Scope

Cities can measure success in many ways, one being economic output. Cities grow and shrink based on their output, whether it is measured through the number of jobs, employers, GDP, innovation, and so on.

It becomes difficult for newer or smaller cities to increase their own output comparable to that of larger cities. For instance startups like to form in regions where they have the best chance for success, such as incubators in Silicon Valley. But what got Silicon Valley to where it is today? And can other cities replicate their success? The goal of this paper to identify how cities can invest in their economic future. This is accomplished by developing an innovation score. This will provide an understanding of the urban structure that facilitates the growth of innovation in the form of patent production.

Problem Statement:

How does a city become an “innovation hub”?

Using patent data as a way to measure innovation, our goal is to investigate the factors which contribute to this growth as a hub within a city.

With the wealth of patent, demographic, geographic and business data available to us, our logistic regression models will identify the key features that determine a future of economic and innovative success of metropolitan statistical areas within the United States.

Developing a model to determine and predict future inflection points will give an insight into the future innovative landscape for cities and investors. We will create an interactive application that will allow users to see more in depth visual analysis of the innovative landscape over time. The dimensions of innovation we will explore include the city's dynamic regulatory environment, socioeconomic structure and spatial density.