Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard have topped a new ranking of the most innovative universities.
The inaugural Top 100 Most Innovative Universities ranking from Reuters has been revealed following the publication of four top-15 tables based on innovation from Times Higher Education.
The US comes out top of Reuters’ table of 100 institutions, taking nine of the top 10 positions. The sole non-US institution is Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 10th place.
Imperial College London is the highest-ranked UK university in the list in 11th place, followed by theUniversity of Cambridge in 25th and the University of Oxford in 40th.
The ranking aims to identify which institutions contribute the most to science and technology and have the greatest impact on the global economy. It is based on 10 patent and research-related metrics, which have been compiled using proprietary data and analysis tools from the Intellectual Property and Science division of Thomson Reuters.
Elsewhere in Europe, Switzerland is a stand-out performer. With three universities on the list and a population of just over 8 million, it has more top 100 innovative universities per capita than any other country in the world. Its top institution, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, sits in 27th place.
Japan is home to nine of the universities on the list – more than any other country except the US.Osaka University, its highest-ranked institution, is at number 18.
Reuters Top 25 Most Innovative Universities 2015 results
| Rank | Institution | Country |
| 1 | Stanford University | United States |
| 2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States |
| 3 | Harvard University | United States |
| 4 | University of Washington | United States |
| 5 | University of Michigan System | United States |
| 6 | Northwestern University | United States |
| 7 | University of Texas System | United States |
| 8 | University of Wisconsin System | United States |
| 9 | University of Pennsylvania | United States |
| 10 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) | South Korea |
| 11 | Imperial College London | United Kingdom |
| 12 | Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) | South Korea |
| 13 | University of California System | United States |
| 14 | University of Southern California | United States |
| 15 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill | United States |
| 16 | KU Leuven | Belgium |
| 17 | Duke University | United States |
| 18 | Osaka University | Japan |
| 19 | Johns Hopkins University | United States |
| 20 | California Institute of Technology | United States |
| 21 | University of Illinois System | United States |
| 22 | Kyoto University | Japan |
| 23 | Georgia Institute of Technology | United States |
| 24 | University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 25 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom |
