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Abstract
Urban distinctiveness occurs in both technological and geographic space. This article explores spatial associations in the locational distribution of subcategories of patents across U.S. metropolitan areas. I converted patent counts to location quotients and used nonspatial methods to compare concentration levels of patents (Gini coefficients) and to identify groups of patents that tend to colocate (principal components analysis). The results show considerable variation in concentration levels and that nine groupings, entitled “technology components,” account for almost 68 percent of the variance in the distribution of the subcategories. Spatial analysis permits the exploration of spatial dependencies in each “technology component.” The results identify distinctive inventive regions that are termed inventive megaregions.