The University of California was honored Tuesday as one of the world’s most innovative institutions. In the company of multinational titans ranging from Apple to Boeing, UC was the only university honored as a 2016 Top 100 Global Innovator by Clarivate Analytics, a data and analysis company that spun off from Thomson Reuters.
The list was compiled by assessing the volume of patents and their quality, market reach and influence on other discoveries.
UC made the list for the first time since its inception in 2011. In its report, Clarivate said UC had been particularly successful in recent years in seeing its inventions earn patents and in extending its collaborations and reach globally.
“The University of California is the world’s leading public research university system. As a newly recognized Top 100 Global Innovator with more than 3,000 patented inventions [from] 2011-2015, this is testament to the power of innovation in translating research into developing practical solutions to existing problems,” Clarivate said in its report.
The list was developed by analyzing four metrics related to patents: the volume of patents; the success rate of inventions that lead to patents; the volume of patents that are protected in multiple world markets; and how often a patent is cited by other companies and institutions in their own filings.
UC stood out in 2016 for the increase in both the reach and success of its discoveries, and was particularly strong in pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and other health advances, followed by measurements, computers and transistors.