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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

University of California, Santa Barbara

United States · North America · Gold

★ Sector Awards 2026. Finalist: the Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology Award (with Honeywell; Daniel J. Blumenthal and Karl D. Nelson).

#142World rank of 1,038
72.7ICI scoreout of 100
#48National rank, of 203 in United States
#50Regional rank, of 231 in North America
695Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
372Company groups worked with (103 on two or more works)

University of California, Santa Barbara is ranked #142 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is breadth (89): partners spread across many research fields. All four pillars are above the middle of the ranked universities; the lowest is durability (52).

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #188 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
84

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 695 verified works against about 477 expected for its fields (1.46 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
52

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 26 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
64

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. 103 company groups on two or more joint works; 26 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
89

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 (72.7) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 142 of 1,038 overall; 48 of 203 in United States; 50 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

4.5%of its 15,477 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.46Industry co-authorship rate: 1.46 times what its mix of research fields would predict (695 verified works; about 477 expected)
26sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In United States

48 of 203 ranked universities in United States

  1. #46 Pennsylvania State University world #137, score 72.9
  2. #47 University of Pittsburgh world #138, score 72.9
  3. #48 University of California, Santa Barbara world #142, score 72.7
  4. #49 University of Miami world #143, score 72.5
  5. #50 University of Arizona world #146, score 72.2

All ranked universities →   North America: 50 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

#115 of 481Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology92.5 verified works in the sector
#31 of 109Semiconductors and Microelectronics36 verified works in the sector
#50 of 167Software, Cloud and Data36.5 verified works in the sector
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
92.5#115 of 481
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
36#31 of 109
Software, Cloud and Data
36.5#50 of 167
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
31.5#252 of 373
Artificial Intelligence
23#213 of 292
Chemicals, Process and Resources
20#235 of 237
Quantum Technologies
18under 20 works
Agriculture and Food Technology
13under 20 works
Medical Technology and Digital Health
12under 20 works
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
10under 20 works
Batteries and Energy Storage
10under 20 works
Next-Generation Communications
10under 20 works
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
9under 20 works
Clean Energy Transition
6under 20 works
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
4under 20 works
Built Environment and Infrastructure
4under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
1under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
1under 20 works
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
0.5ranking withheld (under 10 eligible)
Not in any of the 21 sectors
354.5counted in the overall index

340.5 of its 695 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 California, Santa Barbara co-authored verified work with 372 company groups, consortium papers aside: 103 of them on two or more works, and 26 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 372 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
IntelUnited StatesEngineering39.55 of 5
GoogleUnited StatesComputer Science36.55 of 5
MicrosoftUnited StatesComputer Science335 of 5
BASFGermanyMaterials Science225 of 5
NovartisSwitzerlandMedicine164 of 5
Fresenius Medical CareGermanyMedicine144 of 5
Dow ChemicalUnited StatesMaterials Science135 of 5
SamsungSouth KoreaEngineering115 of 5
HoneywellUnited StatesEngineering115 of 5
NvidiaUnited StatesComputer Science114 of 5
AmazonUnited StatesComputer Science9.55 of 5
IBMUnited StatesComputer Science95 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

1642021
1382022
144.52023
147.52024
1012025

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)

1 industry-partnered clinical trial

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.

The trial:

  • NCT05150990 Technology and Family Thriving Study with Rendever, Inc., 2021

Evidence checked

940 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 862 of 1,802 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 378 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 119 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 106 excluded after hand audit: Matched almost only from the Flatiron Institute, a non-profit research institute
  • 79 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 39 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 29 only inside the university's own affiliation text
  • 112 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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Use the badge with a link to this page.

GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where University of California, Santa Barbara'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 California, Santa Barbara ranks #188 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.