The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali has received the Thomson Reuters Innovative Award 2011 for one of the four most innovative pharmaceutical organizations in the country. The award was instituted jointly by the Thomson Reuters and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
 
The award was given away by union minister of state for science and technology Dr Ashwani Kumar to Prof K K Bhutani, director of the Institute at a function held on November 17 in New Delhi.

NIPER was recognized for this award under the sector, Pharma – Academic and Government. Three other organizations who received award are Tata Steel Limited (Hi-Tech. Corporate), Dr Reddys’ Laboratories Limited (Pharma Corporate) and Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) (Hi-Tech. Government and Academic).

The award recipients were selected based on the research and analysis using Thomson Reuters Derwant World Patents Index.. The 2011 Award recipients are decided by analysing their innovation through patented technology as recorded in Thomson Reuters patent information services. Criteria for the 2011 Award include the number of Basic Inventions each organization published from 2009-2010; its ratio of granted patents to Basic Inventions; the global reach of the portfolio (protecting an invention in major world markets is an indication that an organization places a significant value on those pieces of their intellectual property); and the overall influence of the portfolio as determined by international citations of its research.