The World’s Most Innovative Universities 2019
By David M. Ewalt
PUBLISHED Oct. 23, 2019
For the fifth year running, Stanford University tops Reuters’ ranking of the World’s Most Innovative Universities, a list that identifies and ranks the educational institutions doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies and power new markets and industries.
Stanford holds onto its top spot year after year because it produces a steady stream of innovations that are cited by other researchers in academia and private industry. That sort of influence is a key measure of the ranking of the world’s most innovative universities, which was compiled in partnership with Clarivate Analytics, and is based on proprietary data and analysis including patent filings and research paper citations. 6park.com
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The Hoover Tower rises above Stanford University.Photo by Reuters/Noah Berger
Stanford isn’t the only major university holding fast to its spot on the ranking. In fact, the top three universities on the list — No. 2 is MIT and No. 3, Harvard— have all held their spots for five straight years, as long as Reuters has produced the ranking. In fact, eight of last year’s 10 highest-ranked universities remained in the top 10, and 18 of the top 20. The results show that while inventors are often portrayed as iconoclasts, innovation relies on strong institutions. It’s not enough to come up with a new idea: Success depends on getting help to patent, publish, produce and market.
The highest-ranked university outside the U.S., Belgium’s KU Leuven (#7), is a nearly 600-year-old institution that maintains one of the largest independent research and development organizations on the planet. The highest-ranked university in Asia is Pohang University of Science & Technology, or POSTECH (#12), an institution founded in 1986 by the South Korean steel company POSCO and noted for its unique ties to industry.
NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES IN REUTERS TOP 100 BY COUNTRY 6park.com
 0 10 20 30 4050United StatesGermanyFranceUKSouth KoreaJapanChinaSwitzerlandNetherlandsBelgiumIsraelSingaporeCanadaDenmark 6park.com
United States 6park.com
46 6park.com
Source: Clarivate Analytics
Overall, the United States continues to dominate the list, with 46 universities in the top 100, the same as the year prior. Germany is the second best performing country with nine universities. France climbs to third, with eight universities on the list; Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom each have 6; China has 4; the Netherlands and Switzerland have 3; Belgium, Canada, Israel and Singapore have 2, and Denmark has 1. Considered on a regional basis, North America has 48 universities in the top 100, Europe has 32 (up five from last year), Asia has 18 (down five), and the Middle East has 2. There are no universities in the top 100 located in Africa, South America or Oceania.
In terms of national performance, France shows the biggest improvement this year, with all its universities making big gains, including new entrants Aix-Marseille University (#96) and Sorbonne University (#56). France has extensively restructured its higher education system over the past few years, combining smaller institutions, and the efforts seem to have paid off. In contrast, Japanese universities continue to lose ground on the global ranking: Three Japanese universities dropped off the list in 2019, and the institutions that remained fell an average of 16 places. While Japan has traditionally been a research powerhouse in the Asia Pacific region, its universities rely heavily on government spending, and decades of deflation and economic stagnation have resulted in less money for research and fewer innovations.
Careful observers might note a few differences between how non-U.S. institutions rank on Reuters’ regional innovation lists, Asia’s Most Innovative Universities and Europe’s Most Innovative Universities, and how they rank on the global list. An institution’s relative ranking may change from list to list, since each ranking is dependent on summarizing 10 indicators and comparing that with others in a specific population; when that population changes, individual rankings might change as well. Furthermore, the global list is restricted to institutions that filed 70 or more patents with the World Intellectual Property Organization during the five-year period examined by Thomson Reuters. The cutoff for regional lists is just 50 patents, allowing a more in-depth view of the most active institutions within a limited geographic area.
The relative ranking of any university — or whether it appears on the list at all — is not the final word on whether its researchers are doing important work. The ranking measures innovation on an institutional level, but absence from the list doesn’t indicate an institution is failing to innovate; a university might rank low for overall innovation, but still operate one of the world’s best high energy physics labs, for instance. And it’s important to note that whether they’re in the top five or bottom five, all 100 universities in this ranking are among the best in the world. All of these universities produce original research, create useful technology and stimulate the global economy.

