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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

California Institute of Technology

United States · North America · Platinum

★ Sector Awards 2026. Winner: the Quantum Technologies Award (with Google; John P. Preskill and Ryan Babbush).

#8World rank of 1,038
87.1ICI scoreout of 100
#2National rank, of 203 in United States
#2Regional rank, of 231 in North America
1,498.5Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
576Company groups worked with (183 on two or more works)

California Institute of Technology is ranked #8 of 1,038, with Platinum standing. Its strongest pillar is co-creation (96): 1,498.5 verified industry works against about 836 expected for its mix of fields. All four pillars are above the middle of the ranked universities; the lowest is durability (77).

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #117 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
96

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,498.5 verified works against about 836 expected for its fields (1.79 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
77

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 51 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
80

The size of its industry network: company groups on two or more works, sustained partnerships, and its place in the worldwide network of universities and companies. 183 company groups on two or more joint works; 51 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
94

How varied its partners are, judged by each company's main research field. Measured across the main research fields of all the company groups it worked with.

Each pillar is a percentile among the 1,038 ranked universities: a value of 80 means a higher value than about 80 in every 100 of them. The ICI score (87.1) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 8 of 1,038 overall; 2 of 203 in United States; 2 of 231 in North America. Standing bands: Platinum for ranks 1 to 100, Gold 101 to 300, Silver 301 to 600. How the index is built →

In numbers

The evidence behind the position

7.3%of its 20,628 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.79Industry co-authorship rate: 1.79 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,498.5 verified works; about 836 expected)
51sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In United States

2 of 203 ranked universities in United States

  1. #1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology world #2, score 90.8
  2. #2 California Institute of Technology world #8, score 87.1
  3. #3 Purdue University West Lafayette world #9, score 86.9
  4. #4 Stanford University world #11, score 86.3
  5. #5 University of California, Berkeley world #12, score 86.1

All ranked universities →   North America: 2 of 231 →

Where it works with industry

Sector strengths

Verified industry works by sector, with its position in each sector ranking. A university is ranked in a sector once it has at least 20 verified works there; sectors with fewer than 50 eligible universities are provisional.

Strongest sector positions

#1 of 40Quantum Technologies (provisional: fewer than 50 universities eligible)91.5 verified works in the sector
#31 of 373Climate, Environment and Sustainability131.5 verified works in the sector
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
131.5#31 of 373
Quantum Technologies
91.5#1 of 40 provisional
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
45#248 of 481
Chemicals, Process and Resources
37#134 of 237
Space and Satellite Technology
34#9 of 15 provisional
Artificial Intelligence
31#189 of 292
Next-Generation Communications
21.5#162 of 188
Clean Energy Transition
19under 20 works
Software, Cloud and Data
19under 20 works
Medical Technology and Digital Health
16.5under 20 works
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
15.5under 20 works
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
14.5under 20 works
Agriculture and Food Technology
13under 20 works
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
12.5under 20 works
Built Environment and Infrastructure
10under 20 works
Batteries and Energy Storage
8under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
7under 20 works
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
6.5under 20 works
Aerospace and Aviation
6under 20 works
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
4ranking withheld (under 10 eligible)
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
2under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
952.5counted in the overall index

546 of its 1,498.5 verified industry works fall within the 21 sectors. The rest have research topics that belong to no industry sector (basic science, for example) or are consortium papers with 100 or more authors, which the sector indices leave out; all of them count fully in the overall index.

Who it works with

Company partners, 2021 to 2025

California Institute of Technology co-authored verified work with 576 company groups, consortium papers aside: 183 of them on two or more works, and 51 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 576 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
GoogleUnited StatesComputer Science86.55 of 5
Aeolis ResearchUnited StatesPhysics and Astronomy605 of 5
NvidiaUnited StatesComputer Science50.55 of 5
Malin Space Science SystemsUnited StatesPhysics and Astronomy485 of 5
AmazonUnited StatesComputer Science46.55 of 5
MicrosoftUnited StatesComputer Science36.55 of 5
Aerodyne ResearchUnited StatesEarth and Planetary Sciences365 of 5
Lockheed MartinUnited StatesEngineering33.55 of 5
Predictive ScienceUnited StatesPhysics and Astronomy215 of 5
ChevronUnited StatesEngineering205 of 5
Dow ChemicalUnited StatesMaterials Science205 of 5
Rio TintoAustraliaEngineering205 of 5

A company group brings together a company's subsidiaries and research labs under one name. A work counts half when its only company author also holds a post at this university. Consortium papers with 100 or more authors are left out of this table.

