Research influences innovation on a global scale

How much impact does research carried out at individual universities have on innovation globally? To find out, a team of scientists from several schools developed a ranking system based on citations in patent literature. And on that score, EPFL sits in seventh place, just behind Stanford and above the California Institute of Technology. Many people may wonder what the point is of all That's because only a small percentage delivers what they see as tangible results, such as creating a spin-off that quickly patents and markets new technology. In fact, much of the research at universities serves as a stepping stone towards other discoveries - which in turn give rise to applications directly beneficial to our everyday lives. To determine the influence of such research on innovation, a team of scientists from several schools has developed a new metric that ranks universities according to the number of articles by their researchers that are cited in patent literature. Their results - recently published - put EPFL in seventh place. Patents sit at the interface between laboratory research and market launch.