A NORTH-EAST university has been named one of the UK leaders in transfer of technology.

A survey showed that Newcastle University's £5m sale of its shares in its spin-out company, Novocastra Laboratories, last year, represented the most profitable equity sell-off by any university.

The research, by Nottingham University Business School, identified four UK universities that were excelling at technology transfer.

They were Newcastle, Edinburgh, Loughborough and Strathclyde.

The interim report, published this week, details UK university technology transfer activities in 2002, but does not name individual universities. However, the four leading universities which served as case studies were named in an article in The Times Higher Education Supplement on Friday.

The full report is expected to be published in September and is being modelled on the North American Association of University Technology Managers' survey, which has been running for 11 years.

Novocastra Laboratories, which was taken over last July by Vision BioSystems, was set up by Wilson Horne, a former professor of pathology at Newcastle University, and his colleagues.

It quickly became a world-leading manufacturer of antibodies, probes and kits used primarily in cancer detection and characterisation.

Last year, five spin-out companies were formed at Newcastle University, which has set itself the target of increasing the number to seven to ten per year.

Dr Douglas Robertson, director of business development at the university, said: "This just goes to show how important research-intensive universities like Newcastle are to the UK and regional economies.

"Spinning out companies from our powerful research base is helping to create sustainable jobs and wealth. The companies we are setting up today could be the Novocastras of tomorrow.

"We also work with existing companies to help them improve their products and processes.

"We pride ourselves on being open for business, quite literally.