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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

University of Nottingham

United Kingdom · Europe · Gold

★ Sector Awards 2026. Winner: the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Award (with Rolls-Royce; Dragos A. Axinte and Andy Norton). Finalist: the Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology Award (with Rolls-Royce; Tanvir Hussain and Richard G. Wellman); the Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 Award (with Rolls-Royce; Adam Thomas Clare and Mark Hardy).

#164World rank of 1,038
71.0ICI scoreout of 100
#19National rank, of 62 in United Kingdom
#75Regional rank, of 388 in Europe
1,547.5Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
733Company groups worked with (248 on two or more works)

University of Nottingham is ranked #164 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is scale (87): a network of 248 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: #49 of 1,195, Platinum 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. 1,547.5 verified works against about 1,392 expected for its fields (1.11 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
63

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 65 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
87

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. 248 company groups on two or more joint works; 65 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
70

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 (71.0) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 164 of 1,038 overall; 19 of 62 in United Kingdom; 75 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 38,549 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.11Industry co-authorship rate: 1.11 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,547.5 verified works; about 1,392 expected)
65sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In United Kingdom

19 of 62 ranked universities in United Kingdom

  1. #17 University of Southampton world #129, score 73.2
  2. #18 University of Leicester world #132, score 73.2
  3. #19 University of Nottingham world #164, score 71.0
  4. #20 Swansea University world #170, score 70.7
  5. #21 University of Liverpool world #185, score 69.8

All ranked universities →   Europe: 75 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

#41 of 201Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.080.5 verified works in the sector
#119 of 481Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology95 verified works in the sector
#52 of 194Agriculture and Food Technology54.5 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
132#214 of 638
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
95#119 of 481
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
80.5#41 of 201
Clean Energy Transition
64.5#88 of 295
Agriculture and Food Technology
54.5#52 of 194
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
48.5#195 of 373
Medical Technology and Digital Health
36#192 of 323
Chemicals, Process and Resources
32.5#148 of 237
Artificial Intelligence
29.5#208 of 292
Built Environment and Infrastructure
28.5#159 of 215
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
28.5#164 of 220
Next-Generation Communications
12.5under 20 works
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
11ranking withheld (under 10 eligible)
Automotive and Mobility
9under 20 works
Batteries and Energy Storage
8under 20 works
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
7.5under 20 works
Software, Cloud and Data
7under 20 works
Aerospace and Aviation
4under 20 works
Quantum Technologies
4under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
3under 20 works
Space and Satellite Technology
2under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
846.5counted in the overall index

701 of its 1,547.5 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 Nottingham co-authored verified work with 733 company groups, consortium papers aside: 248 of them on two or more works, and 65 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 733 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
AstraZenecaUnited KingdomMedicine82.55 of 5
Rolls-RoyceUnited KingdomEngineering73.55 of 5
GlaxoSmithKlineUnited KingdomMedicine53.55 of 5
RocheSwitzerlandMedicine295 of 5
ZOEUnited KingdomMedicine274 of 5
PfizerUnited StatesMedicine254 of 5
Johnson & JohnsonUnited StatesMedicine245 of 5
QuSpinUnited StatesNeuroscience21.55 of 5
SanofiFranceMedicine205 of 5
GoogleUnited StatesComputer Science195 of 5
NovartisSwitzerlandMedicine185 of 5
Johnson MattheyUnited KingdomMaterials Science185 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

3672021
325.52022
283.52023
2792024
292.52025

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)

15 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:

  • NCT07146607 Evaluating an Audiology Text-Message Protocol to Support Hearing Aid Use in NHS Adult Audiology Patients with WSAUD A/S, 2025
  • NCT06446609 Drug-induced Liver Injury: Itching Study with Ipsen, 2025
  • NCT07191847 Assessment of CataClear, Tear Film Stability, Tear Volume, and Dry Eye Symptoms Using Stem Cells Fortified Eye Drops with Ace Cells Lab Limited, 2025
  • NCT06453512 A Study to Evaluate the Emollient Performance of Doublebase Once in the Treatment of Atopic Eczema with Dermal Laboratories Ltd, 2024
  • NCT06364488 TrueBlue Clinical Study - Investigating the Use of a Mobile Phone App TrueBlue for Monitoring Depression and Anxiety with BlueSkeye AI, 2024
  • NCT06598124 Effects of Low Lactose Milk Containing GOS on Digestive Response in Healthy Chinese Adults with Société des Produits Nestlé (SPN), 2024

Funded partnerships (reported, not scored)

Publicly funded research projects with companies

European Union: 48 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 (304 distinct companies). Most frequent: Leonardo - Societa per Azioni, Siemens Industry Software NV, Collins Aerospace Ireland, Limited, Twi Limited, Safran SA, Aeromechs Srl.

  • HERA Hybrid-Electric Regional Architecture 2023, 34 companies
  • HECATE Hybrid ElectriC regional Aircraft distribution TEchnologies 2023, 22 companies
  • NEWBORN NExt generation high poWer fuel cells for airBORNe applications 2023, 17 companies

United Kingdom: 381 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 (704 distinct companies, including collaborations reported after the award). Most frequent: AstraZeneca, Rolls Royce, Unilever, GSK, Johnson Matthey (United Kingdom), Siemens plc (UK).

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, 114 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (AstraZeneca, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Johnson Matthey, Airbus, Syngenta) and 208 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 38% 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

2,153 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,656 of 3,809 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 957 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 201 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 151 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 117 refresh_university_not_on_work
  • 62 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 18 only inside the university's own affiliation text
  • 150 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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GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where University of Nottingham'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 Nottingham ranks #49 of 1,195, with Platinum 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.