Examples of its work with industry

Most-cited verified joint works

Its most-cited verified works with 30 or fewer authors, leaving out guidelines and consensus statements. Citation counts are those of the open scholarly record at harvest. Each title links to the work.

Over time

Verified industry works by year

342.52021
334.52022
2772023
2432024
301.52025

2025 is not yet complete: papers published late in the year are still being added to the open record, and coverage may not be equally complete for every university, so compare years with care. A work counts half when its only company author also holds a post at the university, so some totals end in .5.

Funded partnerships (reported, not scored)

Publicly funded research projects with companies

European Union: 4 Horizon projects with company partners

Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects starting 2021-2025 in which this university and at least one company take part (14 distinct companies). Company partners include: Airmodus Oy, AS Airel, Aerodyne Research, Inc., Costruzioni Apparecchiature Elettroniche Nucleari Caen SpA, Gemmate Technologies Srl, Innoseis Sensor Technologies BV.

  • SOREC2 SOlar Energy to power CO2 REduction towards C2 chemicals for energy storage 2022, 3 companies
  • CLOUD-DOC CLOUD Doctoral Network 2022, 5 companies
  • PROBES Probes of new physics and technological advancements from particle and gravitational wave physics experiments. A cooperative Europe -... 2022, 5 companies

Shown for context from the public grant registries; they do not enter the score in Edition 1. Comparable open registries of company partners exist for the European Union and the United Kingdom but not yet for most other research systems, and in some countries national research organisations take part on behalf of university laboratories, so these counts are not comparable between countries.

Funded and co-publishing. Of the funded company partners that match an ICI company group, 3 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (Aerodyne Research, Ionicon Analytik, Tofwerk) and 2 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 36% of funded company names could be matched to a company group; the rest are counted, not guessed. Sources: UKRI Gateway to Research harvested 4 Oct 2026; CORDIS bulk files of 2026-10-12 (latest record update 2026-06-10). Funded partnerships cover UK (UKRI Gateway to Research) and EU (Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, CORDIS) projects starting 2021 to 2025 only. They are reported, never scored, and a funder record outside these two sources is not visible here.

Evidence checked

1,954 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,919 of 3,873 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 649 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 360 excluded after hand audit: Matched almost only from the Flatiron Institute, a non-profit research institute
  • 300 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 191 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 150 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 110 a contractor staffing a federal laboratory
  • 159 for other reasons: smaller hand-audit findings, and links the current open record no longer supports

If a partner is missing or should not be here, send the evidence; corrections are free and reviewed against the public record.

For your communications

Badges you can use

Platinum standing badgeSector Awards winner badge (Quantum Technologies)

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GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where California Institute of Technology's collaboration could go next

This profile is free and public, and it stays that way. Beyond it, the GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform, a partner service arranged with each university, sets your record in both GRP indices beside the peers you choose: the universities and companies your peers work with that you do not, live funding calls matched to your strengths, the EU projects your peers have won, and a brief ready for your executive. It opens to partner universities on Monday 19 October 2026: enquire, and the GRP team will confirm availability and pricing for your university.

Request first access →  See what is inside →

The platform cannot move any university's position, band or score.

The other GRP index

Research Collaboration Index

In the Research Collaboration Index 2026, California Institute of Technology ranks #117 of 1,195, with Gold standing. It measures the whole research network, not only industry.

View the RCI profile →

Something wrong? Every figure comes from the public record and can be checked. If a partner is missing or should not be there, tell us and we will review it with the evidence. The 2027 edition will be calculated with the same published methodology. The window for universities to submit data for it is open now: submit data for the 2027 edition. The index is free, public and independent. No commercial relationship with any university or company changes any position, and no one can pay to be included, excluded or moved.