●●

InstituteforscientiC

Information

sl

Thetop50universities

poweringglobalinnovation

Theflowofuniversityresearchtopatentedinventions

January2025

GordonRogers

Authorbiography

GordonRogersisaSeniorManager,DataScience

attheInstituteforScientificInformation.Hehasworkedinthefieldsofbibliometrics,dataanalysisandsoftware

engineeringformorethan

25yearsatClarivateand

itsformerparentcompany.

Asaformermemberofour

Consultancyteam,hehas

supportedclientsaround

theworldinevaluatingtheir

researchportfolioandstrategy.ORCiD:0000-0002-9971-2731.WebofScienceResearcherID:ABA-6554-2020.

Acknowledgements:DrDmytroFilchenko,LisaHulme.

Foundationalpast,visionaryfuture

AbouttheInstituteforScientificInformation

TheInstituteforScientific

InformationatClarivatehas

pioneeredtheorganization

oftheworld'sresearch

informationformorethan

halfacentury.Todayitremainscommittedtopromoting

integrityinresearchwhile

improvingtheretrieval,

interpretationandutility

ofscientificinformation.

Itmaintainstheknowledge

corpusuponwhichtheWebofScienceindexandrelatedinformationandanalytical

contentandservicesarebuilt.

Itdisseminatesthatknowledgeexternallythroughevents,

conferencesandpublicationswhileconductingprimary

researchtosustain,extendandimprovetheknowledgebase.

Formoreinformation,pleasevisit

/isi

AboutISIInsightsThispaperanalyzeshow

academicresearchinfluences

innovationbyexaminingpatent

citationswiththeidentification

ofthetop50universitieswhose

papersweremostcitedby

patentedinventionsonthe

ClarivatelistofTop100Global

Innovators2024.

ISIInsightsisaseriesofanalyses

fromtheInstituteforScientific

Information.Eachpaperoffers

aconciseandinformativeanalysis

oftopicalresearchtrends,using

best-in-classcitationdataand

analyticsfromClarivate.

2

Contents

1

Introduction

2

Methodology

3

Top50universities

4

Distributionof

top50universities

5

Innovator-universityrelationships

6

Flowofknowledge

fromuniversity-industry

7

Keyobservations

3

Introduction

Globaluniversitiesshareacommoncommitmenttoadvancingeducation,researchandserviceforthebettermentofsociety.

TheUniversityofCaliforniaexplicitlystatesthatitsmissionis,"Toservesocietyasa

centerofhigherlearning,providinglong-termsocietalbenefitsthroughtransmittingadvancedknowledge,discoveringnewknowledge,andfunctioningasanactive

workingrepositoryoforganizedknowledge."TsinghuaUniversityarticulatesits

missionasbeing,"Committedtotheadvancementandwell-beingofthenationandtheworldthroughteaching,researchandinnovation."Similarly,theUniversityof

Cambridgedefinesitspurposeas,“Tocontributetosocietythroughthepursuitof

education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence,”allofwhichencapsulatethefundamentalroleofanyuniversity.

However,theprimaryoutputofuniversityresearch-anacademicpaper-oftendoesnotdirectlytranslateintobroadersocietalimpact.Toaddressthisgap,theInstitute

forScientificInformation(ISI)recently

publishedaframeworkmethodology

for

assessingthesocietalimpactofresearch.Giventhebroadnatureofsocietalimpact,theframeworkencompasseseightfacets-rangingfromLegal&Governance,

throughMedicaltoEnvironmental-andemploysavarietyofleadingandlagging

indicators.Laggingindicatorsgiveanindicationoftheperformanceofpastoutputs

andprovideatangibledemonstrationofwherethoseoutputsarealreadymakinganimpact.Leadingindicatorsfocusonsignalsfrommorerecentwork,toseewhereanyfutureimpactmaylie.Thisanalysisfocusesonaspecificlaggingindicator:citationstoacademicpapersfromgrantedpatents.

For13years,ClarivatehaspublishedtheTop100GlobalInnovatorslist,acompilationoforganizationsattheforefrontofglobaltechnologyandinnovation.Thelistis

developedbytheClarivate

CenterforIPandInnovationResearch

andisderivedfrompatentdataavailableintheDerwentWorldPatentsIndex(DWPI)andDerwentPatentsCitationIndex.The2024listdistilsinsightsfrom

61millioninventionscreatedbymorethan1.1millioninnovatorsandorganizations,spotlightingthetop0.01%innovators.

