Each year Reuters produce a league table of what it regards as the most innovative universities in the world. The rankings are based on a range of metrics, including the number and quality of academic papers, patent filings and so on. Somewhat surprisingly, the Belgian university KU Leuven has topped the league table for the past few years, and they came out on top again in the latest index, which was released recently.
The university, which beat competition from the University of Erlangen Nuremberg and Imperial College London, came out on top in large part because of the influence of the innovations it has produced in recent years, with many of them cited in filings by other researchers.
“This result confirms that our university is not just a place for intellectual debate, research-driven education, and ground-breaking fundamental research, but that we also contribute a great deal to innovation and valorisation. These achievements benefit the university, Flanders, and society as a whole. The first place of KU Leuven in this year’s Reuters ranking is a recognition of the wonderful work done by our researchers and by KU Leuven Research and Development,” the university says.
The ranking is a considerable result for a university that was only established in 1972. Despite their relative youth, they were one of the first to open a tech transfer office in Europe, and they’ve spun out over 120 companies over the years. They led the way for Europe in the global Reuters index last year, finishing in 7th place as the highest ranking institution outside of the United States.
Reuters top 10: Europe’s most innovative universities
- KU Leuven
- University of Erlangen Nuremberg
- Imperial College London
- University of Cambridge
- EPFL – Swiss Federal lnstitute of Technology Lausanne
- University College London
- Technical University of Munich
- University of Manchester
- University of Zurich
- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
