Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs)

Steps to success

1. The idea and introduction meeting

   You have an innovative business idea or problem that you lack the resources or knowledge to progress any further. Contact the University of Staffordshire Business Engagement team who will arrange a meeting when most convenient for you to complete a fact-finding form. This will help to further develop on your ideas and identify the potential to explore other untapped innovation opportunities for business growth.

   Contact the team

2. Project proposal

   Your university KTP lead will support you within completing the full project proposal. This will outline a comprehensive work plan, business case, key outputs, and deliverables. Your KTP lead is responsible for submitting the project proposal and will be reviewed by Innovate UK.

3. Funding approved

   Within 8 to 12 weeks from submitting the project proposal, you will receive a notification from Innovate UK confirming whether your application has been approved. If successful, our support will continue for the duration of the project.

4. Recruit graduate KTP Associate

   We will support the full process of recruiting your graduate KTP Associate. Our wrap-around support includes writing job specifications, promoting the role, shortlisting, interviewing, and managing payment.

5. Continuous support

   You will have regular 1-2-1s with your academic lead throughout the duration of the KTP. You will have access to university R&D facilities and your graduate KTP Associate will be working for you full-time.

KTPs are part funded by a grant from Innovate UK or other government co-funders which you apply for in a competitive bid submission (bids have a success rate for applications of around 90%). You will have a dedicated university contact to support you through the application/bid process.

Typical contribution from the government are as follows:

• 75% of project costs for not-for-profit businesses of any size
• 67% of project costs for micro, small and medium-sized businesses
• 50% of project costs for large businesses

The remainder of the project cost is met by your company.

Why University of Staffordshire?

• We have a proven track record for over 30 years
• We have worked with over 70 companies on over 100 KTPs
• We have expertise in artificial intelligence, Big Data, machine learning, automation robotics, immersive technologies, health, bioscience and much more
• We have secured £6 million of government funding
• We are flexible, it can be anything from 12 to 36 months

Staffordshire based company Stormking took part in a KTP. Key outcomes included:

• Increase profit of 15% during project and a further 20% two years afterwards
• Removal of dependency on external high-risk suppliers
• Foundations to create a now 8 strong IT team providing development support across group companies
• Enabled a 30% growth in turnover whilst reducing administrative staff

Stormking were so impressed with the impact of their first KTP that they decided to start a second to expand on further innovations. Key outcomes included:

• Reduced maintenance costs of injection fleet by 80%
• Embedded PLC and Industry 4.0 skills into the business
• Supported SFDC and CI projects to reduce waste in the injection process by up to 40%