By now, it is widely known that Puerto Rico has been facing an economic recession since 2006, before the US Great Recession began in 2008. Taking these conditions into account, we wanted to determine whether this influenced or affected the US territory’s technological output, by taking a look at patent applications per year, with at least one inventor in Puerto Rico. There are several scholarly articles outlining research focused on the relation between patents and economic activity, and this case can provide an interesting scenario to study.

Using the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s Patent Application Full Text & Image Database, we searched for applications filed every year since 2001 (the earliest year for which there is complete data) to 2015, and with an inventor in Puerto Rico. Applications were our selected metric because they provide a clearer picture of innovative activity rather than granted patents, which are subject to other conditions. In addition, we chose to focus on inventors in Puerto Rico instead of applicants, since we realized inventors may not always use local firms to file their applications, and some work in interstate teams, which can affect the location listed in the application.

Having gathered the data, we noticed a trend that shows a clear reduction over time, albeit with variations that seem to coincide with economic conditions.