Opinions and Editorials


Nov. 19, 2024

The Minnesota Star Tribune: Innovation drives Minnesota’s economy. Congress should lend a hand. by Gary Locke

Modern Minnesota was built on innovation, from refrigerated trucks and Post-it notes to Spam — the tasty kind, not the kind threatening to clog your email. For your inbox problem, you’ll want to check out the tech from Securence, a leading spam-filtering and cybersecurity company based in Minnetonka.

When it comes to discoveries and inventions, Minnesota ranks among the Top 10 American states — with more than six patents for every 10,000 residents. It is also home to 17 Fortune 500 companies, the fourth most in the nation by population.

At the heart of the incentive to innovate is intellectual property protections. Patent rights ensure that inventors reap the rewards of their discoveries — the result of untold hours of toiling away, setbacks and money. Yet because of court rulings and policies coming out of Washington, the innovation ecosystem that has contributed so much to the prosperity of this great state is now in danger. Congress needs to step in now to end this threat.

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