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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

University of Alberta

Canada · North America · Gold

#127World rank of 1,038
73.3ICI scoreout of 100
#2National rank, of 28 in Canada
#47Regional rank, of 231 in North America
1,923Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
772Company groups worked with (297 on two or more works)

University of Alberta is ranked #127 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is scale (91): a network of 297 company groups on two or more joint works. All four pillars are above the middle of the ranked universities; the lowest is co-creation (60).

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #109 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
60

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,923 verified works against about 1,747 expected for its fields (1.10 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
76

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 81 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
91

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. 297 company groups on two or more joint works; 81 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
64

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 (73.3) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 127 of 1,038 overall; 2 of 28 in Canada; 47 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

4.2%of its 45,459 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.10Industry co-authorship rate: 1.10 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,923 verified works; about 1,747 expected)
81sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In Canada

2 of 28 ranked universities in Canada

  1. #1 University of Toronto world #85, score 76.3
  2. #2 University of Alberta world #127, score 73.3
  3. #3 McGill University world #149, score 71.8
  4. #4 University of Calgary world #155, score 71.5
  5. #5 University of British Columbia world #156, score 71.4

All ranked universities →   North America: 47 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

#87 of 638Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics308.5 verified works in the sector
#33 of 237Chemicals, Process and Resources122.5 verified works in the sector
#37 of 194Agriculture and Food Technology77.5 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
308.5#87 of 638
Chemicals, Process and Resources
122.5#33 of 237
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
78.5#131 of 481
Agriculture and Food Technology
77.5#37 of 194
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
64#123 of 373
Artificial Intelligence
56#100 of 292
Next-Generation Communications
52#78 of 188
Built Environment and Infrastructure
46#105 of 215
Clean Energy Transition
45#131 of 295
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
43.5#71 of 201
Medical Technology and Digital Health
33#226 of 323
Software, Cloud and Data
19under 20 works
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
14.5under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
8under 20 works
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
4under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
3.5under 20 works
Batteries and Energy Storage
2under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
942counted in the overall index

981 of its 1,923 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

University of Alberta co-authored verified work with 772 company groups, consortium papers aside: 297 of them on two or more works, and 81 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 772 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
Merck & Co. (MSD)United StatesMedicine595 of 5
BayerGermanyMedicine575 of 5
SinopecSTATE-OWNEDChinaEngineering54.55 of 5
Huawei TechnologiesChinaComputer Science53.55 of 5
AstraZenecaUnited KingdomMedicine435 of 5
Johnson & JohnsonUnited StatesMedicine405 of 5
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)STATE-OWNEDChinaEngineering385 of 5
Bristol-Myers SquibbUnited StatesMedicine315 of 5
PfizerUnited StatesMedicine305 of 5
RocheSwitzerlandMedicine305 of 5
AbbVieUnited StatesMedicine285 of 5
SanofiFranceMedicine285 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

395.52021
404.52022
3712023
3982024
3542025

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)

14 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:

  • NCT07140484 Sotatercept in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension with Merck Canada Inc., 2025
  • NCT05923970 Is a Third Dose of MMRV Vaccine Beneficial for the Adult Population in Alberta? with Merck Canada Inc., 2024
  • NCT05837663 Trifecta-Lung cfDNA-MMDx Study with Natera, Inc., 2023
  • NCT05975970 A Patient-Driven Augmented Reality-Based Rehabilitation System to Improve Upper Limb Amputee Outcomes with Infinite Biomedical Technologies, 2023
  • NCT04354129 Observational Study of Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin (Cutaquig) in Patients With Primary and Secondary Immunodeficiency. with Octapharma, 2023
  • NCT05295771 Evaluation of Geistlich Fibro-Gide ® and Autogenous Connective Tissue Graft Prior to Orthodontic Maxillary Expansion. with Geistlich Pharma AG, 2022

Evidence checked

2,661 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,416 of 4,077 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 711 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 166 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 159 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 104 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 61 excluded after hand audit: Canadian Light Source is a national research facility
  • 24 excluded after hand audit: Matched almost only from the Flatiron Institute, a non-profit research institute
  • 191 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 University of Alberta'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, University of Alberta ranks #109 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.