The inventive prowess of University of South Florida faculty, researchers and students was on display once again in 2017, as the school placed fifth in the country - and 12th worldwide - among public univerisities in producing new U.S. utility patents.
According to rankings released Tuesday by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), USF received 116 such patents in 2017.
That's a new record for the university, topping its previous best of 114 received one year earlier.
“We are in an era when the public increasingly looks to research universities as a key driver of global innovation. USF’s strong emphasis on invention creates benefits far beyond our campus,” said USF System President Judy Genshaft. “Each day, our students, faculty and staff bring incredible new ideas to life and apply their talents in shaping a better future for all.”
It's the eighth straight year USF finished in the top 20 worldwide, and also put USF on top among Florida's public universities. University of Florida was 13th worldwide with 111 patents received, Florida International was tied for 61st with 42, University of Central Florida was tied for 67th with 39 and Florida State tied at 79th with 34.
The University of California system topped both the U.S. and worldwide list with 524 patents received, with the Institute of Massachusetts (306), University of Texas (219), Stanford (204) and China's Tsinghua University (176) rounding out the top five.
