U.S. universities lead in innovation, Asia a rising power
By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. universities lead the world in scientific innovation but face strong competition from Asian rivals with close ties to industry, according to a detailed analysis of academic papers and patent filings. Stanford alumni have gone on to create some of the world's biggest technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo and Google. The top nine places are all taken by U.S. schools, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University ranked second and third.