The University of South Florida in Tampa ranks 10th nationally and 13th among universities worldwide for U.S. patents granted in 2014, according to a new report released by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).
The report, based on data obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, recognizes the important role patents play in university research. USF, with 104 patents for 2014, has ranked among the top 15 universities worldwide for the past five years in generating new inventions, the university said in its press release.
The top 10 U.S. universities on the list are: The University of California System, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Texas, California Institute of Technology, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, University of Michigan and USF.
The list includes both public and private universities in the U.S. In addition to USF, three other Florida universities are included in the ranking: University of Florida Research Foundation (UF), which ranked 15th in the U.S. with 87 patents, University of Central Florida (UCF), which ranked 23rd in the U.S. with 66 patents, and Florida State University (FSU), which ranked 52nd in the U.S. with 30 patents. Among public universities in the U.S., the four Florida universities on the Top 100 list ranked as follows: USF 4th, UF 7th, UCF 12th and FSU 30th.
The NAI and IPO compile the list each year by calculating the number of utility patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office which list a university as the first assignee on the printed patent. See the full list of the Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted Patents in 2014.
The IPO will soon be releasing its annual list of the Top 300 organizations worldwide that received the most U.S. utility patents during 2014, a list that has been published for more than 30 years. USF will be one of only 13 universities that will appear on the list, the university said.