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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

Korea University

South Korea · Asia-Pacific · Gold

★ Sector Awards 2026. Finalist: the Next-Generation Communications Award (with Samsung; Inkyu Lee and Junhee Park); the Cybersecurity and Digital Trust Award (with Samsung; Junbeom Hur and Hyunsoo Kwon); the Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology Award (with Pohang Iron and Steel; Seok Su Sohn and Jinkeun Oh); the Automotive and Mobility Award (with Hyundai Motors; Ho sung Jang and Yun Cheol Kim); the Built Environment and Infrastructure Award (with Samsung; Hangseok Choi and Ju-Young Oh).

#212World rank of 1,038
68.2ICI scoreout of 100
#6National rank, of 28 in South Korea
#47Regional rank, of 343 in Asia-Pacific
1,584.5Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
448Company groups worked with (162 on two or more works)

Korea University is ranked #212 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is durability (93): 46 of its company groups are sustained partners (five or more joint works in three or more of the five years). It is held back most by breadth (31): partners concentrated in a few research fields.

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #289 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
63

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,584.5 verified works against about 1,391 expected for its fields (1.14 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
93

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 46 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
82

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. 162 company groups on two or more joint works; 46 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
31

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 (68.2) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 212 of 1,038 overall; 6 of 28 in South Korea; 47 of 343 in Asia-Pacific. 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

4.7%of its 33,931 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.14Industry co-authorship rate: 1.14 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,584.5 verified works; about 1,391 expected)
46sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In South Korea

6 of 28 ranked universities in South Korea

  1. #4 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology world #201, score 69.0
  2. #5 University of Ulsan world #209, score 68.3
  3. #6 Korea University world #212, score 68.2
  4. #7 Pohang University of Science and Technology world #245, score 66.0
  5. #8 Hanyang University world #272, score 64.3

All ranked universities →   Asia-Pacific: 47 of 343 →

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

#73 of 481Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology163.5 verified works in the sector
#18 of 109Semiconductors and Microelectronics58.5 verified works in the sector
#54 of 292Artificial Intelligence107 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
181#177 of 638
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
163.5#73 of 481
Artificial Intelligence
107#54 of 292
Clean Energy Transition
96.5#60 of 295
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
58.5#18 of 109
Next-Generation Communications
55#80 of 188
Batteries and Energy Storage
36#55 of 126
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
34.5#231 of 373
Medical Technology and Digital Health
34.5#212 of 323
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
30#156 of 220
Built Environment and Infrastructure
27#147 of 215
Software, Cloud and Data
26.5#139 of 167
Chemicals, Process and Resources
24#203 of 237
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
19under 20 works
Agriculture and Food Technology
18.5under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
14.5under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
14under 20 works
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
7ranking withheld (under 10 eligible)
Quantum Technologies
4under 20 works
Aerospace and Aviation
2under 20 works
Space and Satellite Technology
1under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
625.5counted in the overall index

959 of its 1,584.5 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

Korea University co-authored verified work with 448 company groups, consortium papers aside: 162 of them on two or more works, and 46 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 448 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
SamsungSouth KoreaEngineering3955 of 5
Hyundai MotorsSouth KoreaEngineering945 of 5
Pohang Iron and SteelSouth KoreaEngineering755 of 5
Korea Electric Power CorporationSTATE-OWNEDSouth KoreaEngineering655 of 5
LGSouth KoreaEngineering404 of 5
SK GroupSouth KoreaEngineering37.55 of 5
Hanmi PharmaceuticalSouth KoreaMedicine28.55 of 5
SK HynixSouth KoreaEngineering25.55 of 5
PfizerUnited StatesMedicine205 of 5
Hanwha SolutionsEngineering205 of 5
United Imaging HealthcareChinaMedicine192 of 5
GlaxoSmithKlineUnited KingdomMedicine184 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

Over time

Verified industry works by year

306.52021
2472022
313.52023
351.52024
3662025

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.

Clinical trials (reported, not scored)

24 industry-partnered clinical trials

Trials starting 2021 to 2025 in ClinicalTrials.gov in which a company and this university are the sponsor and a collaborator. Names are matched exactly, so a trial registered only under an affiliated hospital's own name is not counted here, and the count can be well below the university's real trial activity. Trials do not enter the score.

Examples:

  • NCT07465549 CART BP Pro-Guided Blood Pressure Management for Uncontrolled Hypertension with Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. LTD., 2025
  • NCT07198529 OCT-Guided Stent Optimization for Short-Duration Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in Stable Angina with Abbott, 2025
  • NCT07091773 A Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Effectiveness of OLIZ, a Photobiomodulation Medical Device for Surgical Site Pain Relief in Patients After Total Knee Arthroplasty with LTBIO Co., Ltd., 2025
  • NCT06767345 Comparison of Moderate-Intensity Statin Plus Ezetimibe vs. High-Intensity Statin for Coronary Plaque Stabilization with Yuhan Corporation, 2025
  • NCT06767774 Comparison of Pitavastatin Plus Ezetimibe Versus High-Intensity Statin Therapy on Risk of New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus with Daewon Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., 2025
  • NCT07238725 The Efficacy of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Enzyme in Essential Tremor Patients: A Single-Center Study with Pico Entech Co., Ltd., 2025

Evidence checked

2,107 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,361 of 3,468 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 700 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 316 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 213 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 48 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 15 excluded after hand audit: A WHO/ITU focus group and a hospital programme, not a company
  • 9 only inside the university's own affiliation text
  • 60 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

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GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where Korea University'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, Korea University ranks #289 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.