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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

Delft University of Technology

Netherlands · Europe · Gold

★ Sector Awards 2026. Finalist: the Chemicals, Process and Resources Award (with Shell; A. Iulian Dugulan and G. Leendert Bezemer).

#116World rank of 1,038
73.9ICI scoreout of 100
#7National rank, of 13 in Netherlands
#55Regional rank, of 388 in Europe
1,594.5Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
732Company groups worked with (246 on two or more works)

Delft University of Technology is ranked #116 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is scale (89): a network of 246 company groups on two or more joint works. It is held back most by breadth (45): partners concentrated in a few research fields.

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #198 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
86

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,594.5 verified works against about 1,068 expected for its fields (1.49 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
62

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 62 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
89

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. 246 company groups on two or more joint works; 62 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
45

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 (73.9) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 116 of 1,038 overall; 7 of 13 in Netherlands; 55 of 388 in Europe. 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

6.3%of its 25,267 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.49Industry co-authorship rate: 1.49 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,594.5 verified works; about 1,068 expected)
62sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In Netherlands

7 of 13 ranked universities in Netherlands

  1. #5 University of Groningen world #97, score 75.2
  2. #6 University of Amsterdam world #114, score 74.0
  3. #7 Delft University of Technology world #116, score 73.9
  4. #8 Radboud University Nijmegen world #151, score 71.7
  5. #9 Maastricht University world #152, score 71.7

All ranked universities →   Europe: 55 of 388 →

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

#32 of 373Climate, Environment and Sustainability122 verified works in the sector
#55 of 481Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology144.5 verified works in the sector
#42 of 295Clean Energy Transition88.5 verified works in the sector
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
144.5#55 of 481
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
122#32 of 373
Clean Energy Transition
88.5#42 of 295
Built Environment and Infrastructure
84#47 of 215
Chemicals, Process and Resources
79.5#40 of 237
Artificial Intelligence
58.5#93 of 292
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
55.5#65 of 201
Automotive and Mobility
54.5#18 of 72
Software, Cloud and Data
53#59 of 167
Next-Generation Communications
46.5#79 of 188
Medical Technology and Digital Health
42#233 of 323
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
27.5#61 of 109
Quantum Technologies
23.5#33 of 40 provisional
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
22#625 of 638
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
20#210 of 220
Batteries and Energy Storage
14.5under 20 works
Aerospace and Aviation
14under 20 works
Agriculture and Food Technology
13.5under 20 works
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
9ranking withheld (under 10 eligible)
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
8under 20 works
Space and Satellite Technology
8under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
602.5counted in the overall index

992 of its 1,594.5 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

Delft University of Technology co-authored verified work with 732 company groups, consortium papers aside: 246 of them on two or more works, and 62 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 732 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
PhilipsNetherlandsEngineering595 of 5
ShellUnited KingdomEngineering57.55 of 5
Tata SteelIndiaBusiness, Management and Accounting565 of 5
Royal HaskoningDHVNetherlandsEnvironmental Science355 of 5
MicrosoftUnited StatesComputer Science325 of 5
SiemensGermanyEngineering30.55 of 5
NXPNetherlandsEngineering29.55 of 5
ASMLNetherlandsEngineering26.55 of 5
AirbusFranceEngineering234 of 5
IntelUnited StatesEngineering225 of 5
DSMNetherlandsPhysics and Astronomy21.55 of 5
OasenNetherlandsEnvironmental Science195 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

325.52021
340.52022
302.52023
317.52024
308.52025

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: 344 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 (2,166 distinct companies). Most frequent: Infineon Technologies AG, AVL List GmbH, Prorail BV, Telefonica Innovacion Digital SL, Airbus Operations SAS, Airbus Operations GmbH.

  • HYDEA HYdrogen DEmonstrator for Aviation 2023, 24 companies
  • InterOPERA Enabling interoperability of multi-vendor HVDC grids 2023, 26 companies
  • FP3 - IAM4RAIL Europe’s Rail Flagship Project 3 - Holistic and Integrated Asset Management for Europe’s RAIL System 2022, 70 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, 100 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (Infineon Technologies, Airbus, STMicroelectronics, Thales, Robert Bosch, Signify) and 295 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 22% 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

2,067 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,015 of 3,082 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 553 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 114 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 81 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 43 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 23 only inside the university's own affiliation text
  • 17 excluded after hand audit: Flanders Make is a non-profit strategic research centre
  • 184 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

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GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where Delft University 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, Delft University of Technology ranks #198 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.