First awards for Management Knowledge Transfer Partnerships revealed

Yesterday’s announcement by Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst of £56m to increase productivity in UK companies outlined a varied package of support to deliver significant management capability enhancements and included £25m for the expansion of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme to incorporate a management-specific funding competition – a Management KTP (mKTP). The Knowledge Transfer Network is one of the delivery partners of the programme.

Alicia Greated, Chief Executive of the Knowledge Transfer Network commented “We are delighted that funding for Management Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (mKTPs) has been announced, helping drive up productivity across the UK. Embedding the best leadership and management models can hugely impact company performance and initiatives like the mKTP will enable companies to completely transform the way they work”.

As outlined in the Knowledge Transfer Network’s recent Webinar, the Management KTP is designed to introduce transformational change within companies by introducing major improvements to management practice via a partnership with one of the UK’s world class business schools. The first two companies awarded funding for this new initiative are Resistant Building Products Limited in partnership with Queen’s University, Belfast; and Glasgow-based glass specialist, IPIG, in partnership with the University of the West of Scotland.

For IPIG the objectives of their mKTP are to “undertake a market led strategic change and business development project, underpinned by optimised business processes, management systems, customer-centric culture and strategic agility”. Via their mKTP, Resistant Building Products aims to develop and embed an effective R&D capability to improve their product performance and range.

Ken Frame – Knowledge Transfer Adviser at the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) – who helped put together the Resistant Building Products partnership application said “I am thrilled that this application has been successful. The mKTP initiative promises to make a real difference, both within SMEs and larger organisations, and we look forward to working with a lot more companies who want to improve their management practices and processes via the mKTP programme”.

The MTKP funding, announced at Budget 2018, supports the findings of a joint report by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury, published yesterday, which outlines key actions recommended to improve productivity.

Linking companies with one of the UK’s world class business schools and a talented graduate, a mKTP provides a collaborative partnership lasting between 12 months and three years and aims to help translate research insights and expertise into business growth.

Find out more about mKTP here and, if you’re near Manchester next week, you can attend a live briefing event about mKTP on Wednesday, 13 November 2019, 1500-1800 hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester and University of Salford, with support from Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network.

This funding competition for mKTP opens on 12 December 2019 and closes on 19 February 2020.

Management KTPs are co-funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, a department of the UK Government, and Innovate UK. The Knowledge Transfer Network is one of the programme’s delivery partners.