Innovationrarelyoccursinisolation;manygroundbreakinginventionsdrawheavilyonthefoundationalworkofacademics,whosefindingsaredisseminatedthroughjournalpublications.

“Thisanalysisidentifiesthe50universities namedontheacademicpaperswhichreceivedthehighestnumberofcitationsfromthepatentsgrantedtothe

companiesandorganizationsidentifiedintheClarivate2024Top100Global

Innovatorslist.”

4

Methodology

Thistop50universitiesanalysisbuildsupontheresultsoftheTop100Global

InnovatorsfromClarivate,whichidentifiesleadingorganizationsdrivinginnovation

worldwide.Inthisstudy,weconcentrateourattentiononindividualuniversities,to

highlightthesignificantcontributionsofdiscreteacademicresearchinstitutionstotheglobalinnovationlandscape.

Thisstudyfocusesonacademic(highereducation)institutionsonly,referredtoas

“universities”forsimplicity.Otherorganizationtypes,suchasuniversitysystems(e.g.UniversityofLondon),nationalacademies(e.g.ChineseAcademyofSciences)or

researchinstitutes(e.g.CentreNationaldelaRechercheScientifique-CNRS)are

deliberatelyexcludedfromthescopeofthisanalysis.However,giventhesignificantcontributionofsomeofthemtoknowledgetransfer,theymaybecomepartof

separate,furtherstudies.

EachoftheinnovatorsfeaturedintheTop100GlobalInnovatorshasfiledmorethan500inventionssince2000andhasbeengrantedpatentsformorethan100uniqueinventionsovertheperiodfrom2018to2022.Thesepatentsbuildonearlierwork,

eitherpublishedinotherpatentsorinacademicpapers.Suchcitationsmayhavebeenaddedbytheinventororbythepatentexamineraspartofthepatent

applicationreviewprocess.Alldistinctcitationsfromanyofthesepatentstoany

academicworkindexedinWebofScienceCoreCollection-datingbackto1900-wereconsidered,regardlessofdocumenttype(articles,reviews,conference

proceedingsetc.).

Acompanymightfilepatentsforthesameinventioninmultiplejurisdictions.Such

collectionsofgrantedpatentsarecalledpatentfamilies,meaningthateachinventionisassociatedwithasinglepatentfamily.Therefore,eachpatentfamily,andits

citationstoacademicmaterial,isonlycountedoncepercitedpaper,regardlessof

howmanypatentsareinvolved.However,ifmultiplepatentfamiliescitethesame

paper,eachsuchcitationiscountedseparately.Forthesakeofsimplicity,hereinafter,patentfamiliesarereferredtoasinventions.

Thetotalnumberofcitationsfrominventionstopaperswerecountedforeach

university,andthetop50wereidentifiedandranked.Bydesign,thetotalnumberofcitationsisasize-dependentmetric,thereforebiggerinstitutionshavemorechancestoberankedhigherinthisanalysis.Size-normalizedmetricsofsocietalimpactareinthescopeofourfurtherstudies.

5

Top50universities

Table1:Top50universitiesinfluencingpatented

inventionsintheTop100GlobalInnovators2024list

Organization

Country/region

Citations

No.of

unique

citing

inventions

No.of

uniquecited

papers

1.HarvardUniversity

U.S.

8,315

3,291

3,720

2.StanfordUniversity

U.S.

4,727

3,089

2,163

3.MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology(MIT)

U.S.

4,693

3,218

2,284

4.UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley

U.S.

3,176

2,413

1,519

5.UniversitéParisCite

France

2,908

1,532

1,848

6.UniversityofCambridge

U.K.

2,760

1,641

915

7.UniversityofWashington,Seattle

U.S.

2,641

1,687

1,076

8.UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego

U.S.

2,559

1,812

1,240

9.UniversityofMichigan

U.S.

2,526

1,897

1,338

10.UniversityofToronto

Canada

2,476

1,722

1,352

11.JohnsHopkinsUniversity

U.S.

2,452

1,501

1,238

12.UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles

U.S.

2,293

1,602

1,222

13.UniversityCollegeLondon

U.K.

2,240

1,518

973

14.UniversityofOxford

U.K.

2,237

1,439

1,117

15.CornellUniversity

U.S.

2,111

1,432

1,025

16.UniversityofPennsylvania

U.S.

2,089

1,284

1,133

17.UniversitéParisSaclay

France

2,039

1,407

1,356

18.ColumbiaUniversity

U.S.

