University of Tartu

The University of Tartu (UT) is Estonia’s leading institution for research and higher education. Consistently recognised for excellence, UT is ranked among the top 350 universities worldwide. As the national university of Estonia, UT leads efforts to support inclusive and sustainable growth, driving innovation in Estonia, Europe and beyond.   

Outstanding research hub  

UT is ranked among the top 1% of the world’s most-cited universities and research institutions across a wide range of disciplines. It accounts for 70% of all European Research Council (ERC) grants in Estonia and hosts two of the three European Teaming Centres of Excellence in the country, specialising in digital bioengineering and personalised medicine. UT leads six of the ten Estonian Research Centres of Excellence and is a partner in four others. The UT is committed to top-level education, research and knowledge valorisation, serving the nation and Europe, with its excellent researchers and world-class research infrastructure facilitating international collaboration.    

Active participant in international networks 

Through its membership of leading research university networks, including for example the European University alliance ENLIGHT, The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities and the League of European Research Universities (LERU), UT plays an active role in shaping the future of European research.    

UT is also deeply embedded in Europe’s research and innovation ecosystems. The university participates in the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). The UT is also a member of multiple EU research and innovation partnerships. 

UT is Estonia’s leading  recipient of Horizon Europe funding, having received over €100 million during the first five years of the 2021–2027 framework programme. This accounts for almost one-third of the total support received in the country.  

Accelerator of a smart economy  

As a long-term development partner for industry, UT fosters an environment that supports start-ups and business collaboration. With 59 spin-off companies employing around 900 people, UT’s innovations are having a real economic impact.  

UT-born companies are making their mark globally, from GaltTec – which develops and manufactures electric power sources for mobile devices, primarily drones – to Icosagen and Synlab. Skeleton Technologies, an energy-storage innovator, began its journey in UT’s laboratories. Today, Estonia has the highest number of start-ups per capita in Europe, and most of the start-up founders in the Baltics are proud University of Tartu alumni. 

The University of Tartu has established UniTartu Ventures OÜ to channel the intellectual property of the university's researchers to research- and technology-intensive companies. It works to simplify the application of IP created by university researchers in start-ups and, through collaboration with private capital, accelerate teams’ progress and the utilisation of research results. This increases the societal value created, and the returns from successes are reinvested into creating future success stories. 

Learn more 

University of Tartu News