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NORTH COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL x SPRING 2016 x sdnedc.org l IN THE NEWS N orth San Diego County is usually known for its beaches and parks, among other things, but a recent increase in patent applications has brought a lot of attention to innovation. According to a BW Research Partnership Inc. report, San Diego County's 4,805 approved utility patents ranked second among counties in the United States in 2013, behind Santa Clara County (the heart of Sili- con Valley). According to the same report, in 2014, North County repre- sented more than 38 percent of patents by inventor origin countywide and 20 percent of patents by company origin. The report also says that North County's production level for approved patents outweighs its county share of population (37 percent) and jobs (31 percent). "San Diego County's industry clusters have gotten stronger, whether you're looking at ICT (information, communications and technologies), life sciences, cyber, aerospace … all of those key innovative industries have been generating a lot more patents," said Josh Williams, president of BW Research. "Part of it is that they're growing, there's more research and more commercialization of that re- search." The report also shows that there are many more inventor patents filed compared to com- pany patents – 3,487 versus 1,031 in 2014. Of those by inventor ori- gin, Carlsbad led the pack with 846 patents, followed by Encini- tas with 481. According to the City of Carlsbad, Carlsbad ICT companies alone were issued more than 550 patents be- tween 2008 and 2014. Williams and Ryan Young, research man- ager at BW Research, both pointed out that in regard to the high ratio of inventor patents, many inventors living in North County commute to Sor- rento Valley, which isn't quite considered North County but definitely is a major innovation center. Young said North County's highly educated residents contribute to this – 38 percent of residents age 25 or older possess at least a bachelor's degree, and if you just look at North County's central coast, that percentage jumps to 63 per- cent. "We don't have as many of those businesses, but we tend to have a lot of the inventors who live here," Williams said. Young pointed out other busi- nesses in North County that are patent producers, including biotechnology, sports and active lifestyle (think golf club designs from Callaway and TaylorMade) and cleantech (such as renewable energy products and clean en- ergy generation). The City of Carlsbad reported that half the action sports jobs in the county are located in Carlsbad, and be- tween 2008 and 2014, 945 patents were issued to Carlsbad compa- nies in that industry. Both TaylorMade Golf and Callaway Golf have patents on golf accessories, balls and a vari- ety of clubs. Similarly, Spy Op- tics, a sunglasses company based in Carlsbad, has patents for parts for goggles and a variety of sun- glasses. Dozens of other action sports companies in the area – with products benefitting the surf, skateboarding and exercise industries – are helping put North County on the map re- garding innovation. Carlsbad Technology, Inc., the only company of its kind in the area, is another local patent pro- ducer, receiving a handful for its pharmaceuticals. INSPIRING INNOVATION n INVENTORS, BUSINESSES DRIVING RECORD NUMBER OF PATENT FILINGS BY LindseY BaLL