Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

Guiding principles:

• there must be a clear strategic need for knowledge transfer into the business supported by a a solid business case
• there must be a clear knowledge gap/capability that is vital to achieving the strategic goals
• the capability must be ‘embedded’ into the business partner – so that it delivers impact beyond the life of the project
• there must be clear additionality – i.e. an area of expertise that the business partner does not have and cannot access easily elsewhere
• KTP is not a student placement, internship, consultancy or contract research - there are other schemes for these areas of support

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships bring many benefits for the Partners involved.

• £2.2bn net GVA for the period
• £8 GVA for every £1 innovate UK invests
• 94% businesses improved technical skills
• 78% businesses increased productivity
• 77% businesses increased investment

• 92% of knowledge bases increased knowledge of industry challenges
• 95% knowledge bases felt KTP left a long-term legacy
• Average of 2 academic papers published per project

Timescales, Funding and KTP Project Management

• Classic KTPs run for 12 – 36 months and aim to address long-term, strategic business issues.
• Management KTPs (MKTPs) typically last up to 24 months and aim to address management or related issues such as productivity, digitisation, business resilience, new business models, among other business process-related issues.

KTPs are part-funded by Innovate UK and supported by several research councils. For more information about the costs, visit the KTP Costing Guidance. The company contribution is eligible for R&D Tax Credits.

• The Associate is employed by the University but works full-time on the company premises
• The Academic team spends the equivalent of 0.5 days per week on the project
• The Associate delivers and manages the project against an agreed project plan
• The Company supervises the Associate as per a normal employee