Industry–university links: which companies and universities write together
Which companies and universities write papers together in the 400 tracked journals, and how closely: every company–university pair on the same paper, 2017–2026. A joint paper has authors at both the company and the university (an institution OpenAlex classifies as education, which includes research universities' schools and institutes); a paper with several companies or universities counts once for each pair. Strength is the joint papers divided by the geometric mean of the company's papers with any university and the university's papers with any company (Salton's cosine, 0 to 1): it is high when the two mostly work with each other, whatever their size. OpenAlex sometimes lists one company under more than one record. Also as Markdown.
Corporate research · Corporate citation network
Key findings#
- From 2017 to 2026, 12,327 papers in the tracked journals had an author at a company; 91% of them also had a university author, linking 16,893 company–university pairs.
- Alibaba Group (China) and Zhejiang University wrote the most papers together (102, 54 of them since 2023), followed by Tencent (China) and Tsinghua University (63) and China Telecom and Northwestern Polytechnical University (60).
- Measured against their size, the closest partnerships with at least 15 joint papers are Coventry (United Kingdom) and Coventry University (strength 0.87, 28 papers), Syreon Research Institute (Hungary) and Semmelweis University (strength 0.70, 22 papers) and Kleijnen Systematic Reviews (United Kingdom) and Maastricht University (strength 0.68, 27 papers).
- Tsinghua University has the most papers with company authors (376, with 114 companies); Amazon (United States) writes with the widest range of universities (332).
- 52% of the company–university pairings are within one country; the largest cross-border ones are companies in China with universities in the United States (550 papers) and companies in the United States with universities in China (468 papers).
Companies and their university partners#
Most joint papers#
Closest partnerships#
| # | Company | University | Strength | Joint papers | Since 2023 | Of the company's | Of the university's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coventry (United Kingdom) | Coventry University | 0.87 | 28 | 7 | 97% | 78% |
| 2 | Syreon Research Institute (Hungary) | Semmelweis University | 0.70 | 22 | 12 | 58% | 85% |
| 3 | Kleijnen Systematic Reviews (United Kingdom) | Maastricht University | 0.68 | 27 | 4 | 75% | 61% |
| 4 | United Imaging Intelligence (China) | ShanghaiTech University | 0.65 | 26 | 17 | 68% | 62% |
| 5 | Flanders Make (Belgium) | Ghent University | 0.55 | 26 | 11 | 57% | 54% |
| 6 | Mininglamp (China) | Hefei University of Technology | 0.50 | 25 | 0 | 69% | 36% |
| 7 | Neusoft (China) | Northeastern University | 0.49 | 18 | 13 | 86% | 28% |
| 8 | China Telecom (China) | Northwestern Polytechnical University | 0.41 | 52 | 52 | 53% | 32% |
| 9 | China Telecom | Northwestern Polytechnical University | 0.37 | 60 | 60 | 36% | 37% |
| 10 | Nederlandse Spoorwegen | Erasmus University Rotterdam | 0.34 | 17 | 7 | 52% | 23% |
| 11 | Alibaba Group (China) | Zhejiang University | 0.30 | 102 | 54 | 27% | 34% |
| 12 | Sensetime (China) | Chinese University of Hong Kong | 0.29 | 34 | 15 | 29% | 29% |
| 13 | Flanders Make (Belgium) | KU Leuven | 0.27 | 17 | 8 | 37% | 20% |
| 14 | Jingdong (China) | The University of Sydney | 0.27 | 50 | 35 | 20% | 36% |
| 15 | IFlyTek (China) | University of Science and Technology of China | 0.26 | 28 | 16 | 50% | 14% |
| 16 | Samsung Electronics (South Korea) | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | 0.25 | 21 | 6 | 26% | 24% |
| 17 | Inspur (China) | Shandong University | 0.25 | 17 | 16 | 29% | 21% |
| 18 | Samsung (South Korea) | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | 0.24 | 24 | 10 | 20% | 28% |
| 19 | Jingdong (China) | Southwest Jiaotong University | 0.24 | 31 | 18 | 12% | 44% |
| 20 | Samsung (South Korea) | Seoul National University | 0.22 | 21 | 6 | 18% | 28% |
| 21 | Électricité de France (France) | Université Paris Sciences et Lettres | 0.22 | 15 | 4 | 19% | 25% |
| 22 | State Grid Corporation of China (China) | North China Electric Power University | 0.21 | 15 | 9 | 10% | 44% |
| 23 | China Telecom | Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications | 0.17 | 24 | 24 | 14% | 21% |
| 24 | Tencent (China) | Xiamen University | 0.16 | 35 | 18 | 7% | 40% |
| 25 | Jingdong (China) | Wuhan University | 0.15 | 29 | 22 | 12% | 20% |
Universities#
| # | University | Country | Papers with a company | Companies | Main partners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsinghua University | China | 376 | 114 | Tencent (China) (63), Alibaba Group (China) (28), Huawei Technologies (China) (25) |
| 2 | Zhejiang University | China | 303 | 67 | Alibaba Group (China) (102), Tencent (China) (22), Ant Group (China) (19) |
