KNOWLEDGE Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) have helped bridge the gap between academia and business for half a century. By championing collaborations that drive innovation, enhance productivity and open new market opportunities, KTPs have been instrumental in shaping the UK’s economic and technological landscape.

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of KTPs, Blueberry is proud to highlight our dedication to innovation, collaboration, and excellence, reinforcing the spirit of partnership that underpins this programme.

KTPs: A Proven Model for Business Growth

Funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through Innovate UK, KTPs provide businesses with cutting-edge expertise from universities and research institutions. These partnerships empower companies to:

• Drive competitive advantage & profitability
• Produce new knowledge and technologies
• Foster a culture of innovation
• Develop new products & access untapped markets

Since 1975, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) have supported more than 14k businesses and 12k projects, delivering significant economic impact, and making it the government’s longest running and most successful innovation programme. From 2010 to 2020 alone, KTPs generated over £2b in economic value, with each £1 invested yielding more than £5 in benefits. The programme has contributed over £2.3bto the UK economy in the past decade. These partnerships have driven business growth and fostered a culture of innovation, creating new products and accessing untapped markets.

A KTP is a three-way coalition between a business, an academic team and a graduate:

1. The business has a challenge or project
2. The academic team provides the knowledge and expertise
3. The graduate uses fresh ideas and critical thinking to deliver the project

Blueberry’s Role in Fostering Successful KTP Partnerships

Our highly skilled team have a strong track record of working with universities and businesses to streamline engagement, generate high-quality leads, and drive partnership success. Our strategic marketing and outreach expertise has made us a trusted partner in delivering impactful KTP campaigns across the UK.

Blueberry’s Business-Centric Approach – Expanding KTP Reach and Relevance

Often described as one of the world’s best-kept secrets, KTPs have historically been perceived as relevant only to a narrow group of high-tech or innovation-led businesses. At Blueberry, we’ve worked with universities to challenge and change this perception. By adopting a business-centric approach to KTP marketing and engagement, we start with uncovering the real needs and growth ambitions of businesses – many of whom aren’t initially aware that a KTP could be the right fit.

We’ve found more recently that institutions are increasingly proactive in supporting companies through the early scoping stages, helping to shape viable project ideas and making the process more accessible. This includes guiding businesses in recruiting external associates with fresh perspectives and specialist skills, rather than relying solely on existing internal teams. As the demand for innovation, productivity gains, and digital transformation grows, this tailored and inclusive approach is helping universities broaden the appeal and impact of KTPs – ultimately securing their relevance and success for the future.

Blueberry brings deep experience in delivering this kind of approach, supporting universities in designing campaigns that speak directly to business needs and unlock untapped potential.

Success Stories

In one of our recent collaborations, Blueberry played a key role in strengthening a university’s industry ties, streamlined the KTP sales cycle, and offered data-driven insights for future KTP outreach. Our work involved:

• Conducting stakeholder mapping to find key industry partners
• Refining KTP messaging to resonate with business leaders
• Optimising lead generation for the university’s KTP sales team

As a result, the institution saw an increase in successful KTP applications, allowing more businesses to benefit from academia-driven innovation.

“I’d like to thank the Blueberry team for the work that has gone into the stakeholder mapping exercise. It is informative, captures what we discussed well, and will be very useful for the academic departments.” – University KTP Manager

When it comes to KTP outreach, universities and their KTP teams are often time poor. Finding the right businesses, nurturing them through the lengthy decision-making process, and ensuring they align with university capacity requires time and resources. That’s where we can help.

Blueberry partnered with a London university to streamline and strengthen its KTP outreach. Our expert approach to stakeholder mapping, backed by strategic data targeting and profiling, ensured we targeted the right businesses. We nurtured relationships using multi-touchpoint engagement to guide organisations through decision-making.

By handling the challenging task of outreach and engagement, we gave the university’s KTP team the time and insights they needed to deliver innovative projects. The response was overwhelming – our campaign generated so many opportunities that we had to pause to give our clients time to manage them!

Showcasing the Programme’s Impact

Professor Sarah Underwood, Director of External Engagement at Leeds University Business School, said that KTPs span the boundary between the business community and an academic institution.

“KTPs enable us to make sure that the research that we’re seeing happening is applicable and appropriate for a real-world scenario,” said Professor Underwood in the Yorkshire Business Insider. “It is extremely important for businesses to know that we are open to collaboration, and we can help solve business problems and help them to become more innovative organisations.”

“KTPs are a fantastic route for companies to innovate and revitalise, and as frameworks through which to develop strong, long-lasting relationships with universities delivering commercial benefit to an organisation’s knowledge.” – Rob Burgin, former MD, BemroseBooth Paragon (KTP funding Innovate UK & Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC)

KTPs: Key Statistics

• Boosting Business: 83% of businesses in KTPs saw higher productivity, profits, jobs, or revenue.
• Smarter Academia: 92% of universities and research partners gained deeper industry insights.
• Nationwide Impact: KTPs support businesses everywhere – 75% outside London & the Southeast.
  

  Innovate UK’s independent KTP Evaluation Report

Why Now is the Perfect Time to Promote KTPs

As KTPs celebrate their 50th anniversary, it’s the ideal moment for universities to highlight the value of these partnerships and strengthen their engagement with the business community. At Blueberry, we’ve worked closely with higher education institutions to design and deliver targeted campaigns that raise awareness of KTPs, generate high-quality leads, and support the strategic goals of university engagement teams. We understand the importance of showcasing impact, streamlining the journey from business interest to KTP application, and aligning communications with institutional priorities. With our experience and tailored approach, we help universities unlock the full potential of KTPs and create lasting partnerships that drive innovation, knowledge exchange, and real-world impact.

Join us in celebrating 50 years of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and take the next step in your innovation journey with Blueberry’s expert support. Contact Blueberry Marketing Solutions today to learn how we can help your business benefit from a KTP and unlock new growth opportunities. Call us on +44 (0)113 487 7013 or email us at info@blueberryms.co.uk

[Copyright © 2025 Angela Kunawicz & Blueberry Marketing Solutions. All rights reserved.]

Sources & Footnotes:

• *UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the UK’s national funding agency for science and research. With a combined budget of more than £6 billion, UKRI operates across the UK and brings together the 7 Research Councils, Innovate UK, and Research England.
• *Innovate UK published an independent evaluation report on KTPs in 2023. This report, prepared by SQW in collaboration with Qa Research, assessed the effectiveness and impact of KTPs between 2010 and 2020. The study evaluated the scheme’s performance against its objectives, including its impact on businesses, the knowledge base, associates involved, and the broader UK economy.
• Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) key facts
• Innovate UK – Discover Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
• Spotlight on Knowledge Transfer Partnership
• Knowledge Transfer Partnerships evaluation
• Marking 45 years of Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships