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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

University of Surrey

United Kingdom · Europe · Gold

#125World rank of 1,038
73.5ICI scoreout of 100
#15National rank, of 62 in United Kingdom
#59Regional rank, of 388 in Europe
788Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
433Company groups worked with (152 on two or more works)

University of Surrey is ranked #125 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is co-creation (92): 788 verified industry works against about 485 expected for its mix of fields. It is held back most by durability (35): 35 of its company groups are sustained partners (five or more joint works in three or more of the five years).

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #199 of 1,195, Gold standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
92

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 788 verified works against about 485 expected for its fields (1.62 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
35

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 35 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
73

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. 152 company groups on two or more joint works; 35 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
86

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 (73.5) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 125 of 1,038 overall; 15 of 62 in United Kingdom; 59 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

5.9%of its 13,378 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.62Industry co-authorship rate: 1.62 times what its mix of research fields would predict (788 verified works; about 485 expected)
35sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In United Kingdom

15 of 62 ranked universities in United Kingdom

  1. #13 Cardiff University world #111, score 74.3
  2. #14 Queen Mary University of London world #124, score 73.5
  3. #15 University of Surrey world #125, score 73.5
  4. #16 Newcastle University world #128, score 73.3
  5. #17 University of Southampton world #129, score 73.2

All ranked universities →   Europe: 59 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

#58 of 188Next-Generation Communications53.5 verified works in the sector
#167 of 373Climate, Environment and Sustainability39 verified works in the sector
Next-Generation Communications
53.5#58 of 188
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
40.5#506 of 638
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
39#167 of 373
Artificial Intelligence
36#191 of 292
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
26#392 of 481
Clean Energy Transition
26#273 of 295
Built Environment and Infrastructure
22#212 of 215
Automotive and Mobility
19under 20 works
Software, Cloud and Data
17.5under 20 works
Medical Technology and Digital Health
16under 20 works
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
14.5under 20 works
Batteries and Energy Storage
13under 20 works
Agriculture and Food Technology
12.5under 20 works
Chemicals, Process and Resources
12.5under 20 works
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
9.5under 20 works
Space and Satellite Technology
8under 20 works
Aerospace and Aviation
5under 20 works
Quantum Technologies
3under 20 works
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
3under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
2.5under 20 works
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
2ranking withheld (under 10 eligible)
Not in any of the 21 sectors
406.5counted in the overall index

381.5 of its 788 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 Surrey co-authored verified work with 433 company groups, consortium papers aside: 152 of them on two or more works, and 35 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 433 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
Huawei TechnologiesChinaComputer Science24.55 of 5
UnileverUnited KingdomMedicine205 of 5
ZoetisUnited StatesAgricultural and Biological Sciences195 of 5
SamsungSouth KoreaEngineering155 of 5
WatersUnited StatesChemistry145 of 5
AirbusFranceEngineering115 of 5
ASTRAVEOUnited StatesNot recorded103 of 5
ByteDanceChinaComputer Science102 of 5
CargillUnited StatesAgricultural and Biological Sciences103 of 5
Surrey Satellite TechnologyUnited KingdomEngineering93 of 5
QinetiqUnited KingdomEngineering95 of 5
TennecoUnited StatesEngineering94 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

1802021
1522022
1492023
148.52024
158.52025

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:

  • NCT06258135 At Home Placebo-controlled 8-week GOS Intervention on Emotion Behaviour and Cognition in Children (Age 6-14 Years). with FrieslandCampina, 2021

Funded partnerships (reported, not scored)

Publicly funded research projects with companies

European Union: 44 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 (265 distinct companies). Most frequent: AVL List GmbH, Gioumpitek Meleti Schediasmos Ylopoiisi Kai Polisi Ergon Pliroforikis , Suite5 Data Intelligence Solutions Limited, Wings Ict Solutions Technologies Pliroforikis Kai Epikoinonion Anonymi, Ford Otomotiv Sanayi Anonim Sirketi, Orange SA.

  • ESCALATE Powering EU Net Zero Future by Escalating Zero Emission HDVs and Logistic Intelligence 2023, 29 companies
  • AMAZING-6G Amazing Large-Scale Trials and Pilots for Verticals in 6G 2025, 17 companies
  • FOODCLIC integrated urban FOOD policies - developing sustainability Co-benefits, spatial Linkages, social Inclusion and sectoral Connections to... 2022, 2 companies

United Kingdom: 139 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 (433 distinct companies, including collaborations reported after the award). Most frequent: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), ARUP, QinetiQ (Malvern), BT plc, Johnson Matthey (United Kingdom), Unilever.

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, 66 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (BT Group, Arup Group, Qinetiq, Johnson Matthey, Unilever, AstraZeneca) and 163 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

1,050 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 688 of 1,738 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 386 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 97 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 80 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 21 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 18 excluded after hand audit: Matched almost only from the Flatiron Institute, a non-profit research institute
  • 14 part of a street or district address
  • 72 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 Surrey'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 Surrey ranks #199 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.