| 3 | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences | China | 277 | 76 | Tencent (China) (43), Huawei Technologies (China) (40), Alibaba Group (China) (25) |
| 4 | Peking University | China | 221 | 80 | Tencent (China) (37), Huawei Technologies (China) (29), Alibaba Group (China) (19) |
| 5 | University of Science and Technology of China | China | 207 | 46 | IFlyTek (China) (28), Microsoft Research Asia (China) (27), Huawei Technologies (China) (24) |
| 6 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore | 204 | 66 | Tencent (China) (28), Alibaba Group (China) (25), Jingdong (China) (19) |
| 7 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China | 204 | 80 | Huawei Technologies (China) (28), Tencent (China) (25), Alibaba Group (China) (17) |
| 8 | Beihang University | China | 181 | 67 | Baidu (China) (18), Tencent (China) (17), Sensetime (China) (14) |
| 9 | Northwestern Polytechnical University | China | 162 | 43 | China Telecom (60), China Telecom (China) (52), Baidu (China) (15) |
| 10 | Sun Yat-sen University | China | 159 | 57 | Alibaba Group (China) (26), Tencent (China) (21), Huawei Technologies (China) (16) |
| 11 | Wuhan University | China | 148 | 53 | Jingdong (China) (29), Tencent (China) (14), Huawei Technologies (China) (12) |
| 12 | Harbin Institute of Technology | China | 146 | 56 | Huawei Technologies (China) (20), Tencent (China) (18), Jingdong (China) (11) |
| 13 | University of Electronic Science and Technology of China | China | 144 | 53 | Tencent (China) (14), China Mobile (China) (13), Huawei Technologies (China) (10) |
| 14 | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong | 142 | 46 | Tencent (China) (22), Alibaba Group (China) (19), Huawei Technologies (China) (17) |
| 15 | The University of Sydney | Australia | 139 | 45 | Jingdong (China) (50), Huawei Technologies (China) (14), Sensetime (China) (14) |
| 16 | National University of Singapore | Singapore | 135 | 73 | Tencent (China) (18), Alibaba Group (China) (16), ByteDance (China) (13) |
| 17 | Xi'an Jiaotong University | China | 134 | 57 | Lenovo (China) (13), Tencent (China) (12), Huawei Technologies (China) (12) |
| 18 | Huazhong University of Science and Technology | China | 130 | 60 | Huawei Technologies (China) (13), Alibaba Group (China) (13), Tencent (China) (9) |
| 19 | Beijing Institute of Technology | China | 129 | 50 | Jingdong (China) (13), Huawei Technologies (China) (11), Tencent (China) (9) |
| 20 | Fudan University | China | 120 | 56 | Tencent (China) (20), Alibaba Group (China) (14), Huawei Technologies (China) (13) |
| 21 | Chinese University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 119 | 42 | Sensetime (China) (34), Tencent (China) (22), Huawei Technologies (China) (8) |
| 22 | Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications | China | 116 | 44 | China Telecom (24), Tencent (China) (11), State Grid Corporation of China (China) (10) |
| 23 | Tianjin University | China | 114 | 50 | Baidu (China) (15), Huawei Technologies (China) (11) |
| 24 | Carnegie Mellon University | United States | 112 | 63 | Meta (United States) (13), Microsoft (United States) (8), ExxonMobil (United States) (8) |
| 25 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | 111 | 85 | IBM (United States) (17), Google (United States) (15), Meta (United States) (10) |
| 26 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 110 | 87 | – |
| 27 | Imperial College London | United Kingdom | 109 | 92 | Google DeepMind (United Kingdom) (7) |
| 28 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 109 | 54 | Tencent (China) (14), Sensetime (China) (14), Huawei Technologies (China) (13) |
| 29 | Tongji University | China | 105 | 50 | Tencent (China) (13), Didi Chuxing (China) (8), Sensetime (China) (7) |
| 30 | University College London | United Kingdom | 102 | 84 | Huawei Technologies (China) (7), Google DeepMind (United Kingdom) (7) |
Companies#
| # | Company | Country | Papers | With a university | Universities | Main partners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tencent (China) | China | 540 | 98% | 254 | Tsinghua University (63), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (43), Peking University (37) |
| 2 | Alibaba Group (China) | China | 388 | 98% | 237 | Zhejiang University (102), Tsinghua University (28), Sun Yat-sen University (26) |
| 3 | Huawei Technologies (China) | China | 388 | 98% | 200 | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (40), Peking University (29), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (28) |
| 4 | Amazon (United States) | United States | 310 | 91% | 332 | University of Washington (10), University of Southern California (8), Pennsylvania State University (8) |
| 5 | Jingdong (China) | China | 252 | 98% | 187 | The University of Sydney (50), Southwest Jiaotong University (31), Wuhan University (29) |
| 6 | Baidu (China) | China | 225 | 96% | 163 | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (19), Beihang University (18), Zhejiang University (17) |
