10 most inventive states

Vermont, California and Idaho were among the 10 states with the most patent activity in 2011, according to the State Entrepreneurship Index by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Here's what's triggering the innovation.

.  Massachusetts

gallery most inventive states massachusetts
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The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center is a collaborative project of five universities and government and private industry. It opens next month.
  • Patents per thousand residents: 3.43

University-based research at MIT, Harvard and other schools drives a large volume of patents in Massachusetts.

"We're also seeing an explosion of independent startups, many formed by graduates from these schools," said Greg Bialecki, the state's secretary of housing and economic development. Early in that trend was iRobot Corporation (IRBT); it made the Roomba vacuum cleaning robot, which was established in 1990 by MIT scientists.

More recently, biopharmaceutical company AesRx received an Accelerator loan for $660,000 for its experimental drug to treat Sickle Cell disease. And Harvest Automation is developing a category of robots designed for agricultural work.

Source: Patents per thousands residents, based on U.S. Patent and Trademark Office data as published in the 2012 State Entrepreneurship Index from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
  @CNNMoney - Last updated October 26 2012 02:37 PM ET

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