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REGIONAL INNOVATION PROPENSITY IN PORTUGAL: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON PATENT DATA. This paper analyses the regional distribution of patents in Portugal in the period 1980-2008 using information that was recently made available. Lisbon leads the national ranking by far. However, towards the end of the period under analysis, a few regions around Oporto have increased their share in the total number of patents. This has taken place alongside an increase in the total number of patent applications from 2000 onwards, after two decades in which that number remained basically stagnant in Portugal. The main protagonists of this recent increase have been universities and other academic institutions. The paper concludes by stressing that the lack of growth in patent applications by the business sector is a cause for concern, given the gap that still separates Portugal from the countries that top the international patent rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]