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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

University of Leicester

United Kingdom · Europe · Gold

#132World rank of 1,038
73.2ICI scoreout of 100
#18National rank, of 62 in United Kingdom
#62Regional rank, of 388 in Europe
969Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
384Company groups worked with (129 on two or more works)

University of Leicester is ranked #132 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is co-creation (93): 969 verified industry works against about 590 expected for its mix of fields. It is held back most by breadth (42): partners concentrated in a few research fields.

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #110 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
93

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 969 verified works against about 590 expected for its fields (1.64 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
81

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 38 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
69

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. 129 company groups on two or more joint works; 38 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
42

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 (73.2) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 132 of 1,038 overall; 18 of 62 in United Kingdom; 62 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

6.1%of its 15,792 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.64Industry co-authorship rate: 1.64 times what its mix of research fields would predict (969 verified works; about 590 expected)
38sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In United Kingdom

18 of 62 ranked universities in United Kingdom

  1. #16 Newcastle University world #128, score 73.3
  2. #17 University of Southampton world #129, score 73.2
  3. #18 University of Leicester world #132, score 73.2
  4. #19 University of Nottingham world #164, score 71.0
  5. #20 Swansea University world #170, score 70.7

All ranked universities →   Europe: 62 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

#300 of 638Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics122.5 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
122.5#300 of 638
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
26.5#406 of 481
Medical Technology and Digital Health
22.5#316 of 323
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
21#352 of 373
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
13under 20 works
Chemicals, Process and Resources
12under 20 works
Artificial Intelligence
11under 20 works
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
8under 20 works
Space and Satellite Technology
8under 20 works
Clean Energy Transition
7.5under 20 works
Software, Cloud and Data
6under 20 works
Next-Generation Communications
5under 20 works
Agriculture and Food Technology
4under 20 works
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
2.5under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
1under 20 works
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
1ranking withheld (under 10 eligible)
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
0.5under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
696.5counted in the overall index

272.5 of its 969 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 Leicester co-authored verified work with 384 company groups, consortium papers aside: 129 of them on two or more works, and 38 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 384 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
AstraZenecaUnited KingdomMedicine1475 of 5
Novo NordiskDenmarkBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology74.55 of 5
GlaxoSmithKlineUnited KingdomMedicine35.55 of 5
NovartisSwitzerlandMedicine30.55 of 5
AmgenUnited StatesMedicine27.55 of 5
Travere TherapeuticsUnited StatesMedicine224 of 5
RocheSwitzerlandMedicine21.55 of 5
SanofiFranceMedicine215 of 5
Astellas PharmaJapanMedicine155 of 5
Spectral SciencesUnited StatesPhysics and Astronomy145 of 5
Eli LillyUnited StatesMedicine134 of 5
Predictive ScienceUnited StatesPhysics and Astronomy123 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
171.52022
194.52023
218.52024
220.52025

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)

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:

  • NCT05814484 Role of Inhaler Adherence and Blood Eosinophil Count in Exacerbations of COPD with Aparito Ltd., 2023

Funded partnerships (reported, not scored)

Publicly funded research projects with companies

European Union: 29 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 (212 distinct companies). Most frequent: Astrazeneca Uk Limited, Gates Ventures LLC, F. Hoffmann-la Roche AG, Umcg Research BV, Sanofi-aventis Recherche & Developpement, Synapse Research Management Partners SL.

  • ERDERA EUROPEAN RARE DISEASES RESEARCH ALLIANCE 2024, 20 companies
  • GENESIS GENerate in Europe a Sustainable Industry for Semiconductor 2025, 42 companies
  • 6G-PATH 6G-PATH: 6G Pilots and Trials Through Europe 2024, 17 companies

United Kingdom: 70 UKRI projects with named company partners

Projects funded through UK Research and Innovation (research councils and Innovate UK, including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships) starting 2021-2025 in which this university takes part and at least one company is a named partner (218 distinct companies, including collaborations reported after the award). Most frequent: AstraZeneca, MIP Diagnostics Limited, ARUP Group, Bruker Corporation, BT Group, Isogenica Ltd.

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, 38 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (AstraZeneca, Arup Group, Novartis, Thales, Carl Zeiss, Bruker) and 103 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 36% 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

1,554 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 978 of 2,532 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 541 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 153 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 74 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 65 excluded after hand audit: Ulverscroft is a charitable foundation
  • 29 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 27 excluded after hand audit: TWI is a member-based research and technology organisation
  • 89 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 University of Leicester'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 Leicester ranks #110 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.