Ocean Tomo, which is in the business of valuing patents, was asked by Business Week to cross reference their patent valuation database with the addresses of the first-listed patent holders to determine "the world's most inventive cities." Here are the results:

(1) San Francisco/Silicon Valley
(2) Tokyo
(3) Boston
(4) Los Angeles
(5) San Diego
(6) Minneapolis/St. Paul
(7) Boise
(8) Seattle
(9) Portland
(10) Houston
(11) New York
(12) Osaka (JP)
(13) Washington DC
(14) Philadelphia
(15) Hokkaido (JP)
(16) Kyushu (JP)
(17) Chicago
(18) Dallas/Ft. Worth
(19) Denver/Boulder
(20) Kita Kanto (JP)
(21) Austin
(22) Seoul (KR)
(23) Nagoya (JP
(24) New Haven
(25) Hokuriku (JP)