| 7 | Google (United States) | United States | 233 | 86% | 207 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (15), Harvard University (11), University of California, Merced (10) |
| 8 | Microsoft (United States) | United States | 214 | 92% | 224 | University of Science and Technology of China (17), University of Washington (12), City University of Hong Kong (11) |
| 9 | Meta (United States) | United States | 185 | 94% | 197 | Carnegie Mellon University (13), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (10), University of Maryland, College Park (10) |
| 10 | China Telecom | China | 173 | 96% | 117 | Northwestern Polytechnical University (60), Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (24), South China Normal University (11) |
| 11 | Microsoft Research Asia (China) | China | 168 | 97% | 127 | University of Science and Technology of China (27), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (20), Tsinghua University (16) |
| 12 | State Grid Corporation of China (China) | China | 157 | 97% | 139 | North China Electric Power University (15), Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (10), Tsinghua University (8) |
| 13 | ByteDance (China) | China | 151 | 99% | 126 | Tsinghua University (19), Nanyang Technological University (16), Peking University (14) |
| 14 | Samsung (South Korea) | South Korea | 127 | 93% | 79 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (24), Seoul National University (21), Yonsei University (10) |
| 15 | Ant Group (China) | China | 121 | 97% | 128 | Zhejiang University (19), Wuhan University (12), Peking University (9) |
| 16 | IBM (United States) | United States | 137 | 85% | 163 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (17), Stanford University (7) |
| 17 | Sensetime (China) | China | 119 | 98% | 76 | Chinese University of Hong Kong (34), Nanyang Technological University (17), The University of Sydney (14) |
| 18 | China Mobile (China) | China | 108 | 97% | 112 | University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (13), Nanjing University (8), Xi'an Jiaotong University (7) |
| 19 | China Telecom (China) | China | 102 | 96% | 68 | Northwestern Polytechnical University (52) |
| 20 | Meituan (China) | China | 95 | 99% | 88 | Tsinghua University (19), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (15), Beihang University (8) |
| 21 | China Electronics Technology Group Corporation | China | 84 | 99% | 87 | University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (10), Xidian University (8), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (7) |
| 22 | Samsung Electronics (South Korea) | South Korea | 85 | 94% | 47 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (21), Seoul National University (11), Sungkyunkwan University (11) |
| 23 | Électricité de France (France) | France | 88 | 89% | 75 | Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (15), Sorbonne Université (13), Université Paris Dauphine-PSL (11) |
| 24 | Intel (United States) | United States | 82 | 87% | 108 | Tsinghua University (10) |
| 25 | Adobe Systems (United States) | United States | 75 | 91% | 101 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (9), Boston University (8) |
| 26 | Alibaba DAMO Academy (China) | China | 64 | 94% | 68 | Zhejiang University (12), Tsinghua University (10) |
| 27 | Inspur (China) | China | 62 | 95% | 65 | Shandong University (17) |
| 28 | Nvidia (United States) | United States | 65 | 91% | 89 | University of California, Merced (7) |
| 29 | IFlyTek (China) | China | 56 | 100% | 71 | University of Science and Technology of China (28) |
| 30 | Kuaishou (China) | China | 55 | 100% | 70 | Tsinghua University (9) |
Countries#
| # | Company in | University in | Papers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | China | 4,185 |
| 2 | United States | United States | 1,691 |
| 3 | China | United States | 550 |
| 4 | United States | China | 468 |
| 5 | China | Hong Kong | 419 |
| 6 | Germany | Germany | 376 |
| 7 | United Kingdom | United Kingdom | 356 |
| 8 | South Korea | South Korea | 321 |
| 9 | China | Australia | 320 |
| 10 | France | France | 303 |
| 11 | Japan | Japan | 266 |
| 12 | United States | United Kingdom | 246 |
| 13 | China | Singapore | 241 |
| 14 | China | United Kingdom | 212 |
| 15 | Netherlands | Netherlands | 136 |
| 16 | Italy | Italy | 135 |
| 17 | United States | Australia | 128 |
| 18 | United States | Canada | 120 |
| 19 | Spain | Spain | 118 |
| 20 | India | India | 116 |
Cite this page
Scholar4AI. (2026). Industry–university links: which companies and universities write together. Journal and Conference Research Rankings. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/industry-university
@misc{scholar4ai-industry-university,
author = {{Scholar4AI}},
title = {Industry–university links: which companies and universities write together},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/industry-university}},
urldate = {2026-11-02},
note = {Journal and Conference Research Rankings; data from OpenAlex (CC0); licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}