How Innovate UK drives business growth through knowledge transfer

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) have quietly shaped how the UK turns research into real-world business advantage for half a century. In this conversation, Richard Lamb, Programme Manager for KTP at Innovate UK, reflects on why the model has endured and why it feels newly relevant as companies search for practical ways to innovate, build capability, and stay competitive. KTPs are a structured way to embed university knowledge inside a company by using an associate as the bridge between academic expertise and operational reality. That design matters now as innovation isn’t only about the next product, it’s about building the internal capacity to adapt, manage change, and keep improving long after a project ends.

You can read a summary below, and listen to the full interview in our podcast:

Also available on:

Summary

A 50-year model built for applied impact

KTP began in the mid-1970s when policymakers and academics were looking for a new way to connect research to economic performance. The original “Teaching Company Scheme” launched in 1975 and evolved into today’s KTPs.

What made it distinctive then is that KTP isn’t primarily about generating new research outputs. It is designed to solve a business challenge using research that already exists by turning academic insight into an operational advantage inside the firm.

The intent is to solve a business challenge with research that’s already been done, and that’s turning the ethos of a lot of what happens in universities now.

The “associate” as the engine of capability building

A defining feature of KTP is the associate: a graduate-level professional embedded in the business, connected tightly to an academic team. Success hinges on that person’s ability to translate research into action, and action back into learning.

Richard describes the associate role as both demanding and transformative: early on, associates can seem cautious as they orient themselves; later, they often become the project’s connective tissue, fluent in both worlds.

Crucially, the associate is not selected only for academic excellence. Communication sits at the heart of the job, and often determines whether knowledge is genuinely absorbed by the business.

What “success” looks like when partnerships really work

KTP applications are intentionally demanding, because the partnership has to survive years of joint work, not just a short grant cycle. The real signal of excellence shows up in how integrated the team becomes.

I know it’s a great project if I can’t tell who are the academics, who’s from the business, and who’s the associate.

Importantly, impact is not always best measured as immediate revenue. Sometimes the biggest shift is cultural, such as helping a business relearn how to innovate, strengthen management practice, and sustain momentum even as day-to-day operations continue.

When collaboration outlives the project

One of the strongest indicators of long-term value is whether the relationship persists after funding ends. Richard points to continued collaboration as a common outcome, which often takes forms like follow-on projects, PhDs, or ongoing student placements.

80% of projects say that they want to collaborate further once the project’s finished.

Scale, visibility, and the overlooked role that makes KTP work

KTP sits in a wider innovation ecosystem that can be difficult for businesses to navigate, especially SMEs. Richard notes that KTP is often called “the best kept business secret” in the UK, in part because the addressable need is enormous relative to annual capacity.

At the same time, KTP operates at meaningful scale: hundreds of live projects and substantial co-investment, with returns that justify the effort.

For countries looking to replicate the model, Richard highlights one element that is frequently underestimated: the knowledge transfer advisor, whose job is to support project success across a portfolio and not to push projects through.

KTP’s staying power comes from a simple discipline: put knowledge where it can be used, and build the human bridge that makes adoption stick. Richard’s message is that sustainable innovation isn’t just a one-off transaction, but instead a capability a business can learn, practice, and deepen through lasting partnerships.

Ready for more?

If Richard Lamb’s reflections on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships made you think about how structured collaboration can strengthen business–university engagement, you might also enjoy our episode Why the University of South Australia is putting partners at the centre of its strategy.

We explore how institutional strategy, leadership, and culture shape the way universities engage with industry and external stakeholders. While KTP offers a national instrument designed to embed knowledge directly into business, UniSA’s approach highlights what it takes at an institutional level to prioritise long-term, partner-focused collaboration.

Together, the two episodes offer complementary perspectives: One from a funding and programme design lens, and the other from a university strategy lens, both centred on building sustainable, impact-driven partnerships.

Stay tuned for the next episode on this series and don’t forget to follow us on your preferred podcast platform!