1,949

1,257

903

19.UniversityofCalifornia,SanFrancisco

U.S.

1,929

1,144

968

20.ImperialCollegeLondon

U.K.

1,907

1,411

1,011

21.ETHZurich

Switzerland

1,879

1,528

1,015

22.UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara

U.S.

1,843

734

441

23.DukeUniversity

U.S.

1,654

929

758

6

24.TechnicalUniversityofMunich

Germany

1,594

1,342

805

25.UniversityofTokyo

Japan

1,571

1,172

945

26.UniversityofIllinoisUrbana-Champaign

U.S.

1,563

1,294

774

27.SorbonneUniversité

France

1,524

1,039

998

28.TsinghuaUniversity

China,

Mainland

1,509

1,369

1,013

29.YaleUniversity

U.S.

1,498

932

757

30.UniversityofWisconsin-Madison

U.S.

1,437

1,118

794

31.CarnegieMellonUniversity

U.S.

1,409

1,162

767

32.SeoulNationalUniversity(SNU)

SouthKorea

1,408

1,208

861

33.GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology

U.S.

1,385

1,171

867

34.WashingtonUniversity(WUSTL)

U.S.

1,372

820

750

35.KyotoUniversity

Japan

1,369

882

675

36.NationalUniversityofSingapore

Singapore

1,334

1,158

834

37.UniversityofSouthernCalifornia

U.S.

1,311

1,016

680

38.UniversityofNorthCarolinaChapelHill

U.S.

1,302

936

624

39.PennsylvaniaStateUniversity

U.S.

1,280

1,033

518

40.NewYorkUniversity

U.S.

1,233

969

605

41.CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology

U.S.

1,222

933

589

42.KULeuven

Belgium

1,214

975

767

43.UniversityofPittsburgh

U.S.

1,210

787

694

44.écolePolytechnique

FédéraledeLausanne(EPFL)

Switzerland

1,209

1,045

638

45.UniversityofTexasAustin

U.S.

1,204

988

723

46.UniversitéParisScienceetLettres(PSL)

France

1,204

814

722

47.PurdueUniversity

U.S.

1,201

904

556

48.OhioStateUniversity

U.S.

1,189

788

614

49.UniversityofBritishColumbia

Canada

1,180

945

633

50.OsakaUniversity

Japan

1,178

910

619

7

Distributionoftop50universities

Figure1:Numberofuniversitiesintop50mostcitedbyTop100GlobalInnovators,percountry/region

UnitedStates

France

UnitedKingdom

Japan

Canada

Switzerland

Belgium

China,Mainland

Germany

Singapore

SouthKorea

4

4

3

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

30

Figure1showsthedistributionofthese50universitiesbycountry/region,withmorethanhalfofthembasedintheUnitedStates.

Whenweexaminethedatamoreclosely,somekeytrendsandobservationsemerge.

ThedominanceofU.S.universitiessuchasHarvard,Stanford,andMITinTable1

reflectstheirglobalinfluenceonresearchandinnovation.Harvard'sleadingpositionisconsistentwithitsextremelyhighvolumeofpublishedresearchoutputs(overonemillionofdocumentssince1900),whichnaturallycontributestoalargerpoolof

citationsandrelatedinnovations.Bycontrast,MIT'sstrongperformanceisparticularlynoteworthyasitachievesacomparablelevelofuniquecitinginventionsdespite

publishingsignificantlyfeweroutputsthanHarvard(around295,000documentsinthesameperiod).ThissuggeststhatMIT'sresearchisexceptionallyimpactfulandefficientlytranslatedintoinnovativeapplications,underscoringthequalityand

relevanceofitsscientificcontributions.

Figure1highlightsthatfiveofthetop100innovatorsprovidemorethanhalf(51.4%)ofthecitationstothese50universities:Roche(16.6%);Johnson&Johnson(16.2%);CentreNationaldelaRechercheScientifique(CNRS)(10.1%);SamsungElectronics(4.8%)andSiemens(3.6%).UnsurprisinglyformanyoftheinstitutionsintheTop50,theleadingcitingorganizationisRoche,Johnson&JohnsonorCNRS.

