Focusing on qualityInternational Research Assessment Exercise 2008

Brief summary of the RAE mission

• In 2008 KTH undertook an international evaluation of its entire research base; Research Assessment Excercise

• Over 80 international experts from academia and industry visited KTH for a week to conduct a Peer Review

• Research groupings were evaluated against 5 criteria: ”basic research quality”, ”applied research quality”, ”research strategy”, ”vitality and potential” and ”scholarship”

• Independently, KTH commissioned a Bibliometric Report on all KTH publications from 2000-2006

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Reaching for excellence

Excellence in scientific engineering …

• the basic research output of 62 % of KTH research groups is considered world leading, or of high international standard throughout

… as well as in engineering for society

• 65 % of KTH research groups are excellent at applied research, 53 % of groups excelling at both basic and applied research

• KTH produces more spin-offs than Massachusets Institute of Technology, Stanford or Cambridge per unit of research expenditure

• patenting levels now match those seen at top US and UK universities; 2/3 of patents generate income

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RAE bibliometric summary

• citation impact is globally competitive in areas such as Signals and Systems, Communication Networks, Optics, Fibre Polymers, Mathematics, Computer Science, Fluid and Solid Mechanics, Urban Planning, Philosophy and Biotechnology

• citation impact is generally high in several major areas, e.g. Computer Science, Signals and Chemistry

• citation impact is significantly above international reference levels: KTH has 15 % more citations in journals; almost 32 % above world average

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RAE bibliometric summary

• KTH papers occur about 60 % more often than expected among the top 5 % most frequently-cited papers in their subfields

• KTH researchers contribute substantially to international scientific networks; 41 % of papers are the result of international collaborations

• many research units have a widespread geographical network and are cited all over the world

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RAE conclusions

• KTH will focus on recruiting and developing high- quality staff

• KTH will focus on quality in research

• KTH will focus on consolidating its research base and building high-quality relationships with partners in society

• KTH will focus on ensuring it has the necessary high-quality equipment, infrastructure and support staff to deliver advances in research

• KTH will focus on improving the communication of KTH research strengths to wider audiences

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