Knowledge Transfer Partnerships aim to help businesses improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships involve forming a partnership between your company and the academic institute, enabling you to access skills and expertise to help your company develop. The Partnership recruits one or more suitably qualified graduates (KTP Associates) to facilitate this transfer of skills and expertise. The Associate works in your company on a project central to your needs and is jointly supervised by you and the academic partner.

KTP is part-funded by a Government grant. A small to medium sized enterprise (SME) would be expected to contribute about a third of the costs involved in the project; the average annual contribution for an SME would be around £20,000. A large company should expect to pay around £30,000 per project per year.

Given the rich variety of projects, business performance outputs vary considerably from case to case. The latest information shows that, on average, the business benefits that can be expected from a single KTP project are:

• An increase of over £220,000 in annual profits before tax
• The creation of three genuine new jobs
• An increase in the skills of existing staff

What next?

If you have a project that you think would be suitable for KTP, contact Paul Cihlar in the Partnerships Office. He will be able to advise you if your company is eligible for funding through KTP and will assist you in putting together your application.