan was just announced yesterday, on the same day that the Patent Office was announced by the U.S. Commerce Department. This is the type of irony we can get behind.
California is often described as the home of innovation and the numbers bear that out. As a state, we are first in the nation in patent applications, submitting 30,080 of the total 121,179 that were submitted in 2010. We’re also first in how many of those submissions are granted approvals.
In addition to San Jose, there will be regional patent offices also opened in Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Detroit.
“Intellectual property protection and innovation are engines of economic growth and the bedrock of America’s private sector,” acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said in the press release.
“The Obama administration is committed to making certain our businesses and entrepreneurs have the resources they need to grow, create jobs and compete globally. These new offices are an historic step toward further advancing our world’s best IP system, and reinforcing the United States as the number one destination for innovation capital, and research and development around the world.”
The Commerce Department representatives will be in the Bay Area next week to announce more details about when the office will actually be open for business.
We congratulate Carl Guardino and his team for achieving this goal. It’s another step forward for California’s economy.
