Political uncertainty may be causing a big swing in where European innovation happens. That’s the conclusion of the third annual Reuters ranking of Europe’s Most Innovative Universities, a list that identifies and ranks the educational institutions doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies, and help drive the global economy.

The trend is most clear in the sum of changes in rank for each country’s institutions: the 23 German universities on this year’s list rose 23 spots, more than any other country. Switzerland was second, with five universities up a total of eight spots. In contrast, the list’s 21 UK-based universities dropped a cumulative 35 spots.



The introduction to the ranking concludes that while the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” from the European Union is almost a year away, Europe’s scientific community may already be leaving the UK in favour of research institutions on the continent. A February 2018 study published by the UK-based Centre for Global Higher Education reports that many German academics view Brexit as an "advantage," and hope to use it to attract UK researchers to German universities. In turn, UK academics report that their own postdoctoral researchers aren't seeking positions in the UK and are looking at the EU or United States instead.



According to the ranking, as Brexit unfolds the situation could get worse: A November 2017 study performed by the School of International Futures for the UK's Royal Society describes a possible post-secession United Kingdom where universities compete for a shrinking pool of skilled workers, projects that used to receive EU funding wither, researchers receive fewer invites to join consortia and attend conferences, and overseas collaboration is limited. Similarly, EU-based businesses that fund research at universities may prefer to keep their investments within the region in order to avoid the tax and regulatory headaches of working with post-Brexit UK institutions.



The most innovative university in Europe, for the third year running, is Belgium’s KU Leuven. A Dutch-speaking school based in Belgium’s Flanders region, KU Leuven was founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V and continually produces a high volume of influential inventions.



Patents filed by KU scientists are frequently cited by other researchers in academia and in private industry. That’s one of the key criteria in the Reuters ranking, which was compiled in partnership with Clarivate Analytics, a global data company providing trusted insights and analytics, and based on empirical data including patent filings from Derwent Innovation and research paper citations from the Web of Science.



Overall, the most elite ranks of Europe’s Most Innovative Universities held steady from last year. The UK’s Imperial College London and University of Cambridge hold onto their respective second and third spots for the third straight year.



Other leading institutions simply traded a few spaces, like the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (up one at four), University of Erlangen Nuremberg (up one at five), and the Technical University of Munich (down two at six).



For more on the Reuters Top 100: Europe’s Most Innovative Universities, including a detailed methodology and profiles of the universities, visit www.reuters.com/innovative-universities-europe-2018.

The Reuters Top 100: The Most Innovative European Universities



Rank Institution Country 1 KU Leuven Belgium 2 Imperial College London United Kingdom 3 University of Cambridge United Kingdom 4 Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne Switzerland 5 University of Erlangen Nuremberg Germany 6 Technical University of Munich Germany 7 University of Manchester United Kingdom 8 University of Munich Germany 9 Technical University of Denmark Denmark 10 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Switzerland 11 University College London United Kingdom 12 Delft University of Technology Netherlands 13 University of Zurich Switzerland 14 University of Oxford United Kingdom 15 University of Basel Switzerland 16 University of Montpellier France 17 Leiden University Netherlands 18 Pierre & Marie Curie University - Paris 6 France 19 University of Paris Descartes - Paris 5 France 20 Ruprecht Karl University Heidelberg Germany 21 Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Germany 22 Free University of Berlin Germany 23 Eindhoven University of Technology Netherlands 24 University of Freiburg Germany 25 University of Paris Sud - Paris 11 France 26 Charité Medical University of Berlin Germany 27 Humboldt University of Berlin Germany 28 Grenoble Alpes University France 29 Dresden University of Technology Germany 30 University of Bordeaux France 31 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany 32 University of Oslo Norway 33 Ghent University Belgium 34 University of Birmingham United Kingdom 35 University of Claude Bernard - Lyon 1 France 36 University of Glasgow United Kingdom 37 Queen Mary University London United Kingdom 38 King's College London United Kingdom 39 Technical University of Berlin Germany 40 RWTH Aachen University Germany 41 University of Strasbourg France 42 Free University of Brussels Belgium 43 University of Copenhagen Denmark 44 Polytechnic University of Milan Italy 45 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom 46 Grenoble Institute of Technology France 47 Vrije University of Brussels Belgium 48 Utrecht University Netherlands 49 Ecole Polytechnique France 50 Goethe University Frankfurt Germany 51 University of Paris Diderot - Paris 7 France 52 University of Munster Germany 53 Cardiff University United Kingdom 54 Catholic University of Louvain Belgium 55 Hannover Medical School Germany 56 Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands 57 University of Amsterdam Netherlands 58 University of Dundee United Kingdom 59 University of Aix-Marseille France 60 University of Leicester United Kingdom 61 Saarland University Germany 62 University of Sheffield United Kingdom 63 Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen Germany 64 Vienna University of Technology Austria 65 Trinity College Dublin Ireland 66 University of Milan Italy 67 University of Paul Sabatier - Toulouse III France 68 University of Leeds United Kingdom 69 University of Barcelona Spain 70 University of Southampton United Kingdom 71 University of Stuttgart Germany 72 University of Wurzburg Germany 73 University of Lorraine France 74 University of Geneva Switzerland 75 University of Twente Netherlands 76 University of Lille France 77 Newcastle University United Kingdom 78 University of Groningen Netherlands 79 University of Nantes France 80 University of Nottingham United Kingdom 81 Sapienza University Rome Italy 82 University of Rennes 1 France 83 University of St Andrews United Kingdom 84 Aarhus University Denmark 85 University of Surrey United Kingdom 86 University of Liege Belgium 87 Polytechnic University of Catalonia Spain 88 Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Germany 89 University College Cork Ireland 90 Jagiellonian University Poland 91 Aalto University Finland 92 University of Bonn Germany 93 Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain 94 Maastricht University Netherlands 95 Darmstadt University of Technology Germany 96 University of Antwerp Belgium 97 University of Nice Sophia Antipolis France 98 University of Warwick United Kingdom 99 Polytechnical University of Valencia Spain 100 University of Valencia Spain

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Clarivate Analytics

Clarivate Analytics is the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. Building on a heritage going back more than a century and a half, we have built some of the most trusted brands across the innovation lifecycle, including Web of Science, Cortellis, Derwent, CompuMark, MarkMonitor and Techstreet. Today, Clarivate Analytics is a new and independent company on a bold entrepreneurial mission to help our clients radically reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing innovations. For more information, please visit clarivate.com.



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