8

Innovator-universityrelationships

Table2:Thetop20innovator-universitycitationrelationships,rankedbypercentageofcitations

Citeduniversity

Citinginnovator

Citationsgivenby

citinginnovator

Total

citationsto

university

%

UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara

Kyocera

1,070

1,843

58.1

UniversitéPSL

CNRS

524

1,204

43.5

UniversitéParisCité

CNRS

1,239

2,908

42.6

UniversityofCambridge

Roche

1,164

2,760

42.2

SorbonneUniversité

CNRS

626

1,524

41.1

DukeUniversity

Johnson&Johnson

643

1,654

38.9

YaleUniversity

Roche

512

1,498

34.2

UniversitéParisSaclay

CNRS

670

2,039

32.9

UniversityofCalifornia,SanFrancisco

Roche

616

1,929

31.9

UniversityofPennsylvania

Johnson&Johnson

664

2,089

31.8

UniversityCollegeLondon

Roche

711

2,240

31.7

HarvardUniversity

Johnson&Johnson

2,628

8,315

31.6

PurdueUniversity

Johnson&Johnson

355

1,201

29.6

UniversityofPittsburgh

Johnson&Johnson

346

1,210

28.6

ImperialCollegeLondon

Johnson&Johnson

530

1,907

27.8

ColumbiaUniversity

Roche

537

1,949

27.6

WashingtonUniversity(WUSTL)

Johnson&Johnson

373

1,372

27.2

UniversityofWashington,Seattle

Roche

706

2,641

26.7

UniversityofWashington,Seattle

Johnson&Johnson

696

2,641

26.4

9

Flowofknowledgefromuniversitytoindustry

ExpandingouranalysistotheTop1000GlobalInnovatorsandconsideringallpaperscitedbytheirinventions,revealsamoreextensivepictureoftheflowofknowledge

fromuniversitiestoindustry.Figures2and3illustratetheglobalpathwaysofthisacademicknowledgetransfer.

Figure2presentsthisflowatthelevelof

UNsub-regions,

whileFigure3provides

finerdetail,focusingonindividualcountries.Theleft-handsideofbothfiguresshowstheregionsorcountrieswheretheacademicresearchwasconducted,whiletheright-handsideshowsthelocationsoftheheadquartersofthecompanieswhose

inventionscitedthatresearch.Thelinesarecolor-codedaccordingtotheciting

region/countrywithlinethicknessreflectingthepercentageofcitationsfromthe

citingregion/countrytothecitedregion/country.Forexample,a30%linemeans30%ofcitationsfromthecitingregionrefertoresearchfromthelinkedcitedregion.The

sizeofthedisksrepresentsthevolumeofcitinginventionsorcitedpapersthatareassociatedwitheachregionorcountry.

Bothfiguresonlyincluderegions/countrieswithatleast1,000inventionsfiledbytheTop1000GlobalInnovatorsoratleast1,000paperscitedbythoseinventions.To

highlightdominanttrends,theanalysisfocusesoncountriesorregionswithatleast5%ofcitationsfromaninnovator’sregionorcountry.

Map1:IdentificationofcountrieswithintheUNsub-regionshighlightedinFigures2&3.

AustraliaandNewzealandEasternAsia

NorthernAmericaNorthernEur。pesouth-easternAsia

southernAsia

southernEuropewesternAsia

westernEuropeRestoftheworld

10

Figure2:TheflowofknowledgefromacademicpapersbyUNsub-region(leftsideofthereddashedlines)toinventionsbyUNsub-region,eachdenotedbyadifferent

color(rightsideofthedashedlines).Linesrepresentthepercentageofeachsub-region'sinventionsthatcitepapersfromagivensub-region.Onlysub-regionswith1,000papersorinventions,oracontributionofatleast5%ofinventionsfromaUNsub-regionareincluded.Sub-regionsaregroupedbyUNregion.RelevantUNsub-regionsareshowninthemapabove.

citedpapers(onIeft)

citingpatents(onright)

%ofcitationsfrompatents

50,000100,000●150,000

10

20304050

11

Figure3:Theflowofknowledgefromacademicpapersbycountry/region(leftside

ofthereddashedlines)toinventionsbycountry/region,eachdenotedbyadifferentcolor(rightsideofthedashedlines).Linesrepresentthepercentageofeachcountry’sinventionsthatcitepapersfromagivencountry/region.Tohelpclarifythefiner

details,asthelargestcontributorofresearchknowledgeforeachcountryisthe

UnitedStates(seeFigure2),thiscountryhasbeenremovedfromthechartonthe

citedpaperside.Onlycountries/regionswith1,000papersorinventions,ora

contributionofatleast5%ofinventionsfromacountry/regionareincluded.CountriesaregroupedbyUNregionandsub-region.

citedpapers(onIeft)

citingpatents(onright)

%offrom

o10,000●20,000●30,00040,00050,000

citations

10203040patents

12

Keyobservations

DominanceofNorthernAmerica

?NorthernAmerica,predominantlytheUnitedStates,isbyfarthelargestsourceofresearchcitedbyinventions(asseeninFigure2).

