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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

Pennsylvania State University

United States · North America · Gold

#137World rank of 1,038
72.9ICI scoreout of 100
#46National rank, of 203 in United States
#48Regional rank, of 231 in North America
1,603.5Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
834Company groups worked with (271 on two or more works)

Pennsylvania State University is ranked #137 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is scale (90): a network of 271 company groups on two or more joint works. It is held back most by durability (47): 71 of its company groups are sustained partners (five or more joint works in three or more of the five years).

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #100 of 1,195, Platinum standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
64

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,603.5 verified works against about 1,401 expected for its fields (1.14 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
47

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 71 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
90

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. 271 company groups on two or more joint works; 71 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
87

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 (72.9) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 137 of 1,038 overall; 46 of 203 in United States; 48 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

3.7%of its 42,937 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 (1,603.5 verified works; about 1,401 expected)
71sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In United States

46 of 203 ranked universities in United States

  1. #44 Arizona State University world #122, score 73.6
  2. #45 University of Alabama at Birmingham world #126, score 73.3
  3. #46 Pennsylvania State University world #137, score 72.9
  4. #47 University of Pittsburgh world #138, score 72.9
  5. #48 University of California, Santa Barbara world #142, score 72.7

All ranked universities →   North America: 48 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

#33 of 481Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology168 verified works in the sector
#45 of 201Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.079.5 verified works in the sector
#93 of 373Climate, Environment and Sustainability64 verified works in the sector
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
168#33 of 481
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
79.5#45 of 201
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
66.5#375 of 638
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
64#93 of 373
Chemicals, Process and Resources
59#64 of 237
Artificial Intelligence
49.5#106 of 292
Agriculture and Food Technology
44#88 of 194
Software, Cloud and Data
39.5#75 of 167
Clean Energy Transition
28.5#253 of 295
Next-Generation Communications
29#116 of 188
Built Environment and Infrastructure
27#189 of 215
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
22.5#90 of 109
Medical Technology and Digital Health
21.5#315 of 323
Batteries and Energy Storage
20.5#120 of 126
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
20.5#213 of 220
Aerospace and Aviation
11.5under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
8under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
8under 20 works
Quantum Technologies
5under 20 works
Space and Satellite Technology
1under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
829counted in the overall index

774.5 of its 1,603.5 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

Pennsylvania State University co-authored verified work with 834 company groups, consortium papers aside: 271 of them on two or more works, and 71 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 834 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
GoogleUnited StatesComputer Science295 of 5
MicrosoftUnited StatesComputer Science285 of 5
CorningUnited StatesEngineering245 of 5
John DeereGermanyEngineering232 of 5
Merck & Co. (MSD)United StatesMedicine21.54 of 5
AmazonUnited StatesComputer Science215 of 5
Lockheed MartinUnited StatesEngineering215 of 5
IntelUnited StatesEngineering19.55 of 5
JacobsUnited StatesPhysics and Astronomy185 of 5
SamsungSouth KoreaEngineering17.55 of 5
SinopecSTATE-OWNEDChinaEngineering165 of 5
PfizerUnited StatesMedicine15.55 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

3362021
350.52022
334.52023
292.52024
2902025

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: 10 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 (29 distinct companies). Company partners include: Arctur Racunalniski Inzeniring d.o.o., Advanced Numerical Technologies, Babelscape Srl, Centre Europeen de Recherche et Deformation Avancee En Calcul Scientif, Difusion, Centro de Investigación y Publicaciones de Idiomas, S.l., Eaes Support BV.

  • CLASSICA VALIDATING AI IN CLASSIFYING CANCER IN REAL-TIME SURGERY 2022, 3 companies
  • OperA OPTIMISING COLORECTAL CANCER PREVENTION TROUGH PERSONALISED TREATMENT WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 2022, 2 companies
  • HUM.AI.N-ACCENT Bridging Communication Gaps in Human and Human-AI Interactions: The Role of Accented Speech on Neurocognitive mechanisms and Social Dynamics 2025, 7 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, 4 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (Électricité de France, Framatome, Toshiba, Honeywell) and 7 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 38% 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

2,057 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,994 of 4,051 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 741 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 288 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 253 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 211 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 102 excluded after hand audit: Matched almost only from the Flatiron Institute, a non-profit research institute
  • 71 only inside the university's own affiliation text
  • 328 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.

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GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where Pennsylvania State 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, Pennsylvania State University ranks #100 of 1,195, with Platinum 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.