The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme helps businesses in the UK to innovate and grow. It does this by linking them with an academic or research organisation and a graduate.

A KTP enables a business to bring in new skills and the latest academic thinking to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project through a knowledge-based partnership.

Taking part in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership can help you to develop your business. You can get academic expertise that you don’t have in-house. This can improve your business performance and help you to become more competitive and productive.

A Knowledge Transfer Partnership is part-funded by a grant. You will need to contribute to the salary of the Associate who will work with your business, plus the cost of a supervisor who will oversee the scheme.

The amount you will need to contribute depends on the scale and length of the project. It will also depend on the size of your company. Typically:

• small and medium-sized enterprises contribute around £35,000 per year, about one-third of the project costs
• large businesses contribute around £55,000 per year, or half of the project costs

KTP have a number of regional offices in Wales.

These are the open and close dates for the KTP programme:

• open 5 July 2018, close 19 September 2018
• open 20 September 2018, close 31 October 2018
• open 1 November 2018, close 12 December 2018
• open 13 December 2018, close 6 February 2019
• open 7 February 2019, close 20 March 2019

Visit the Business Wales Innovation pages to find out how to access facilities and expertise in universities and colleges to help your business innovate.