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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

University of Milan

Italy · Europe · Gold

#269World rank of 1,038
64.5ICI scoreout of 100
#2National rank, of 40 in Italy
#116Regional rank, of 388 in Europe
1,907.5Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
665Company groups worked with (262 on two or more works)

University of Milan is ranked #269 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is scale (89): a network of 262 company groups on two or more joint works. It is held back most by breadth (16): partners concentrated in a few research fields.

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #144 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
56

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,907.5 verified works against about 1,789 expected for its fields (1.07 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
88

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 85 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. 262 company groups on two or more joint works; 85 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
16

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 (64.5) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 269 of 1,038 overall; 2 of 40 in Italy; 116 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

4.3%of its 44,569 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 (1,907.5 verified works; about 1,789 expected)
85sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In Italy

2 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: 116 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

#49 of 638Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics476 verified works in the sector
#68 of 323Medical Technology and Digital Health78 verified works in the sector
#75 of 194Agriculture and Food Technology39.5 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
476#49 of 638
Medical Technology and Digital Health
78#68 of 323
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
45#102 of 220
Agriculture and Food Technology
39.5#75 of 194
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
26#340 of 373
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
18.5under 20 works
Artificial Intelligence
15under 20 works
Chemicals, Process and Resources
12under 20 works
Clean Energy Transition
10under 20 works
Software, Cloud and Data
7under 20 works
Quantum Technologies
5under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
4under 20 works
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
2under 20 works
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
2under 20 works
Batteries and Energy Storage
1under 20 works
Built Environment and Infrastructure
1under 20 works
Next-Generation Communications
1under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
1,164.5counted in the overall index

743 of its 1,907.5 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

University of Milan co-authored verified work with 665 company groups, consortium papers aside: 262 of them on two or more works, and 85 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 665 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
AstraZenecaUnited KingdomMedicine96.55 of 5
RocheSwitzerlandMedicine935 of 5
NovartisSwitzerlandMedicine625 of 5
SanofiFranceMedicine495 of 5
Gilead SciencesUnited StatesMedicine41.55 of 5
Merck & Co. (MSD)United StatesMedicine405 of 5
Bristol-Myers SquibbUnited StatesMedicine39.55 of 5
Daiichi SankyoJapanMedicine395 of 5
MedSIRSpainMedicine355 of 5
Johnson & JohnsonUnited StatesMedicine34.55 of 5
PfizerUnited StatesMedicine30.55 of 5
DompéItalyMedicine295 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

348.52021
418.52022
3792023
380.52024
3812025

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: 90 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 (384 distinct companies). Most frequent: Trilateral Research Limited, Astrazeneca AB, Symeres Netherlands BV, Sequentia Biotech SL, Simune Atomistics SL, Samuel Hall East Africa Limited.

  • PARC Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals 2022, 1 company
  • UNITE4TB ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY UNITED INNOVATION AND TREATMENT FOR TUBERCULOSIS 2021, 4 companies
  • EBRAINS 2.0 EBRAINS 2.0: A Research Infrastructure to Advance Neuroscience and Brain Health 2024, 3 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, 28 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (AstraZeneca, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, AbbVie, Amgen [group I1320553840]) and 72 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 28% 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

2,700 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 3,446 of 6,146 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 1,895 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 512 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 212 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 189 part of a street or district address
  • 180 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 69 excluded after hand audit: CEINGE is a non-profit research consortium
  • 389 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 Milan'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 Milan ranks #144 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.