Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto is one of the world’s leading research universities, ranked 17th globally by the QS World University rankings in 2013. U of T has a rich history of research and scholarship that has had a tangible impact on global society. This history includes the discovery of insulin, Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message”, the invention of Pablum, and 10 Nobel Prize Laureates among our faculty and alumni.
Today, U of T’s research enterprise is a comprehensive and innovative force, spanning three campuses and nine partner hospitals. The University’s faculty members – numbering close to 7,000 – earn more scholarly awards and prizes for their work than those at any other university in Canada. U of T consistently ranks alongside the top two U.S. universities whose discoveries are most often cited by other researchers around the world, a key measure of the influence of U of T researchers.
U of T and its partner hospitals form Canada’s largest research cluster with over $1.2 billion in sponsored research funding in the past year. The University also features the Connaught Fund, an internal research funding program. Connaught is the largest program of its kind in Canada and has awarded over $100 million since its founding in 1972.
U of T is also a leader in the field of transferring research innovation to society. Between 2009 and 2011, over 1,200 different U of T researchers created 476 inventions in over 38 fields. U of T is also ranked #1 in Canada and #3 in North America in the number of new start-up companies created. These companies include CastConnex, which invented a bracket that can help buildings withstand earthquakes and ChipCare, which developed a portable technology that can be used to conduct blood tests for people with HIV in remote parts of the world.
The University is also involving more students in research than ever before. U of T currently offers more than 27 entrepreneurial initiatives. Two-thirds of U of T inventions include a student or post-doc as a co-inventor.
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