KAIST is the Most Innovative University in Asia, Beats Japan and China
KAIST, the Daejon-based science university from South Korea is the most innovative university in Asia for 2016. Based on a list from Reuters Top 75: Asia's Most Innovative Universities, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) beat top notch rivals from China, Japan, Singapore and India for the title of the most innovative university in science and technology in all of Asia for 2016.
Reuters Top 75: Asia's Most Innovative Universities compares Asian universities in the fields of advance scienced, technological invention and contribution to the global economy.
Out of the top 20 universities, 17 are based from South Korea and Japan with KAIST leading the pack.
KAIST, established in 1971 by the Korean government with funding from the United States, was shaped after US engineering schools like MIT emphasizing problem-solving skills and hands-on experience over rote memorizatoin of facts.
KAIST reached the top post as Asia's premier university for science and innovation due to the number and quality of original and influential research projects conducted in the university.
Several major organizations around the world cite that KAIST's patent portfolio is larger in number and scope than any university in Asia -greater than the usual Asian heavy weights like University of Tokyo, Hongkong University and the University of Singapore.
Reuters ranking of most Innovative Universities was compiled from the Intellectual Property & Science division of Thomson Reuters.
The ranking focused on two points: first on published peer-reviewed academic papers which indicates the state of basic research in the university and second on patent filings which describes an institution's capability to protect and commercialize its intellectual capital.
According to the list, "on average, the South Korean and Japanese universities file twice as many patent applications than universities in the seven other ranked countries."
The second most innovative university is Japan's University of Tokyo. The highest ranked school outside of Northeast Asia is the National University of Singapore (#11). China's highest ranked university is Tsinghua University (#13), a public reearch university based in Beijing. The university has more than 45,000 students and its faculty includes eight Nobel laureates. Peking University (#16), is the only other Chinese university to crack the top 20.