Companies & Research

Companies & Research is a data page on the Education desk of Glassbox Auditing. Documented links between companies and the tracked universities (STTR research partnerships), founders who studied there, and SBIR, NIH and NSF awards and patents to the terminal's companies. Federal research money and patents are where university science turns into companies' products.

Last updated: 6 Nov 2026.

What is the latest reading?

SBIR.gov's NIH awards as a share of NIH's own count: 0.1% as of 2024, -103.0 pts since 2021. Source: SBIR.gov award data (SBIR and STTR awards, U.S. Small Business Administration), NIH RePORTER (research grants by organisation).

What is on this page today?

Harvard University has the most founders of tracked companies on record as alumni: 252 founders of 304 companies — Wikidata records both the founder (P112) and the school (P69); a link to the school, not to the company · 26 tracked universities with at least one (Wikidata, 6 Nov 2026)
Samsung Electronics was granted the most U.S. patents of the terminal's companies in 2025: 10,282 — 8,557 in 2020 · patents whose applicant is the company's own name (USPTO Open Data Portal, 30 Dec 2025)
SBIR and STTR awards totalled $4.29B in 2022, +13.5% on 2021 — All agencies, by award year through 2022, the latest complete year; agencies report late, so later years are still filling in (SBIR.gov award data, 30 Dec 2022)
University of Washington was named on the most STTR award dollars in 2013-2022: $53.7M across 94 awards — Research institutions as the awards name them (spelling normalised) · the last ten complete award years (SBIR.gov award data, 30 Dec 2022)

Where does the data come from?

Items on this page come from Wikidata; USPTO Open Data Portal; SBIR.gov award data. Each item links to its own source. All sources, how items are checked.

What does this page lead to?

Courts & Lawsuits (Companies): Patents are what companies license and sue over; a company with many grants holds more to assert and can face suits over others' patents. Claims are allegations until ruled on. (moves the same way; years; company scale) Source: USPTO Open Data Portal (granted patents by applicant).
Federal Contractors (People & Money): SBIR and STTR awards are federal contracts and grants to small firms, and some winners go on to larger federal contracts, shown in USAspending. (moves the same way; months; company scale) Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury): federal contracts, grants and loans by recipient.
Universities (Education): Every STTR award requires a university or research-lab partner, so company awards bring research money and licensing income to the partner universities. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: SBIR.gov award data (SBIR and STTR awards, U.S. Small Business Administration).
US Map (Domestic Intelligence): Federal research awards cluster in a few states (California, Massachusetts, Maryland), where they support research jobs and spin-off companies. (moves the same way; years; economy scale) Source: NSF Awards API (research grants by organisation).
Products & Share (Companies): NIH-funded science lay behind every new drug approved in 2010-2016 (Cleary and others, 2018), so federal research money feeds drug makers' product lines years later. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: NIH RePORTER (research grants by organisation).

What feeds this page?

AI Researchers (AI): Federal research grants (NSF, NIH) fund many of the university labs these researchers work in, and the company partnerships that grow out of them. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: NSF Awards API (research grants by organisation).
Universities (Education): University research spending, largely federal grants, produces the patents, start-ups and company partnerships that page tracks. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: NSF Awards API (research grants by organisation).
Budget & Spending (Macro): NIH and NSF grants are a major source of university and lab research money, so budget increases or cuts reach campuses and research contractors within a grant cycle. (moves the same way; a grant cycle; sector scale) Source: NIH RePORTER (research grants by organisation).
Nobel Prizes (World Powers): Prize-winning work in medicine and chemistry often began on federal grants (NIH, NSF) and reached companies through licensing and spin-offs, as mRNA vaccines and CRISPR did. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: NIH RePORTER (research grants by organisation).