Editing by Arlyn Gajilan and Alessandra Rafferty  6park.com
For a detailed methodology, see here
For reprints, e-prints, logo and accolade licensing, permissions and plaques and other products, please visit PARS International Corp. 6park.com
COMPARE TWO INSTITUTIONS  6park.com
  Baylor College of Medicine  Boston University  California Institute of Technology  Carnegie Mellon University  Case Western Reserve University  Columbia University  Cornell University  Delft University of Technology  Dresden University of Technology  Duke University  Emory University  EPFL - Swiss Federal lnstitute of Technology Lausanne  ETH Zurich  Georgia Institute of Technology  Ghent University  Grenoble Alpes University  Hanyang University  Harvard University  Hebrew University of Jerusalem  Imperial College London  Indiana University System  Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz  Johns Hopkins University  Kings College London  Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST)  KU Leuven  Kyoto University  Kyushu University  Leiden University  Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Nanyang Technological University  National University of Singapore  Northwestern University  Ohio State University  Oregon Health & Science University  Osaka University  Peking University  Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)  Princeton University  Purdue University System  Ruprecht Karl University Heidelberg  Rutgers University  RWTH Aachen University  Seoul National University  Shanghai Jiao Tong University  Sorbonne University  Stanford University  State University of New York System  Sungkyunkwan University  Technical University of Berlin  Technical University of Denmark  Technical University of Munich  Tel Aviv University  Tohoku University  Tokyo Institute of Technology  Tsinghua University  Tufts University  University College London  University of Aix-Marseille  University of Bordeaux  University of British Columbia  University of California System  University of Cambridge  University of Chicago  University of Claude Bernard  University of Colorado System  University of Connecticut  University of Erlangen Nuremberg  University of Florida  University of Freiburg  University of Illinois System  University of Iowa  University of Manchester  University of Massachusetts System  University of Michigan System  University of Minnesota System  University of Montpellier  University of Munich  University of North Carolina Chapel Hill  University of Oxford  University of Paris Descartes  University of Paris Sud  University of Pennsylvania  University of Pittsburgh  University of Southern California  University of Texas System  University of Tokyo  University of Toronto  University of Utah  University of Virginia  University of Washington  University of Wisconsin System  University of Zurich  University System of Maryland  Utrecht University  Vanderbilt University  Wake Forest University  Yale University  Yonsei University  Zhejiang University   6park.com
1 6park.com
Stanford University
USA 6park.com
Total patents filed: 728
Success rate: 40.8%
Commercial impact score: 75.2
See full details  6park.com
  Baylor College of Medicine  Boston University  California Institute of Technology  Carnegie Mellon University  Case Western Reserve University  Columbia University  Cornell University  Delft University of Technology  Dresden University of Technology  Duke University  Emory University  EPFL - Swiss Federal lnstitute of Technology Lausanne  ETH Zurich  Georgia Institute of Technology  Ghent University  Grenoble Alpes University  Hanyang University  Harvard University  Hebrew University of Jerusalem  Imperial College London  Indiana University System  Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz  Johns Hopkins University  Kings College London  Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST)  KU Leuven  Kyoto University  Kyushu University  Leiden University  Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Nanyang Technological University  National University of Singapore  Northwestern University  Ohio State University  Oregon Health & Science University  Osaka University  Peking University  Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)  Princeton University  Purdue University System  Ruprecht Karl University Heidelberg  Rutgers University  RWTH Aachen University  Seoul National University  Shanghai Jiao Tong University  Sorbonne University  Stanford University  State University of New York System  Sungkyunkwan University  Technical University of Berlin  Technical University of Denmark  Technical University of Munich  Tel Aviv University  Tohoku University  Tokyo Institute of Technology  Tsinghua University  Tufts University  University College London  University of Aix-Marseille  University of Bordeaux  University of British Columbia  University of California System  University of Cambridge  University of Chicago  University of Claude Bernard  University of Colorado System  University of Connecticut  University of Erlangen Nuremberg  University of Florida  University of Freiburg  University of Illinois System  University of Iowa  University of Manchester  University of Massachusetts System  University of Michigan System  University of Minnesota System  University of Montpellier  University of Munich  University of North Carolina Chapel Hill  University of Oxford  University of Paris Descartes  University of Paris Sud  University of Pennsylvania  University of Pittsburgh  University of Southern California  University of Texas System  University of Tokyo  University of Toronto  University of Utah  University of Virginia  University of Washington  University of Wisconsin System  University of Zurich  University System of Maryland  Utrecht University  Vanderbilt University  Wake Forest University  Yale University  Yonsei University  Zhejiang University   6park.com
35 6park.com
Osaka University
JAPAN 6park.com
Total patents filed: 618
Success rate: 52.1%
Commercial impact score: 33.6
See full details  6park.com
TAKE A LOOK AT THE FULL RANKING BELOW  6park.com
1 6park.com
Stanford University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 www.stanford.edu        17,381 students        6,643 staff
Photo by Reuters/Beck Diefenbach
