By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

University of Cincinnati surpassed all Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana colleges in the amount of patent income it received from research efforts in 2002, according to a survey by the Association of University Technology Managers.

UC ranked 27th nationally out of 151 U.S. research institutions, earning an all-time school high of $6.5 million.

"The private sector continues to value the usefulness of UC's research," Howard Jackson, UC's vice president for research and advanced studies, said Monday of the survey released this month.

"Of all the U.S. patents UC has had issued over the last five years, more than 50 percent are licensed or optioned to companies. That rate demonstrates tremendous interest in the kind of work produced here."

A cardiac imaging agent called the Technetium compound, invented by former professor Ed Deutsch, accounted for the lion's share of UC's licensing income in 2002.

It's used in conjunction with nuclear medicine cameras.

Patent income measures the end results of the development process. But in 2002, UC also showed record levels of new inventions or discoveries made by professors, an initial barometer to measure innovation, school officials said.

In fiscal year 2002, UC recorded 98 invention disclosures.

Other schools

How other research institutions fared in the survey of income from patents in 2002:

Ohio

Ohio State University: $828,302

Case Western Reserve University: $3 million

Kentucky

University of Kentucky: $1.5 million

Indiana

Indiana University: $3.8 million