How Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) help businesses improve competitiveness and productivity through the better use of the UK’s knowledge, technology and skills base.
KTPs between businesses and academic institutes help companies to find innovative solutions to spearhead new projects, help them grow and increase competitive advantage. Businesses employ one or more recently-qualified people as KTP associates, who work full-time on a key project. They are jointly supervised by the company and a senior academic.
Glasgow-based Breval Environmental Ltd, part of Spice plc, specialises in installation and maintenance of HVAC systems and advises on ventilation hygiene. It worked with the School of Science and Technology at BellCollege, part of the University of the West of Scotland, to design and develop a system for coating, cleaning and maintaining the internal structures of ducting systems.
The KTP collaboration moved the project from the initial concept of a two-vehicle arrangement to a single unit with self-propulsion, innovative spray technology and video surveying equipment. The patented system has attracted a new client base to the company, which has also established in-house R&D. The KTP Associate was recruited as project development engineer.
CR Clarke & Co, based in Ammanford, S Wales, worked with the University of Swansea to develop a new, fully automated line-bending machine for thermoforming and fabrication of thermoplastic materials. The project emerged from the recognition of the need to reduce labour costs and increase efficiency. The machine automates the loading, heating, folding and uploading steps; computer simulation helped cut the time from design to production. As well as increasing sales, the experience has improved CR Clarke’s new product development processes.
Meanwhile, patented designs and applications, developed in collaboration with a KTP, have helped Adande Refrigeration, of Lowestoft, Suffolk, to triple in size, grow within its existing market and established the potential to expand into new areas, including the medical sector.
Adande’s speciality is refrigerators and its core market has been in catering. Its collaboration with the
department of Food, Refrigeration & Process Engineering Research Centre (FRPERC) at the University of Bristol was instrumental in the development of the revolutionary VariCool design and technology patents. The heart of the project was the problem of maintaining constant temperature within refrigerators. The solution developed by the KTP collaboration was a design based on well-insulated drawers, which prevent cool air falling out and also make transportation more convenient. A data-logging system records individual drawer temperatures for due diligence and safety.
The Mark I design has been patented and successfully marketed; Mark II has already been patented. Adande has established a licensing partnership with a company in North America; turnover tripled in three years after the KTP collaboration and the company was able to attract £3.6 million funding from 3i. Associate Edward Hammond, who worked with Adande for 18 of the project’s 24 months, gained a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and NVQ Level Four in management, and now works for the company as its main development engineer.
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