Universities play a pivotal role in driving innovation and societal progress. This latest report from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) at Clarivate is the second in a series to highlight our ongoing developments to create a responsible framework for evaluating the societal impact of research.
The top 50 universities powering global innovation: The flow of university research to patented inventions sheds light on the significant contributions of universities to the world of patented inventions and identifies those whose research has had the most profound impact on the Top 100 Global Innovators, 2024. The report names universities distributed across eleven countries or regions – from Canada to South Korea.
U.S. universities dominate the list, highlighting their significant role in global innovation. Harvard University, with the highest number of citations from patents, ranks first in this study, reflecting its extensive research output. Its neighbour, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Stanford University also rank highly showcasing the impact and quality of their research. MIT’s smaller yet highly impactful publications highlight its exceptional ability to translate research into groundbreaking innovations. Regional hubs in Northern America, Eastern Asia, and Europe show strong intra-regional research collaborations. Our report also highlights the strong connections that exist between the top 50 universities and top global innovators like Roche, Johnson & Johnson and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
A joint methodology
The study draws on a host of Clarivate data – from the Web of Science to Derwent World Patents Index, and Derwent Patents Citation Index. It focuses on identifying the universities whose research is most frequently cited by patents from the Top 100 Global Innovators 2024. We focus exclusively on academic institutions, excluding other types of organizations such as national academies and research institutes. The analysis considers citations from patents granted between 2018 and 2022, covering over 61 million inventions to all academic research indexed in Web of Science. Citations from patent families (collections of patents for the same invention) were counted to identify the top 50 universities contributing to global innovation.
Here, we provide a snapshot of the top 10. Many notable global universities feature, including the University of California, Berkeley, Université Paris Cité and the University of Cambridge. All 50 universities identified have consistently demonstrated their ability to translate academic research into patented inventions, making significant strides in their various fields of research.
The top 10/50 universities influencing patented inventions
| Rank | University | Country | Citations | Unique Citing Inventions |
| 1 | Harvard University | U.S. | 8,315 | 3,291 |
| 2 | Stanford University | U.S. | 4,727 | 3,089 |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | U.S. | 4,693 | 3,218 |
| 4 | University of California, Berkeley | U.S. | 3,176 | 2,413 |
| 5 | Université Paris Cité | France | 2,908 | 1,532 |
| 6 | University of Cambridge | U.K. | 2,760 | 1,641 |
| 7 | University of Washington, Seattle | U.S. | 2,641 | 1,687 |
| 8 | University of California, San Diego | U.S. | 2,559 | 1,812 |
| 9 | University of Michigan | U.S. | 2,526 | 1,897 |
| 10 | University of Toronto | Canada | 2,476 | 1,722 |
Innovator-university relationships
The study highlights the strong connections between universities and top innovators – highlighting the top 20 innovator – university citation relationships. For example, Roche frequently cites research from the University of Cambridge, while Johnson & Johnson relies heavily on Duke University’s findings. These relationships underscore the importance of academic research in driving technological advancements and innovation.
The flow of knowledge from university to industry
The analysis also maps the geographic flow of academic research to industry, showing regional hubs and cross-border collaborations. This is shown in a network diagram below, highlighting the most prominent flows between UN subregions where the research was carried out (to the left of the red dashed lines) to where the headquarters of the companies that cite this research are based (to the right of the red dashed lines). Northern America, particularly the United States, is the largest source of research cited by inventions. However regional hubs in Eastern Asia and Europe also exhibit strong intra-regional ties, with countries like China, Japan, and the United Kingdom playing key roles. The report provides further detail at the country level.
Conclusion
The analysis underscores the critical role of universities in fuelling global innovation. By fostering collaborations between academia and industry, universities contribute to technological advancements and help address societal challenges. The exchange of knowledge across regions highlights the interconnected nature of innovation and its potential to create a positive impact worldwide.
This study is part of ISI’s ongoing efforts to develop a responsible framework for evaluating the societal impact of research. The framework will be included in our forthcoming new Web of Science Research Intelligence platform, which will further enable institutions to showcase their contributions to global innovation.
Read the full report for a more detailed analysis and the full list of top 50 universities.
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