The University of South Florida has plenty to be proud of this morning. In a study released yesterday USF students and researchers ranked 5th nationally and 12th worldwide among public universities in producing new U.S. utility patents.
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), released their annual report and it showed that USF had an impressive 2017. The school received 116 patents last year besting their own record of 114 that they posted in 2016.
“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.”
This marks the eighth consecutive year that South Florida has ranked in the world top 20 in patents generated by a public university. It also gives them bragging rights again over the other schools in the Sunshine State.
The 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.
But it should be noted that things are quite bright for the central Florida region. Florida’s High Tech Corridor, which includes University of South Florida and University of Florida, outranked such high-profile regions as North Carolina’s Research Triangle and University of Texas’s eight schools.
Florida, South Florida and Central Florida combined total of 266 outranked the research hub in North Carolina, which received 189 patents between its three universities: Duke University, North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
Texas’s system racked up a total of 219 and that gave them third overall. The system is of course led by its flagship the University of Texas in Austin, one of the nation’s tech hubs.
“The university partners of the Florida High Tech Corridor continue to produce incredible work in patenting, reaffirming The Corridor’s position as a nationally competitive high tech hub,” said Ed Schons, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. “This report is a testament to the creative thinking and innovative spirit embodied by The Corridor and our partners, and we look forward to a bright future full of continued growth in our region.”
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.
So, for USF that is some very impressive company to be in and it seems like their upward trend in this field continues to be a feather in their cap.
