From improving battery life to reimagining prosthetics, the University of Houston continues to drive innovation that makes global impact. That’s how the UH System found itself back on the National Academy of Inventors’ 2025 Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted U.S. Utility Patents list.
The annual list recognizes colleges and universities for the number of patents issued. Last year, the UH System received 32 utility patents, ranking it No. 64 nationally and No. 3 in Texas. Utility patents are among the most coveted because they give inventors exclusive commercial rights to produce and utilize the latest technologies.
“We strive to be at the forefront of creating technologies that improve lives and set the standard for innovation across the nation.”
—Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy and innovation, University of Houston
“Researchers at the University of Houston are changing society one invention at a time,” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy and innovation at UH. “We strive to be at the forefront of creating technologies that improve lives and set the standard for innovation across the nation.”
Among the discoveries that secured the UH System’s place on the rankings were:
- Robotic prosthetics that improve mobility
- Understanding what causes solid state batteries to break down
- Inventing material that will help make AI devices significantly faster while cutting energy consumption
In addition to making revolutionary findings, the University of Houston Technology Bridge’s Innov8 Hub encourages students and faculty to transform those inventions into business opportunities.
That has yielded back-to-back record-setting years for startup launches at UH, which ultimately drives economic opportunity, workforce development and more innovation across the region.
“When researchers begin to see venture creation as a natural extension of their work, it creates a powerful flywheel where more innovators step forward, collaborate and build companies together,” said Tanu Chatterji, director of startup development and UH Tech Bridge Incubator.
Adding to that momentum, seven University of Houston faculty members were recently named Senior Members of the NAI — the most of any Texas institution this year and the largest cohort in UH history — bringing the University’s total to 46 and further highlighting its strength in patents, commercialization and high-impact innovation.
The academy has published rankings since 2013, and the list is created using calendar year data provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Top 100 placement includes all named assignees listed on the patent.
The NAI is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and nonprofit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide.
“These universities and their inventive faculty are at the forefront of driving national innovation and competitiveness,” said Paul R. Sanberg, FNAI, president of NAI. “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.”