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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Netherlands · Europe · Platinum

#89World rank of 1,038
75.9ICI scoreout of 100
#4National rank, of 13 in Netherlands
#37Regional rank, of 388 in Europe
1,430.5Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
543Company groups worked with (199 on two or more works)

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is ranked #89 of 1,038, with Platinum standing. Its strongest pillar is co-creation (91): 1,430.5 verified industry works against about 893 expected for its mix of fields. It is held back most by breadth (32): partners concentrated in a few research fields.

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #64 of 1,195, Platinum standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
91

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,430.5 verified works against about 893 expected for its fields (1.60 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
89

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 69 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
82

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. 199 company groups on two or more joint works; 69 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
32

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 (75.9) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 89 of 1,038 overall; 4 of 13 in Netherlands; 37 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

5.2%of its 27,458 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.60Industry co-authorship rate: 1.60 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,430.5 verified works; about 893 expected)
69sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In Netherlands

4 of 13 ranked universities in Netherlands

  1. #2 Utrecht University world #36, score 80.8
  2. #3 Eindhoven University of Technology world #69, score 77.7
  3. #4 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam world #89, score 75.9
  4. #5 University of Groningen world #97, score 75.2
  5. #6 University of Amsterdam world #114, score 74.0

All ranked universities →   Europe: 37 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

#73 of 373Climate, Environment and Sustainability67.5 verified works in the sector
#129 of 638Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics279 verified works in the sector
#72 of 220Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies59.5 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
279#129 of 638
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
67.5#73 of 373
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
59.5#72 of 220
Medical Technology and Digital Health
55.5#170 of 323
Software, Cloud and Data
19under 20 works
Artificial Intelligence
15.5under 20 works
Agriculture and Food Technology
12under 20 works
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
11under 20 works
Cybersecurity and Digital Trust
4under 20 works
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
2under 20 works
Built Environment and Infrastructure
2under 20 works
Chemicals, Process and Resources
2under 20 works
Quantum Technologies
2under 20 works
Automotive and Mobility
1under 20 works
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
0.5under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
898counted in the overall index

532.5 of its 1,430.5 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

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam co-authored verified work with 543 company groups, consortium papers aside: 199 of them on two or more works, and 69 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 543 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
Johnson & JohnsonUnited StatesMedicine190.55 of 5
RocheSwitzerlandMedicine50.55 of 5
Eli LillyUnited StatesMedicine40.55 of 5
LundbeckDenmarkMedicine395 of 5
NovartisSwitzerlandMedicine38.55 of 5
IxicoUnited KingdomMedicine355 of 5
AstraZenecaUnited KingdomMedicine335 of 5
DanoneFranceMedicine315 of 5
ADx NeuroSciencesMedicine305 of 5
Bristol-Myers SquibbUnited StatesMedicine25.55 of 5
QuanterixUnited StatesMedicine255 of 5
BiogenUnited StatesMedicine245 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

283.52021
300.52022
305.52023
2722024
2692025

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: 110 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 (480 distinct companies). Most frequent: Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Pfizer Inc, Pfizer R&d Uk Limited, Lilly Deutschland GmbH, Astrazeneca AB, Eli Lilly and Company.

  • PARC Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals 2022, 1 company
  • READI Research in Europe and Diversity Inclusion 2025, 41 companies
  • IMAGIO IMAGING AND ADVANCED GUIDANCE FOR WORKFLOW OPTIMIZATION IN INTERVENTIONAL ONCOLOGY 2023, 17 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, 53 also appear in this university's verified co-authorship record (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Scientific Computing & Modelling, Novartis, AbbVie) and 91 are funded partners not yet visible in it. About 34% 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

2,302 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,558 of 3,860 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 727 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 335 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 156 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 102 excluded after hand audit: ARCNL is a public-private research institute
  • 44 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 22 excluded after hand audit: Fimlab is a laboratory company owned by public hospital districts (public healthcare)
  • 172 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 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam'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, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ranks #64 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.