University of Hawai'i licensing agreements and revenue declined in the 12 months ending June 30.

The decline in licensing income to $686,000 from $900,000 in fiscal 2006 was pegged in part to a loss of patent protection for a cancer-detection antibody. Meanwhile, the number of UH licensing agreements signed in fiscal 2007 fell to six, versus 11 agreements the prior year, according to the university's Office of Technology Transfer.

The decline in agreements comes as the Office of Technology Transfer took on the added responsibility of handling industry-sponsored research contracts, said Dick Cox, director of the office. Those functions were previously handled by a separate UH entity, he said.

Among the six licensing agreements signed by June 30 was a deal with the nation's leading manufacturer of charcoal. Oakland, Calif.-based Kingsford Products Co. has licensed a UH process for turning green waste into charcoal briquets that was developed by professor Michael J. Antal Jr.

Overall the state university system spent about $210 million on research in fiscal 2007, of which approximately $12 million came from the business sector. That money funds research and supports jobs. However, UH and state officials agree that the university research could play a larger role in the growth and diversification of the state's economy. They see UH as becoming a hub of research activity that can spin off businesses, technologies and jobs.

Despite the decline in licensing income and agreements, UH research has helped create about a half-dozen companies over the last several years, Cox said.

"Overall our mission is to help support research," he said. "It certainly is to help move useful technology out of the university environment into the commercial environment. In general we see that we're doing that."

UH filed 53 patent applications in fiscal 2007, which was up from 41 applications the prior year. Four patents were issued to UH last year, versus one in fiscal 2006.