The world of science and technology is fast-paced and ever competitive. An institution falls behind if it is not innovative. This is one of the top key findings of The Reuters 100: The World's Most Innovative Universities.
This list, which is now in its second year, ranks the educational institutions that are performing in advancing science, inventing new technologies, and influencing the worldwide economy. The listing is unique as Reuters base it on empirical data and not on subjective surveys. It is based on patent filings and research paper citations.
This article compares the 2015 Top 10 Most Innovative Universities with the current ones.
Top One is Stanford University. Last year, it also reigned on top of Reuters 100. It has 612 patents filed between 2009 and 2014. Google's co-founder Larry Page, PayPal's co-founder Peter Thiel, Hewlett-Packard's founders are all notable alumni of Stanford University.
Top Two is Masachusetts Institute of Technology. It was also Top Two on 2015's list. 1,289 patents filed between 2009 and 2014. Notable alumni are Charles Koch of Koch Industries and John Thain, former CEO of CIT Group.
Third on the list is Harvard University with 824 patents filed between 2009 and 2014. It maintained its third rank. Notable alumni are Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and former CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer.
Top Four is University of Texas System. It rose from Top Seven of 2015 to Top Four of 2016. CEO of Dell Michael Dell and CEO of National Instruments James Truchard. It has 941 patents filed between 2009 and 2014.
Top Five is University of Washington System with 457 patents filed between 2009 and 2014. It went down a notch from its Top Four Rank as of 2015. Former NASA astronaut Bonnie Dunbar and former Governor of Washington Daniel Evans are some of its notable alumni.
Top Six is Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) which jumped five notches from its Top Ten Rank as of 2015. It is the only Asian University found on the Top 10. 911 patents were filed between 2009 and 2014.
Top Seven is University of Michigan System and perched on Top Eight is University of Pennsylvania. President-elect Donald Trump hails from University of Pennsylvania.
Top Nine is KU Leuvan located in Belgium. It was ranked 16th on the 2015 list. Last on the list is Northwestern University which was Top Six last year.
