Inside the Structural Reforms That Made IU Indianapolis a Translational Overachiever
How a resource-constrained university built a top-15 translation engine — and what other institutions can learn from it.
29
Children's National Hospital ranks 29th among the 60 biomedical institutes evaluated in the Cure Innovation Index. Based in Washington, DC, the institute's Research Capabilities rank 15th, placing it among the top performers in scientific inquiry across the cohort. Market Translation, where it ranks 44th, represents the area with the most room for development. In Entrepreneurial Readiness, the institute finishes 18th, a standing bolstered by an on-site incubator and an entrepreneur-in-residence program. Taken together, its profile reflects a balance between discovery-focused research and translational activity.
Children’s National Hospital ranked below average for Research Capabilities, a measure of the foundational infrastructure and resources that enable an institution to conduct high-quality, innovative science. Out of the factors in this category, Children’s National Hospital fared best in Facilities/Equipment.
Learn MoreChildren’s National Hospital ranked below average for Entrepreneurial Readiness, a measure of whether the institution has built a supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurship and whether faculty are engaged in and incentivized toward commercial activity. Out of the factors in this category, Children’s National Hospital fared best in Faculty Engagement.
Learn MoreChildren’s National Hospital ranked below average for Market Translation, a measure of how effectively a research institution moves scientific discovery out of the lab and into real-world clinical and commercial applications. Out of the factors in this category, Children’s National Hospital fared best in TTO Efficiency.
Learn More
From a pool of more than 6,000 institutions, the top 303 were ranked using two dozen indicators — from scientific foundation and lab infrastructure to patents, products, and partnerships — drawn from more than a dozen federal and commercial databases, an original audit of all institutions, and surveys of more than 3,300+ scientists, industry leaders, and biomedical experts.
Innovation isn't a single moment — it's an entire ecosystem. The Index evaluates institutions across two dozen indicators, grouped in three core domains that reveal the full picture of what it takes to turn groundbreaking science into real-world impact.
How a resource-constrained university built a top-15 translation engine — and what other institutions can learn from it.
With 27 institutions ranked among the country’s top biomedical innovators, New York’s research cluster spans the entire state, and outperforms nearly every other in the country.

As NIH funding shrinks and industry pulls back from early-stage science, universities are rethinking how discoveries move from the lab to the market.
The Bayh-Dole Act turned federally funded research into a commercialization pipeline that built American biotech. Forty-five years later, that pipeline faces a new set of political and financial pressures that could reshape how it works.