• Grant & contract awards to UK totaled $496.9 million
• Federal agencies awarded UK $255.3 million, 51.4% of UK’s total awards
  
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants totaled $130.2 million
  • National Science Foundation (NSF) grants totaled $25.2 million
  • Department of Energy (DOE) grants totaled $23.4 million
• State agencies awarded UK $147.9 million
• Industry awarded UK $25.1 million

For more, see Record research awards reflect UK's mission to advance Kentucky (July 15, 2025)

Based on FY23 research expenditures totaling $504 million, UK ranks:

• 63rd among 664 public and private universities
• 41st among 420 public institutions

These rankings were released in November 2024. The National Science Foundation (NSF), through the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), publishes the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey each year, ranking the top universities according to what they spend on research. The HERD survey is considered to be the primary source of information on R&D expenditures within academia. For more information, see NSF Publications & Data.

• 20 companies located on-site
• 65 private company employees
• 10 faculty R&D labs
• 3 university centers
• 64 graduate companies since 1994

• 117 total innovation disclosures submitted
  • 25 primary social innovation disclosures submitted
• 117 patent applications filed
• 57 patents issued worldwide
• 653 total agreements executed
• 73 licenses and options executed
• 7 new start-up companies affiliated with UK technology (FY24)

According to the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) FY24 survey, UK ranks:

• 28th among public universities in the number of startups created (7)
• 40th among public universities in licensing income ($4,346,761)

For more information, see AUTM.