New initiative to help Welsh SMEs innovate to recover

In a significant development the Welsh Government have announced they will now fund up to 75% of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (also known as KTPs) for SMEs, enabling easier access to the UK’s flagship innovation programme.

Welcoming these changes Bangor University’s KTP Manager, Tudur Williams said:

“Through the utilisation of Bangor University’s world leading research, businesses can improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance. The KTP scheme supports a partnership with the University that allows businesses to exploit the latest knowledge, technology and skills required to navigate these challenging economic times.“

Prof. Paul Spencer, Bangor University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, added:

“KTP has all ways been an extremely important programme for us. The additional support from Welsh Government means that it will be a heart of our offer to business in this recovery period. It provides a springboard to access the knowledge and skills at Bangor University and I encourage companies to contact us to see how it could deliver for them”.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are a core component of Wales’ R&D and innovation offer to businesses and the aim of this initiative is to make KTPs more accessible and cost effective for SMEs and encourage more businesses to benefit from the programme. With the current difficult economic environment, Welsh Government have announced that they will contribute 75% towards the total costs of KTP projects that meet the eligibility criteria and are approved for participation in the KTP programme.  SME businesses are usually expected to contribute 33% of the total project costs, but eligible businesses in Wales will now only have to contribute 25%.

KTP, and the new Management-KTP, help businesses improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance through better use of knowledge, technology and skills by developing a partnership with a university or FE college.  Partnerships jointly develop the proposal to address a specific business need and must submit their proposal for assessment between 1st September 2020 and 3rd February 2021.  Only applications received during this time will be eligible for this funding.

The partnership can vary in length from one to three years according to the needs of the business.  Businesses from all sectors are welcome to apply.

For more information from The Welsh Government on this initiative is here.

Projects can only be submitted by a UK University, FE College, Research Organisation or Catapult.  The post created by the funding must be located in Wales to qualify for this funding.

To find out more about this exciting opportunity please get in touch with Bangor University’s KTP Manager Tudur Williams on t.t.williams@bangor.ac.uk.

Publication date: 15 September 2020