Image Credit: WAM
Khalifa University of Science and Technology has been granted 60 patents in 2025, marking the strongest single-year patent performance by any university in the UAE and underscoring the rapid growth of its applied research and innovation ecosystem.
The milestone represents a sharp rise in patent output over recent years, increasing from 22 patents in 2023 to 32 in 2024, before nearly doubling to 60 in 2025. This reflects an approximate 173 per cent increase over two years, highlighting the university’s expanding ability to convert research outcomes into protected intellectual property aligned with national priorities.
The growth in patents follows sustained investment in applied research with clear pathways to deployment, supporting the UAE’s objectives in advanced technology development, knowledge security, and long-term economic resilience.
Research across key areas including artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, advanced materials, healthcare technologies, and sustainability has progressed from laboratory discovery to protected, deployable solutions.
Professor Ebrahim Al Hajri, President of Khalifa University, said applied innovation and knowledge protection remain central to the UAE’s long-term competitiveness.
“Khalifa University continues to lead the UAE in patents granted in a single year by building research systems that transform discovery into protected capability for the country and the region,” he said. “This demonstrates how patented research is increasingly translating into deployable solutions and innovation-led enterprises aligned with national priorities.”
The university’s latest achievements build on a broad innovation pipeline. To date, Khalifa University has recorded more than 850 invention disclosures, over 800 pending patent applications, and more than 350 issued patents, reflecting the depth and continuity of its research translation activity across multiple technology domains.
Recent patented innovations span autonomous systems, advanced sensing technologies, artificial intelligence, healthcare solutions, and sustainability-focused applications, reinforcing the university’s ability to move research from early discovery through intellectual property protection and into real-world use.
This momentum is also reflected in downstream commercialisation supported by the Khalifa Innovation Centre and the Khalifa University Enterprises Company (KUEC). Research-led ventures originating from the university have progressed into startup formation and gained international exposure.
Startups showcased at major innovation platforms include Nutrigenics Care, an AI-powered clinical nutrition platform; Deep Forecast, which provides AI-driven geospatial intelligence for environmental monitoring; DroneLeaf, developing autonomous UAV solutions; and Kumrah AI, specialising in neuromorphic vision systems for robotics and industrial inspection. Additional ventures span medical wearables, rehabilitation technologies, biotechnology, smart city planning, and sustainable agriculture.
