Dartmouth has earned a spot among the top 100 universities worldwide for patents granted in the United States, according to the National Academy of Inventors. The achievement marks the third consecutive year Dartmouth appears in the international ranking and the 10th year overall the university has made the list.
The university received 40 patents in 2025, according to Dartmouth officials. The patents span multiple disciplines, from advanced medical technologies to engineering solutions and digital platforms, reflecting what administrators describe as sustained innovation efforts across the campus. This recognition aligns with Dartmouth Trustees’ recent endorsement of free speech principles and identification of six strategic research areas, which emphasize the university’s commitment to fostering an environment where groundbreaking research can flourish.
“Once again Dartmouth shows its strength in research, intellectual property generation, and patents, especially considering that we are not a large university,” said Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Eric Fossum. “Our innovative community can be proud of our ranking on a worldwide basis.”
The Technology Transfer Office, which partners with inventors throughout the innovation process, supports patent strategy and identifies commercialization pathways to help move discoveries from laboratory to market, according to the university.
“This achievement celebrates the creativity of our research community and strengthens our mission to move promising ideas from the lab into society where they can make a difference,” said Kim Rosenfield, director of the Technology Transfer Office.
Among the notable patents issued last year were medicines and methods to prevent or treat herpesvirus infections in newborn babies, developed by Professor of Engineering Margie Ackerman and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology David Leib. The research team included Iara Backes and Chaya Patel at the Geisel School of Medicine, along with Anthony Moody at Duke University’s Department of Pediatrics, according to university records.
Dartmouth researchers also secured a patent for a system that uses attention-based techniques to automatically sort and analyze detailed images from high-resolution microscopes. Professor of Biomedical Data Science Saeed Hassanpour and research scientist Naofumi Tomita at the Geisel School of Medicine developed the technology.
The university received additional patents for systems and methods for multiplexed amplifiers for brain computer interfaces, developed by a team that included Associate Professor of Engineering Hui Fang. Fang was named a senior member of the NAI last month, according to the university.
Dartmouth’s Information, Technology, and Consulting department contributed software and methods designed to train users to spot electronic phishing messages and create databases to help filter future scam messages. The team included Samuel Cavallaro, William Cowen, Mitchel Davis, Catherine Porter, and Samuel Fielder.
The NAI rankings use data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to evaluate university patent portfolios. The rankings highlight the role academic research plays in advancing technologies that benefit society and drive economic growth, according to the organization.
“Utility patents are essential to translating promising discoveries into real-world solutions,” said NAI President Paul Sanberg. “By recognizing and celebrating institutions that value strong patent portfolios, the NAI encourages innovators and universities to push technologies toward broader societal and economic impact.”
The consistent ranking performance reflects Dartmouth’s ongoing commitment to research excellence and practical application of discoveries. The Technology Transfer Office facilitates industry collaborations and licensing opportunities designed to help ensure inventions reach their full potential in the marketplace.
For Dartmouth, the recognition underscores the university’s ability to compete with larger institutions in innovation and patent generation while maintaining its focus on translating research into real-world applications that can benefit society.
