RHODE ISLAND INVENTION INDEX – MARCH 2025

The Invention Index measures a country’s or state’s innovation output by comparing GDP growth with patent production growth. 

Rhode Island Invention Index March 2025: 1.43% (B- grade)

Rhode Island Invention Index over the last year:

RI Invention INDEX (3)

Anything over C grade is positive sentiment; anything under C is negative outlook/sentiment. Using that sentiment, it is possible to observe trends over time, and also compare states/countries. In doing so we can predict which states have the best chance to recover economically from the pandemic (or any other economic incident that may occur).

Rhode Island Invention Index Scores (Sept 2024 – Mar 2025)

Month Invention Index Score
September 2024 1.84%
October 2024 2.10%
November 2024 1.51%
December 2024 1.51%
January 2025 1.68%
February 2025 2.10%
March 2025 1.43%

Analysis of Rhode Island’s Invention Index (Sept 2024 – Mar 2025)

Comparison with Previous Months:
The Invention Index score for March 2025 (1.43%) marks a notable decline from February’s 2.10%, a drop of 0.67 percentage points. This decrease follows a peak in February and breaks a two-month upward trend from December (1.51%) through January (1.68%) to February (2.10%). The March score is the lowest in the six-month period.

Long-Term Trends:
Across the seven months, the Index exhibits fluctuations rather than a consistent upward or downward trend. While the score peaked twice at 2.10% (October and February), other months ranged between 1.43% and 1.84%, suggesting a pattern of intermittent growth rather than steady progression or decline.

Significant Changes:
Two sharp changes stand out: an increase from September (1.84%) to October (2.10%) and a drop from February (2.10%) to March (1.43%). Both shifts exceed 0.25 percentage points, indicating significant volatility. These months represent inflection points within the broader dataset.

Contextualizing the Data:
The March 2025 score, the lowest of the period, diverges from the short-term upward trajectory seen in the three preceding months. Given this drop follows the second peak (February), it may suggest a regression after a temporary spike rather than the start of a sustained downturn. However, without additional context or data, this remains an observed fluctuation within a broader pattern of variability.

Discussion:

In March, the Rhode Island Invention Index scored a positive sentiment which was lower than the previous year’s average and underperformed the downward trend for the year. This is similar to the prior 12 months, which experienced a slight downward trend. As the world continues to recover from the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is unclear if there is any backlog of applications awaiting approval or if the department has fully caught up. If approvals are not yet caught up, we may see a decrease in approvals – and a reduced Invention Index – in the coming months/years as the state feels the full economic impact of companies closing and/or being forced to minimize their staffing and therefore minimize their R&D work hours.

Learn more about the Invention Index here.

Are you thinking of patenting any of your bright ideas? Did you know your research work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

 

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