For the third straight year, Medtronic has been named one of the most innovative companies in the world. 

The Clarivate Analytics Top 100 Global Innovator award honors the world’s most innovative companies based on the volume, success, protection and influence of their patents.

“Innovation is at the heart of the Medtronic Mission,” said Omar Ishrak, chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic. “We remain deeply committed to research and development in order to create ground-breaking products, devices and services that alleviate pain, restore health and extend life for our patients. I’m proud to see that the hard work and dedication of Medtronic employees is being recognized through this honor,” he said.

Patents often lead to life-changing products. Two of Medtronic’s most notable innovations in 2016 included FDA approval for Micra, the world’s smallest pacemaker, and FDA approval of the MiniMed 670G, the world’s first hybrid closed loop system for people with type 1 diabetes.

The annual award is based on four patent-related criteria: overall patent volume, patent application-to-grant success rate, global reach of the portfolio, and patent influence as evidenced by citations. The full report is available here.

Clarivate Analytics then crunches that data and identifies the companies that are most successful at developing new inventions, protecting them from infringers and using these innovations to drive revenues.

“In today’s hypercompetitive global marketplace, innovation requires much more than having a great idea. True innovation occurs when organizations harness the power of intellectual property rights and commercial insight to bring an idea to life,” said Jay Nadler, Chief Executive Officer, Clarivate Analytics. “This is the potent formula we apply to our Top 100 Global Innovator program. The institutions on this year’s list represent the current vanguard in innovation by pioneering new breakthroughs and organizing their businesses to make new discoveries a reality.”

Medtronic, which has been granted more than 53,000 patents in its history, invested $2.2 billion in R&D in FY2016, which was 7.7 percent of net sales. Learn more. The report also noted the average Top 100 Global Innovator invests 9.1 percent more in research and development than companies in the S&P 100 index.

Some of the other companies receiving the top innovator award include Apple, Google, 3M, Amazon, Intel, and Microsoft. The complete list is available here.