Stanford University takes first place on Reuters' list of the World's Most Innovative Universities for the fifth consecutive year. The university has locked down the top spot by consistently producing new patents and papers that influence researchers around the globe. 6park.com
Recent research highlights include the development of a new generation of batteries that can harness energy from the mingling of saltwater and freshwater. The technology, known as “blue energy,” relies on flows of fresh and salt water alternately stripping and depositing sodium and chloride ions from electrodes, and could be particularly useful in coastal wastewater treatment plants, making them entirely energy-independent. Elsewhere at the university, in September 2019 Stanford announced plans to convert an existing 92,000-square-foot facility to a life sciences incubator dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs in the development of new therapies and cures for critical diseases. The project is intended to eventually anchor an 85-acre “life science district” within the Stanford Research Park. 6park.com
Located in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, Stanford University has played a key role in the development of our networked world. In the early 1970s, Stanford professor Vint Cerf co-designed the TCP/IP protocols that became the basic communication standard for the Internet, and in 1991, physicists at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center deployed the first world wide web server outside of Europe. The university's faculty and alumni have founded major tech companies including Google, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems. A 2012 study by the university estimated that companies formed by Stanford entrepreneurs generate so much revenue that if they formed an independent nation, it would rank among the 10 largest economies in the world. Stanford University was founded in 1891 by California senator and railway magnate Leland Stanford in honor of his deceased son, with the promise that "the children of California shall be our children."
TOTAL PATENTS FILED: 728
Number of basic patents (patent families) filed by the institution between 2012 and 2017 6park.com
Others 6park.com
Computer software & internet 6park.com
Chemicals 6park.com
Medical devices & healthcare 6park.com
Agriculture, forestry & food 6park.com
Pharmaceuticals & biotech 6park.com
 0 25 50 75100% 6park.com
SUCCESS RATE: 40.8%
Ratio of patents filed by the institution between 2012 and 2017 that were subsequently granted by patent offices 6park.com
 0 25 50 75100% 6park.com
COMMERCIAL IMPACT SCORE: 75.2
Indicator of how often basic research originating at an institution has influenced commercial R&D activity, as measured by academic papers cited in patent filings. Higher scores are better. 6park.com
010020075.2AVG: 40.5 6park.com
Data provided by Clarivate Analytics. For a detailed methodology, see here
For reprints, e-prints, logo and accolade licensing, permissions and plaques and other products please visit PARS International Corp. 6park.com
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2 6park.com
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
3 6park.com
Harvard University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
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4 6park.com
University of Pennsylvania
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
5 6park.com
University of Washington
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
6 6park.com
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
7 6park.com
KU Leuven
BELGIUM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
8 6park.com
University of Southern California
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
9 6park.com
Cornell University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
10 6park.com
Imperial College London
UNITED KINGDOM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
11 6park.com
University of Texas System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
12 6park.com
Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)
SOUTH KOREA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
13 6park.com
University of California System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
14 6park.com
University of Erlangen Nuremberg
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
15 6park.com
Johns Hopkins University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
16 6park.com
California Institute of Technology
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
17 6park.com
EPFL - Swiss Federal lnstitute of Technology Lausanne
SWITZERLAND 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
18 6park.com
University of Cambridge
UNITED KINGDOM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
19 6park.com
Vanderbilt University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
20 6park.com
Yale University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
21 6park.com
University of Michigan System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
22 6park.com
University of Minnesota System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
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23 6park.com
Duke University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
24 6park.com
Northwestern University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
25 6park.com
University of Illinois System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
26 6park.com
University of Tokyo
JAPAN 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
27 6park.com
University of Toronto
CANADA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
28 6park.com
Columbia University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
29 6park.com
Seoul National University
SOUTH KOREA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
30 6park.com
Georgia Institute of Technology
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
31 6park.com
University College London
UNITED KINGDOM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
32 6park.com
University of Oxford
UNITED KINGDOM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
33 6park.com
University of Colorado System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
34 6park.com
Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST)
SOUTH KOREA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
