Global Research PartnershipsCreate free account
Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

University of Bologna

Italy · Europe · Gold

#194World rank of 1,038
69.4ICI scoreout of 100
#1National rank, of 40 in Italy
#85Regional rank, of 388 in Europe
1,746Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
697Company groups worked with (274 on two or more works)

University of Bologna is ranked #194 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is scale (89): a network of 274 company groups on two or more joint works. All four pillars are above the middle of the ranked universities; the lowest is co-creation (57).

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #139 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
57

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,746 verified works against about 1,624 expected for its fields (1.07 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
72

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 73 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. 274 company groups on two or more joint works; 73 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
57

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 (69.4) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 194 of 1,038 overall; 1 of 40 in Italy; 85 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

4.0%of its 43,736 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.07Industry co-authorship rate: 1.07 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,746 verified works; about 1,624 expected)
73sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In Italy

1 of 40 ranked universities in Italy

  1. #1 University of Bologna world #194, score 69.4
  2. #2 University of Milan world #269, score 64.5
  3. #3 University of Padua world #283, score 63.5
  4. #4 Politecnico di Milano world #298, score 62.8
  5. #5 University of Milano-Bicocca world #307, score 62.1

All ranked universities →   Europe: 85 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

#86 of 638Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics299.5 verified works in the sector
#86 of 220Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies37.5 verified works in the sector
#211 of 481Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology44.5 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
299.5#86 of 638
Agriculture and Food Technology
51#86 of 194
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
44.5#211 of 481
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
43.5#197 of 373
Next-Generation Communications
41#83 of 188
Medical Technology and Digital Health
40#180 of 323
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
37.5#86 of 220
Software, Cloud and Data
33.5#109 of 167
Built Environment and Infrastructure
29#149 of 215
Clean Energy Transition
28#224 of 295
Chemicals, Process and Resources
24#195 of 237
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
22#171 of 201
Artificial Intelligence
21.5#278 of 292
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
17under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
9under 20 works
Quantum Technologies
6under 20 works
Batteries and Energy Storage
4under 20 works
Space and Satellite Technology
4under 20 works
Aerospace and Aviation
1under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
1under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
987.5counted in the overall index

758.5 of its 1,746 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 Bologna co-authored verified work with 697 company groups, consortium papers aside: 274 of them on two or more works, and 73 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 697 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
NovartisSwitzerlandMedicine535 of 5
Johnson & JohnsonUnited StatesMedicine445 of 5
Eli LillyUnited StatesMedicine405 of 5
SanofiFranceMedicine405 of 5
Merck & Co. (MSD)United StatesMedicine355 of 5
STMicroelectronicsFranceEngineering34.55 of 5
AstraZenecaUnited KingdomMedicine325 of 5
ChiesiItalyMedicine295 of 5
Bristol-Myers SquibbUnited StatesMedicine285 of 5
RocheSwitzerlandMedicine265 of 5
BayerGermanyMedicine265 of 5
GoogleUnited StatesComputer Science25.55 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

3252021
3302022
3712023
314.52024
405.52025

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.

Clinical trials (reported, not scored)

3 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:

  • NCT05967715 Exercise Training Influences Gut Microbiota and Cardiovascular Health Through Inflammation Control in Adult Hypertensive Population: the MicroFit Study with Actial Farmaceutica S.r.l., 2023
  • NCT05569850 Efficacy of an Antibacterial Toothpaste and Patients' Satisfaction with Unilever R&D, 2022
  • NCT05222139 Monitoring COVID-19 Vaccination Response in Fragile Populations with Helmholtz Zentrum München, 2021

Funded partnerships (reported, not scored)

Publicly funded research projects with companies

European Union: 243 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 (1,352 distinct companies). Most frequent: STMicroelectronics Srl, Robert Bosch GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG, E 4 Computer Engineering SpA, Novamont SpA, Thales Dis France SAS.

  • DARE SGA 1 Digital Autonomy for RISC-V in Europe (Specific Grant Agreement 1) 2025, 14 companies
  • COREU CO2 ROUTES ACROSS EUROPE 2024, 24 companies
  • NeAIxt Next Generation of edge AI crossing technology fields 2025, 36 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, 75 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies, Robert Bosch, Thales, Novamont, Électricité de France) and 204 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 24% 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

2,366 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 2,737 of 5,103 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 1,812 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 163 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 127 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 116 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 95 excluded after hand audit: Matched from Italian department names (Medica)
  • 94 excluded after hand audit: Matched almost only from the Flatiron Institute, a non-profit research institute
  • 330 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

Gold standing badge

Use the badge with a link to this page.

GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where University of Bologna'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 Bologna ranks #139 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.