?Figure3specificallyexcludestheUnitedStatesasasource,toshowtrendsfromelsewhereintheworld.

?Regionalhubsarepresentinthedata.EasternAsiadrawsonalotofitsownresearch,althoughotherregionsinAsiaalsodrawonEasternAsia’sresearchtoalesserdegree.NorthernandWesternEuropeaninventionsarealso

slightlymorelikelytociteresearchfromNorthernandWesternEurope.

Country-leveltrends

?Atthecountry-level,Figure3revealsdistinctpatternsinhowcompaniesciteacademicresearch.

?CompaniesheadquarteredinMainlandChinapredominantlyrelyon

domesticresearch,with41%ofcitationsdirectedtostudiescarriedoutwithintheareawhileJapanesecompaniesaremorelikelytociteresearchfrom

Japan,accountingfor29.7%oftheircitations.

?SouthKoreaninventionsshowamorebalanceddistribution,citingresearchfrombothMainlandChina(25.4%)andSouthKorea(19.2%).

?Taiwaneseinventions,however,displayabroaderdistribution,withcitationsdistributedacrossfourkeycountriesandregionsinEasternAsia:19.2%aretoMainlandChina;13.5%toTaiwanitself;11.8%toJapanand9.1%toSouth

Korea.

?Strongintra-Europeanties

?TiesbetweenEuropeancountriesremainnotablystrong,withaclearpatternofcompaniescitingdomesticresearch:

?29.8%ofinventionsfromtheU.K.citeresearchconducteddomestically.

?Similarly,22.4%ofGermaninventionsand24.4%ofFrenchinventionsciteresearchoriginatingfromGermanyandFrancerespectively.

?But,whilemanycountriescontributetoresearchcitedbyinventionsfrom

manyothercountriestosomedegree,theU.K.isanespeciallystrong

contributortosuchresearch.Inparticular,24%ofinventionsfromSwitzerlandciteU.K.research,asdoes16.0%fromFrance.

?ThesepatternshighlighttheroleoftheU.K.inactingasabridgeintheglobalexchangeofacademicknowledge.

13

?Neighbouringregionalresearchpatterns

?Whilecompaniesinmanycountriesbenefitfromresearchcarriedoutin

MainlandChina,Japan,theU.K.,FranceandGermany,therearestrongtendenciestorelyonresearchfromthesameregion:

?MostAsiancountriespredominantlyciteresearchfromMainlandChinaandJapan.

?MostEuropeancountriestendtodrawmoreheavilyonresearchfromtheU.K.,FranceandGermany.

?Singapore,however,isanotableexceptionactingasabridgebetween

regions.ItsinventionsciteresearchfromtheU.K.(17.9%)andGermany

(16.5%)asfrequentlyasfromMainlandChina(16.6%)andmorethanfrom

Japan(10.6%).Singaporealsoreliesmoreonexternalresearchthandomesticcontributions,withonly13.2%ofcitationsdirectedtoitself.

Thisanalysishighlightsthatgroundbreakingideasdrivingtheworld’smostinnovativecompaniesandinstitutionsoftenoriginatefromacademicresearch.Byfostering

collaborationsbetweenacademiaandindustry,theseideasnotonlyfuel

technologicaladvancements,butalsocontributetosolutionsforsocietalchallenges-spanninghealthcare,sustainabilityandeconomicdevelopment.Theexchangeof

knowledgeacrosscountriesandregionsunderscorestheglobalnatureofinnovationanditspotentialtocreateapositiveandfar-reachingimpactonsociety.

Thispaperisthesecondinaseriestohighlighttheongoingdevelopmentsbythe

InstituteforScientificInformationtocreatearesponsibleframeworkforevaluatingthesocietalimpactofresearch.Wewillincludethisframeworkinourforthcomingnew

WebofScienceResearchIntelligenceplatform-atransformational,AI-nativesoftwaresolutionthatwillenableresearchinstitutionstoresponsiblyaggregatemetricstosuittheirownneedstoshowcasesocietalimpact.Itwillofferbothaninstitutionaland

globalviewofresearchandr