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Industry Collaboration Index

Industry Collaboration Index 2026 · University profile

Wake Forest University

United States · North America · Gold

#251World rank of 1,038
65.8ICI scoreout of 100
#75National rank, of 203 in United States
#82Regional rank, of 231 in North America
1,061Verified industry works, 2021 to 2025
455Company groups worked with (166 on two or more works)

Wake Forest University is ranked #251 of 1,038, with Gold standing. Its strongest pillar is co-creation (86): 1,061 verified industry works against about 718 expected for its mix of fields. It is held back most by breadth (10): partners concentrated in a few research fields.

Research Collaboration Index 2026: #448 of 1,195, Silver standing · View the RCI profile →

Why this position

Four pillars, as percentiles

Co-creation30% of the score
86

How often it co-authors with companies, compared with what its own mix of research fields would predict; size makes no difference. 1,061 verified works against about 718 expected for its fields (1.48 times the expected rate).

Durability20% of the score
79

How much of its industry work sits in sustained partnerships with the same company group. 45 sustained partnerships: five or more joint works in three or more of the five years.

Scale30% of the score
75

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. 166 company groups on two or more joint works; 45 sustained partnerships.

Breadth20% of the score
10

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 (65.8) is the weighted average of the four percentiles. Rank 251 of 1,038 overall; 75 of 203 in United States; 82 of 231 in North America. 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 17,289 research works in 2021 to 2025 were co-authored with a verified company
1.48Industry co-authorship rate: 1.48 times what its mix of research fields would predict (1,061 verified works; about 718 expected)
45sustained partnerships: the same company group on five or more joint works in three or more of the five years

In United States

75 of 203 ranked universities in United States

  1. #73 University of Connecticut world #244, score 66.0
  2. #74 Medical University of South Carolina world #248, score 65.9
  3. #75 Wake Forest University world #251, score 65.8
  4. #76 Rice University world #254, score 65.5
  5. #77 Colorado School of Mines world #258, score 65.1

All ranked universities →   North America: 82 of 231 →

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

#99 of 638Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics315.5 verified works in the sector
#131 of 323Medical Technology and Digital Health55 verified works in the sector
Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics
315.5#99 of 638
Medical Technology and Digital Health
55#131 of 323
Biotechnology and Advanced Therapies
24.5#169 of 220
Artificial Intelligence
8.5under 20 works
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
6under 20 works
Software, Cloud and Data
4under 20 works
Clean Energy Transition
2under 20 works
Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
1.5under 20 works
Chemicals, Process and Resources
1under 20 works
Not in any of the 21 sectors
642counted in the overall index

419 of its 1,061 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

Wake Forest University co-authored verified work with 455 company groups, consortium papers aside: 166 of them on two or more works, and 45 as sustained partners.

The largest 12 of its 455 company groups, by joint works

Company groupBased inCompany's main research fieldJoint worksYears with a joint work
Johnson & JohnsonUnited StatesMedicine48.55 of 5
Eli LillyUnited StatesMedicine47.55 of 5
AstraZenecaUnited KingdomMedicine395 of 5
AbbVieUnited StatesMedicine365 of 5
Bristol-Myers SquibbUnited StatesMedicine35.55 of 5
PfizerUnited StatesMedicine30.55 of 5
LabCorpUnited StatesMedicine304 of 5
Boehringer IngelheimGermanyMedicine295 of 5
Novo NordiskDenmarkBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology26.55 of 5
GlaxoSmithKlineUnited KingdomMedicine264 of 5
RocheSwitzerlandMedicine265 of 5
MedpaceUnited StatesMedicine215 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

189.52021
1812022
2132023
2332024
244.52025

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)

36 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:

  • NCT07221097 Prospective Clinical Evaluation of the BioFire Emerging Coronavirus Panel for the Detection of COVID-19 and Other Coronaviruses with BioFire Defense LLC, 2025
  • NCT06781385 Intra-Arterial Tenecteplase Following Endovascular Thrombectomy for Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke with Genentech, Inc., 2025
  • NCT07033169 A Skin Image Reference Tool to Aid Healthcare Providers' Diagnosis with BelleTorus Corporation, 2025
  • NCT06945900 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Telehealth to Speed STEMI Reperfusion with Genentech, Inc., 2025
  • NCT06821009 Effectiveness of a Cloud-based Digital Health Navigation Program for Colorectal Cancer Screening with Digital Health Navigation Solutions, Inc, 2025
  • NCT05601492 Adherence to Otezla with Amgen, 2025

Evidence checked

1,609 verified company links

Each counted link (one work, this university and one company) was confirmed against the affiliation text its author wrote; 1,045 of 2,654 candidate links were set aside.

Why links were set aside
  • 403 company name not written in the author's affiliation
  • 179 part of a university or public institute's own unit
  • 154 ordinary-word name without a company suffix
  • 67 a place or common word that failed its stricter rule
  • 38 excluded after hand audit: Matched from Hartford HealthCare (a hospital system) and the city of Hartford
  • 23 a list of companies, not an address
  • 181 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

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GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform

Where Wake Forest University'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, Wake Forest University ranks #448 of 1,195, with Silver 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.