Tilburg University

Universities in The Netherlands aim to contribute their research to the economy and to society, and each of them does this in its own way. But how successful are they? The second edition of the Valorisation Ranking, recently published by ScienceWorks and Elsevier, attempts to find an answer to this question.

The value that a university adds to society is difficult to quantify or list. However, it is possible to compare the activities undertaken by universities to valorise their knowledge. One university may be better at working with businesses and government, the other might be stronger in promoting its knowledge for public discourse, while another may focus on encouraging entrepreneurship.

In the Valorisation Ranking 2013 the activities of all Dutch research universities (except for the Open University) were analysed by 3 categories, enterprising (counting for 40% in the overall ranking), communication (20%), and collaboration (40%).

Rankings per category

The University of Twente took first place in the overall ranking, mainly because of its outstanding result in the enterprising category. The institution performs best in stimulating and facilitating entrepreneurship among students and staff, especially because it has developed the largest Science Park in The Netherlands which helps it produce a greater scientific output. The technological Universities of Delft and Eindhoven were 2nd and 3rd in this category.

Tilburg University took the lead in the communication category which focused on presence in media and public debates and discourse. It is followed by the University of Amsterdam and Wageningen University & Research Centre.

Eindhoven University of Technology excels in cooperation with industry, civil organisations, and educational institutions. In the period between 2010 and 2012, this university obtained 97 new partners, which is especially impressive compared to Delft University of Technology (39) and the University of Twente (34).

The top five of the Elsevier Science Valorisation Ranking

Source (in Dutch): scienceworks.nl

You can find more information on‘University Rankings’ page.