Every college and university in America is concerned with innovation. After all, that’s the whole point of education — giving young minds an understanding of our past and a grasp of current developments, and releasing them into the wild to shape the future with their creations. But a few schools in particular can be counted on as continuous sources of headline-grabbing material, from new cures to new companies. These 10 colleges can safely lay claim to the honor of being innovation factories.

1. MIT:

   Though once overshadowed by Harvard, Boston Magazine recently proclaimed Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s ascension to “most important university in the world.” Its reasoning: “The amount of technological innovation and entrepreneurial activity taking place at any moment all over the campus is remarkable.” The article cited the fabric-based computers and robot skin coming out of the school’s famous Media Lab, but it might just as easily have referenced MIT’s established reputation for shaking up education, or its collaborations and projects for fostering new methods for solving persistent global problems. In short, in a world where new ideas are vitally needed to propel us forward, an innovation factory like MIT becomes king.

2. Stanford University:

   A recent report enunciated what those in both the academic and business worlds already knew: Stanford is innovation central. Over 5.4 million jobs created since the ’30s and $2.7 trillion in annual revenue have Cardinal innovation and entrepreneurship to thank. In fact, there are some who believe Silicon Valley might not exist at all if not for Stanford University. Part of the reason the school produces so much innovation is that it encourages so much innovation. From Innovation Masters lectures to hefty prizes for innovation from the research libraries to a faculty stocked with out-of-the-box thinkers, the school is a hub for creative activity and research for students and the surrounding community alike.

3. Northwestern University:

   Of the $1.8 billion earned by universities commercializing their research in 2011, Northwestern singlehandedly accounted for over 10%. NU’s students and alums routinely churns out revolutionary products and processes, like those that were honored at the 2012 Chicago Innovation Awards: an infant HIV test for the third world, a more efficient gas storage technique, and a safety tool for surgeons. The inventions came from the NUvention Medical Innovation program but also from campus institutions not bearing the innovation label, like the Kellogg School of Management and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, proving the entire school is fertile ground for revolutionary thinking.

4. Princeton University:

   The gothic, colonial, and Romanesque campus architecture reminiscent of bygone days belie this school’s firmly-established place as an innovator in the 21st century. To wit: the $115 million in revenue from licensing inventions in 2011. For seven years the annual Innovation Forum has been bringing good ideas to the surface and inspiring inventors, while the Innovation Garden is looking to do the same for entrepreneurs. Today Princeton folks are behind updated ways to cut the energy needs of big data providers and use nanotechnology to detect infrastructural damage before major collapses.

5. Carnegie Mellon University:

   The word “innovation” pops up all over this Pittsburgh campus, from specialized degrees to conferences to institutions. But the heart of ingenuity at the school is the Robert Mehrabian Collaborative Innovation Center, where, for example, researchers work on government cybersecurity development and “capacitive touch sensing.” CMU has cemented itself as an innovation leader especially since the early ’90s, when cutting-edge projects like its Wireless Research Initiative and breakthrough work in computer science and search engines. Today the university is continuing this legacy by searching for ways to transform America’s energy sector and producing alums poised to give the world its next amazing invention.

6. Olin College:

   As one student blogger put it, the enterprising Weasley twins should have gone to Olin, because they would have fit right in. Olin students have produced some fantastic devices, from ping-pong-playing robots to solar-powered trash compactors. The college is well-known for pedagogical innovation, the new Argosy Collaborative Faculty Exchange program being a perfect example. And thanks to a federal grant under the auspices of the selective new Higher Education Solutions Network, Olin will be able to put its considerable innovation prowess to work helping meet global development challenges.

7. Columbia University:

   Whether compared with other Ivy League schools or the rest of America’s universities in general, Columbia is a top exporter of revolutionary ideas and products. Like Princeton, it was in the select club of earners of more than $100 million in licensing income in 2011. A noted top pick for journalism instruction, Columbia has joined fellow innovator Stanford to forge a path between journalism and technology. Creations like synthetic trees that capture 1,000 times more carbon dioxide than real trees are a natural byproduct of a school that’s ever ramping up its efforts to involve the entire university community in innovation.

8. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

   This is the place that’s given the world the integrated circuit, LED and plasma screens, MRIs, and Tesla Motors. In other words, it’s a discovery mecca. They literally celebrate innovation here, annually recognizing achievements in everything from tissue engineering to optical microscopy. Major accomplishments in recent years have been a cutting-edge HIV drug called Prezista and a less-harsh cancer treatment alternative to chemotherapy, while UIC’s Office of Technology Management 2012 winner of Inventor of the Year has created an exciting new insulation panel for heating and cooling houses with as much as 80% less energy wasted.

9. University of Michigan:

   2012 was a banner year for Wolverine innovation. The school was home to 368 new inventions and 101 awarded patents, which no doubt contributed in the state’s first promising innovation index results since 2008. UM has been steadily building a name for itself in entrepreneurship and innovation with offerings like TechArb, its student startup incubator, and MCubed, a new research program for funding “new initiatives with major societal impact.” The student body has also gotten on board with new ideas for campus sustainability through Planet Blue, with projects like a campus farm, a fruit and vegetable stand, and bike fix-it stations already implemented.

10. Brigham Young University:

    Two years ago, Businessweek named BYU one of the most innovative colleges in the country, and that still holds true in 2013. Exciting ideas are kindled at the BYU Innovation Academy, and funded by the Crocker Innovation Fellowship, the latter of which recently helped a team of Cougars win the school’s Innovator of the Year challenge. The school also boasted a statewide innovation challenge winner in 2012. They were the tip of the iceberg, as the school’s Creative Works Office and Changemaker Week — for social innovation — continue to turn out fresh concoctions.

This is a cross post from our content partner, BestCollegesOnline.com.