Where does Northwestern University rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Northwestern University ranks #241 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does Northwestern University hold?

Northwestern University holds 1,734 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 276 technology areas.

What is Northwestern University's Innovation Score?

Northwestern University has an Innovation Score of 67.5 out of 100 (top 1% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Northwestern University's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Northwestern University's recent grant velocity is +21% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). The company is maintaining or growing its granted-patent output.

What does claim depth mean for Northwestern University's patents?

Northwestern University's patents average 16.8 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the Northwestern University patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

Northwestern University

Q: What technology areas does Northwestern University focus on?

Northwestern University's top technology area is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes) with 375 patents. Grants appear in 276 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 1,734 granted patents across 276 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2025. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Northwestern ranks #241 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 1,734 patents across 276 technology areas.

#241
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (67.5/100): 16.8
avg claims per patent: +21%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R241 · US Corporation #241 · 1,734 grants

GRANTS-LARGE · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-BROAD · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-UP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-LARGE 1.7K grants
TOP-DECILE #241/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Airbus Operations SAS
CPC-BROAD A61K · 276 areas
INNOV-STRONG 67.5/100
CLAIMS-RICH 16.8 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-UP +21% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Airbus Operations SAS (±0 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Teledyne Flir… · near

67
JT International · near

67
Northwestern… · this assignee

67
Mastercard Internati… · near

67
Synopsys · near

67
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Northwestern's Innovation Score is 67.5/100 (top 1% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

How Northwestern's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Northwestern University received 855 grants versus 706 in 2015–2019 (+21% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2024 at 203 grants and bottomed in 2016 at 117. Lead class A61K accounts for 21.6% of the portfolio across 276 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Signify Holding B.V. (#237) and Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. (#245).

Northwestern's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Northwestern University moved from 521 to 518 grants (0.99x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). Among 3,296 tracked assignees with ≥100 grants and ≥20 prior-period grants, that multiple ranks #1,203. See the growth leaderboard.

Signify Holding B…

1,748
Baker Hughes Hold…

1,746
AT&T Mobility II

1,742
Airbus Operations…

1,734
Northwestern Univ… ◀

1,734
Globus Medical

1,728
Merck Patent

1,728
THE Johns Hopkins…

1,727
Hitachi Automotiv…

1,718

What this shows Northwestern holds 1,734 patents at rank #241, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Northwestern

By rank, the assignees closest to #241 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A61K (Preparations FOR Medical)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Northwestern's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Northwestern, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above).

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (67 here).

Mastercard International Incorporated 67 JT International SA 67 Synopsys, Inc. 67 Teledyne Flir Commercial Systems, Inc. 67

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (16.8 here).

C.R. Bard, Inc. 16.8 avg Lumentum Japan, Inc. 16.8 avg The Trustees of Boston College 16.8 avg Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. 16.8 avg

Northwestern's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

67 Top 1% higher than 99% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2015–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Northwestern University patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	122	7.0%
2016	117	6.7%
2017	147	8.5%
2018	136	7.8%
2019	184	10.6%
2020	191	11.0%
2021	146	8.4%
2022	161	9.3%
2023	154	8.9%
2024	203	11.7%
2025partial year	173	10.0%

Which technologies does Northwestern University patent most?

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 375

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 262

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 241

C12N - Microorganisms OR ENZYMES; Compositions THEREOF; Propagating, Preserving, OR Maintaining MICROORGANISMS; Mutation OR Genetic ENGINEERING; Culture Media 173

C07D - Heterocyclic Compounds 163

B82Y - Specific Uses OR Applications OF NANOSTRUCTURES; Measurement OR Analysis OF NANOSTRUCTURES; Manufacture OR Treatment OF Nanostructures 152

A61B - DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification 147

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 116

Y02E - Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution 114

C07K - Peptides 113

B01J - Chemical OR Physical Processes, e.g. Catalysis OR Colloid CHEMISTRY; Their Relevant Apparatus 85

C12Q - Measuring OR Testing Processes Involving Enzymes, Nucleic Acids OR Microorganisms ; Compositions OR Test Papers THEREFOR; Processes OF Preparing Such COMPOSITIONS; Condition-responsive Control IN Microbiological OR Enzymological Processes 85

C01B - Non-metallic ELEMENTS; Compounds THEREOF; ; Metalloids OR Compounds Thereof NOT Covered BY Subclass C01c 82

Y02P - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN THE Production OR Processing OF Goods 67

A61L - Methods OR Apparatus FOR Sterilising Materials OR Objects IN GENERAL; Disinfection, Sterilisation OR Deodorisation OF AIR; Chemical Aspects OF Bandages, Dressings, Absorbent Pads OR Surgical ARTICLES; Materials FOR Bandages, Dressings, Absorbent Pads OR Surgical Articles 67

Top 15 of 276 technology areas

Where it ranks

Overall rank by patents

#241

of 49,997 tracked assignees

Innovation Score

67.5 out of 100

View all rankings →

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

Northwestern University's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Northwestern University's lead technology class is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes), 21.6% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A61K
Ranked #241 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Northwestern University against Signify Holding B.V., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 67.5/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent, US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.