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.
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Colorado State University ranks 141st among 243 universities in the Cure Innovation Index. Located in Fort Collins, Colorado, the university demonstrates its strongest performance in entrepreneurial readiness, placing in the upper half of ranked universities, with market translation close behind. Research capabilities are a developing area relative to peer institutions, and the university's overall profile leans toward translational work. Colorado State hosts an MD-PhD program alongside an incubator, accelerator, and entrepreneur-in-residence program, reflecting an orientation toward applied science and commercialization.
Colorado State University, Fort Collins 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, Colorado State University, Fort Collins fared best in Cutting Edge Science.
Learn MoreColorado State University, Fort Collins 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, Colorado State University, Fort Collins fared best in Faculty Engagement.
Learn MoreColorado State University, Fort Collins 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, Colorado State University, Fort Collins fared best in Industry Reputation.
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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.