Fight past the jargon and find the benefits

The purpose of this paper is to inform businesses about the best practice in getting the most out of the government‐funded Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – a method of transferring university expertise to the benefit of business.

The paper describes how these Knowledge Transfer Partnerships work, the kind of projects that get funded, and the benefits that surveyed companies have experienced. It then gives three case studies of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships to illustrate how they work.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships significantly improve productivity and profitability in most businesses where the projects take place. They also cover a broad range of projects than simply technology transfer.

The paper is valuable to businesses, especially SMEs, who might be looking to undertake projects that involve some innovative or research element as it explains how to obtain significant government funding.