2025 marks 50 years of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership, making it the UK’s most successful and long-established mechanism for connecting businesses with academic expertise.
The milestone couldn’t have come at a more important time for the research and development sector. According to the National Centre for Universities and Business, the UK recorded the weakest growth in R&D spending among the G7 between 2021 and 2023, highlighting the need for stable mechanisms to unlock private sector investment.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) offer organisations a proven and structured way to invest in R&D with confidence. Each project is part-funded by a grant from Innovate UK, with businesses contributing the remaining share. Since 1975, the UK government has supported more than 14,000 projects and around 11,000 of them have been with SMEs. With world-leading research institutions, extraordinary graduate talent and a dynamic business landscape, the UK has enormous innovation potential and KTPs stand out as a trusted mechanism for turning that potential into real economic growth.
What is a KTP?
A KTP is about collaboration. Each project forms a partnership between a business, an academic institution and a highly qualified graduate (known as a KTP Associate). Over 12 to 36 months, the associate works to solve pressing industry problems, develop new products or processes and accelerate innovation.
Businesses get access to world-class research facilities and expertise; academics get opportunities to apply their research findings to industry challenges; and graduates get a chance to kick-start exciting careers.
It’s a model that delivers measurable results. With over £50 million invested annually and every £1 invested returning an estimated £5.50 in economic benefits, 83% of participating businesses report increased productivity, profitability or growth. KTPs have generated an estimated £2.3 billion in economic value to date and have the potential to strengthen the UK’s position as a global leader in applied innovation.
By taking the risk out of private investment and fostering long-term collaboration between universities and industry, KTPs are a practical demonstration of a clear, long-term plan for R&D investment that provides businesses with certainty and academics with impact.
Greater Manchester: A Thriving KTP Ecosystem
With the KTP 2025 Conference and Awards taking place in Manchester this October, the spotlight is firmly on the North-West as a leader in collaborative innovation across advanced manufacturing, health innovation, cyber security and clean energy.
Greater Manchester is a thriving city-region renowned for its rich industrial heritage, world-class universities and innovation ecosystem. Initiatives like the Innovation Accelerators and International Scale Up Programme already foster collaboration across academia, business and local government but support to expand and sustain the ecosystem continues to grow at every level. Reflecting on the region’s future, Dharma Nurse, Senior Innovation Development Manager at the Growth Company, noted:
Partnerships will play a central role in shaping the North-West’s economic future over the next 5 to 10 years. As universities embed enterprise into education and support spinouts, they’ll help build a resilient, future-ready economy.
Dharma Nurse, Senior Innovation Development Manager, The Growth Company
At the heart of this dynamic landscape is Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub, the first of its kind in the UK and the blueprint for 37 other Growth Hubs across the country. GM Business Growth Hub has a strong track record of helping local businesses develop KTPs that deliver lasting commercial and social impact. Innovation Development Managers are instrumental from the very beginning. They work closely with organisations to identify and understand the challenges of sustainable business growth, helping shape innovative ideas and connect companies with the most relevant academic expertise. Their role includes co-designing R&D projects that are tailored to business needs, laying the groundwork for transformational collaboration through KTPs. Together with the universities they help unlock routes to market and support scale-up strategies, ensuring that innovations are not only developed, but successfully commercialised.
A powerful example of their support can be seen in the journey of The Insights Family, a Manchester-based company specialising in market intelligence for children, teens and families. From its early days as a start-up, the business worked with GM Business Growth Hub and Manchester Metropolitan University to accelerate growth through Innovation Vouchers and a KTP project focused on advanced data analytics and behavioural science. The partnership enabled the company to develop sophisticated profiling tools and expand internationally, securing multi-million-pound investment and creating new skilled jobs.
“GM Business Growth Hub has been a huge part of The Insights Family’s journey almost from day one. Without their support, guidance and introductions, there is no way we would have achieved what we have.” – Nick Richardson, founder of the Insights Family.
Celebrating 50 Years of Impact
The upcoming KTP 2025 Conference and Awards at the iconic Kimpton Clocktower Hotel will showcase the KTP model as a proven blueprint for future R&D investment.
Taking place from Tuesday 28 to Thursday 30 October, the three-day event is co-hosted by our Greater Manchester universities, in partnership with Innovate UK, and is sponsored by GM Business Growth Hub among others in the Networking Zone. It will explore themes of Knowledge with Impact, Driving Innovation for the Future and The Art of Successful Collaboration.
It’s a fitting celebration for a programme that has quietly powered UK innovation for half a century and is poised to shape the next 50 years of growth.
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