Rice University continues to strengthen its position as a leader in innovation, rising to No. 66 in the 2025 Top 100 U.S. Universities List for utility patents, released by the National Academy of Inventors. The university moved up two spots from last year, with 29 patents issued during the 2025 calendar year.
“Rice’s continued ascent in the NAI Top 100 reflects our faculty’s dedication to innovation,” said Patricia Stepp, associate vice president for technology transfer. “With the support of Rice’s Office of Technology Transfer to our researchers to protect and promote these breakthroughs, Rice is expanding its footprint as a world-class engine for translational research excellence.”
Released annually, the Top 100 U.S. Universities List highlights and celebrates academic institutions that play a significant role in advancing innovation through the critical step of securing intellectual property through patents. By protecting their intellectual property, universities are able to translate their inventions into commercial technologies, creating tangible societal and economic impact.
“These universities and their inventive faculty are at the forefront of driving national innovation and competitiveness,” said Paul R. Sanberg, president of the National Academy of Inventors. “By moving their ideas to market and protecting their IP with patents, these institutions are ensuring that the U.S. not only remains competitive on the global stage but directly shapes the future of innovation.”
The NAI introduced the Top 100 U.S. Universities List in 2023 to provide a more focused view of the national innovation landscape. It complements the organization’s longstanding Top 100 Worldwide Universities ranking, which has been published since 2013. Collectively, institutions on the 2025 U.S. list secured more than 6,700 patents with over 6,000 attributed to NAI member institutions.
The Top 100 U.S. Universities List is one of three annual rankings published by the NAI, all based on calendar year data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The 2025 Top 100 Worldwide Universities ranking was released in February, and the Top 60 Non-Profit Research Institutions and Government Agencies ranking will be announced later this spring ahead of the NAI’s 15th annual conference in Los Angeles.
Rice’s continued rise in the rankings underscores the university’s commitment to advancing research that moves beyond the lab, translating discoveries into real-world applications that drive economic growth and address global challenges.