Cambridge recognised as the UK’s leading university for global innovation

The report, carried out by analytics firm Clarivate, looks at the critical role of research in shaping global industrial innovation and societal impact, using data and expert insights derived from academic research and patent citations.

The report highlights how knowledge flows between academia and industry across countries and regions, underscoring the global nature of innovation. It identifies the top 50 universities named on the academic papers that received the highest number of citations from patents granted to the companies and organisations on the Top 100 Global Innovators 2024 list.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge, said: “Cambridge has a thriving community of spin-outs, start-ups and partnerships that demonstrates how academia and industry can work together to transform ideas into real-world impact. The University is key to this, and we are developing hugely ambitious plans that will transform the UK economy and reinforce the UK’s status as a leader in global innovation.”

The report comes the day after Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves unveiled her strategy to unleash the potential of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor by catalysing the growth of UK science and technology. The plan recognises the University of Cambridge as the world’s leading science and technological cluster by intensity, and its potential to rapidly build on the £30bn contribution it already makes to the UK economy.

According to the report, the top 10 universities influencing patented inventions are: 

1. Harvard University (US)
2. Stanford University (US)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT (US)
4. University of California, Berkeley (US)
5. Université Paris Cité (France)
6. University of Cambridge (UK)
7. University of Washington, Seattle (US)
8. University of California, San Diego (US)
9. University of Michigan (US)
10. University of Toronto (Canada)

Among the report’s key findings was that the UK demonstrates particularly diverse international influence, with its research often serving as a bridge across regions.

Gordon Rogers, report author and Senior Manager, Data Science at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate, said: “Groundbreaking ideas driving the world’s most innovative companies often originate from academic research. Our report demonstrates that by fostering collaboration between academia and industry, we can fuel technological advancements, providing solutions to societal challenges in healthcare, sustainability, and economic development.”

Read more at: The top 50 universities powering global innovation