UNC Sixth in Reuters Innovation Rankings

Posted on Dec. 2, 2019

Reuters has ranked the University No. 6 on its list of the Most Innovative Universities in the World. The annual list identifies and ranks educational institutions doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies and power new markets and industries.

Carolina rose three spots from last year’s rankings.

As examples of the many commercial innovations taking place at Carolina, the study mentions the work of two: the FABRIC project to test a reimagined internet, and UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center partnership with IBM Watson.

The study cites 379 patents filed by Carolina inventors between 2012 and 2017 and a 35 percent  success rate when measuring the ratio of patents filed that were ultimately granted by patent offices. The study also rates UNC with a 52.5 commercial impact score — the average among all institutions is 40.5 — an indicator of how often basic research originating at an institution has influenced commercial research and development activity, as measured by academic papers cited in patent filings.

Stanford topped the ranking, and MIT and Harvard were second and third for the fifth straight year.

Overall, the U.S. continues to dominate the list, with 46 universities in the top 100, the same as in 2018.

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