Straw-based biofuel, superconductors for city centers, solar storage systems for reducing grid load: Many innovations of KIT address future challenges of society. Now, KIT has succeeded in reaching the Reuters Top 100 Ranking of the world’s most innovative universities.
“At KIT, we have a long tradition in encouraging innovation and startups. Ranking in the top 100 most innovative universities reflects in the best way possible that innovation is in the focus of our acting apart from research and education,” President Professor Holger Hanselka says. Reuters ranks KIT in place 100. Considering the German universities alone, KIT is in sixth place.
The core tasks of KIT are research, higher education, and innovation. Innovation is aimed at making scientific findings usable for society and industry through startups, spinoffs, licenses, and services for industry. Since 2013, KIT has been an entrepreneurial university in the competition “EXIST- Culture of Entrepreneurship” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). This year, already four ERC grant projects of KIT have been granted funds for the commercialization of their basic findings. KIT supports students and employees in all phases of the innovation process. The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) advises students in establishing startups and establishes contacts to co-founders, alumni, and investors. The KIT Campus Transfer GmbH (KCT) rapidly and flexibly executes service contracts awarded by industry.
Annually, patent applications are filed for about 40 to 50% of the total of about 130 invention disclosures. Approximately 20% of the inventions are directly transferred to industry partners. Since 2010, 314 patent applications have been filed. The innovative strength of KIT is reflected by the high utilization rate of property rights of KIT, which amounts to 60%. Licensing annually generates about EUR 2.5 million of royalties for the KIT. In 2014, 33 companies were established by students or employees of KIT. In 2015, the KIT startup Restube won the German Startup Award, the KIT spinoff nanoscribe was finalist in the shooting star category.
The Reuters Top 100 Ranking lists universities and organizations contributing most to science and technology and largely influencing the world’s economy. The ranking is based on scientific publications, patents, citations, and ten innovation indicators.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.