NerdWallet picks two Front Range cities as ‘America’s Most Innovative’

Two Colorado ‘burgs landed in the top 10 on NerdWallet.com’s list of America’s Most Innovative Cities, “NerdWallet’s guide for understanding where the impact of tech funding, innovation and startup activity is the strongest.”

Boulder ranked No. 2 behind San Jose, the epicenter of Silicon Valley in California’s Bay Area. Fort Collins placed a respectable No. 6.

The West dominated with only two East Coast places made the top 10 list — Burlington, Vt., and Boston. And every area in the top 10 is located near a major university, “suggesting that higher education and innovation are closely linked.

Here are the criteria NerdWallet used to determine the top 10 cities:

1. Number of patents per 1,000 residents. NerdWallet looked at the number of patents granted in the technology class by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in each metro area from 2009 to 2013 to find the areas with the most inventive residents.
2. Financial support for innovation. NerdWallet examined the amount of venture capital funding an area received per capita in 2014 to understand if entrepreneurs have access to the capital they need.
3. Economies of agglomeration. Agglomeration — nearness of location — is used to describe the benefits when companies, like startups, cluster together. The higher the density of startups, the more innovators can benefit from common labor pools and idea sharing.

For the entire list, go to www.nerdwallet.com/blog/cities/americas-most-innovative-tech-hubs/.