Originally written by Paul Yeomans on Small Business
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) can help you develop new products, embed new skills and improve the efficiency of your business to increase profits.
KTP is an Innovate UK-funded programme that for the past 40 years has helped small businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within UK universities.
The types of projects undertaken via KTP are strategic and significant for the participating business: they are often central to their future growth and success and are undertaken in a fully professional way. These are not part-time projects or student/graduate placements.
How does a Knowledge Transfer Partnership work?
A full-time member of staff is jointly recruited by a company and a university to work on-site in the business but with access to university facilities. The projects also benefit from a team of academic experts, who regularly visit the company to work directly on the project, while project management support from Innovate UK and the university ensures that there are no grant claims for the company to manage as with other funding.
Many Government small business support initiatives have come and gone since the scheme began in the mid-1970s, but KTP