35 6park.com
Osaka University
JAPAN 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
36 6park.com
University of Wisconsin System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
37 6park.com
Baylor College of Medicine
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
38 6park.com
University of Utah
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
39 6park.com
University of Chicago
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
40 6park.com
ETH Zurich
SWITZERLAND 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
41 6park.com
Tsinghua University
CHINA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
42 6park.com
Oregon Health & Science University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
43 6park.com
Kyoto University
JAPAN 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
44 6park.com
University of Montpellier
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
45 6park.com
Sungkyunkwan University
SOUTH KOREA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
46 6park.com
Technical University of Munich
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
47 6park.com
Case Western Reserve University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
48 6park.com
Technical University of Denmark
DENMARK 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
49 6park.com
University of Manchester
UNITED KINGDOM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
50 6park.com
Emory University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
51 6park.com
University of Zurich
SWITZERLAND 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
52 6park.com
University of Pittsburgh
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
53 6park.com
University of British Columbia
CANADA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
54 6park.com
Ohio State University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
55 6park.com
Peking University
CHINA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
56 6park.com
Sorbonne University
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
57 6park.com
Kyushu University
JAPAN 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
58 6park.com
National University of Singapore
SINGAPORE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
59 6park.com
Ruprecht Karl University Heidelberg
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
60 6park.com
Delft University of Technology
NETHERLANDS 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
61 6park.com
Tohoku University
JAPAN 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
62 6park.com
Purdue University System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
63 6park.com
University of Massachusetts System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
64 6park.com
University of Paris Sud
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
65 6park.com
Princeton University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
66 6park.com
University of Paris Descartes
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
67 6park.com
Nanyang Technological University
SINGAPORE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
68 6park.com
Tufts University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
69 6park.com
State University of New York System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
70 6park.com
Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
71 6park.com
Leiden University
NETHERLANDS 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
72 6park.com
Hanyang University
SOUTH KOREA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
73 6park.com
Rutgers University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
74 6park.com
Tokyo Institute of Technology
JAPAN 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
75 6park.com
University of Munich
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
76 6park.com
Yonsei University
SOUTH KOREA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
77 6park.com
University of Claude Bernard
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
78 6park.com
Indiana University System
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
79 6park.com
Dresden University of Technology
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
80 6park.com
University of Bordeaux
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
81 6park.com
University of Iowa
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
82 6park.com
University of Freiburg
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
83 6park.com
Boston University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
84 6park.com
University System of Maryland
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
85 6park.com
Wake Forest University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
86 6park.com
Zhejiang University
CHINA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
87 6park.com
Carnegie Mellon University
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
88 6park.com
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
ISRAEL 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
89 6park.com
RWTH Aachen University
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
90 6park.com
University of Connecticut
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
91 6park.com
Grenoble Alpes University
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
92 6park.com
University of Florida
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
93 6park.com
Utrecht University
NETHERLANDS 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
94 6park.com
Technical University of Berlin
GERMANY 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
95 6park.com
Tel Aviv University
ISRAEL 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
96 6park.com
University of Aix-Marseille
FRANCE 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
97 6park.com
University of Virginia
USA 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
98 6park.com
Ghent University
BELGIUM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
99 6park.com
Kings College London
UNITED KINGDOM 6park.com
 6park.com
 6park.com
100 6park.com
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
CHINA 6park.com
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Data provided by Clarivate Analytics. For a detailed methodology, see here 6park.com