Completed Economics & Business

Knowledge Transfer Account - The University of Manchester

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

The University of Manchester is turning its research into practical tools for UK industries through a dedicated Knowledge Transfer Account. This matters because promising research often stalls between the lab and the marketplace. Companies lack the time, money, or expertise to evaluate whether a new technology will work for them, and academics rarely have the resources to prove their ideas are commercially viable. The KTA fills that gap with a portfolio of flexible support mechanisms. The programme offers secondments between university and industry, feasibility studies to build evidence for new applications, and full-time Knowledge Transfer Fellows who solve immediate problems for companies. It also supports developing licensable technology and runs masterclasses to help businesses exploit new domains. These mechanisms are designed to be adaptable, so researchers can engage with industry at whatever stage their work is ready. If successful, the KTA will accelerate the flow of fundamental science into manufacturing processes, supply chains, and other industrial systems that underpin the UK economy. It does not target a single breakthrough but creates a repeatable system for turning research into economic value.

View original technical description
The University of Manchester's EPSRC KTA focuses on the exploiation of that research which has a significant contribution to make to the challenges faced by the UK and its industries. The Manchester KTA creates a portfolio of flexible support mechanisms that enable all researchers to successfully engage in exploitation. These mechanisms include: joint horizon-scanning which focuses on helping researchers and users to explore technology/problem domains and develop novel strategies to solve them; a Secondment Scheme which enables two way secondments between the University and user organisations to identify exploitation opportunities, or to develop research towards commercial exploitation; Awards for Concept Development and Feasibility Studies, which support researchers in developing an evidence base for the application of research in a particular field, so that companies are able to evaluate its value; a Knowledge Transfer Fellows Scheme, which employs researchers full time to work on immediate research-based problem-solving for a range of companies; and Awards for the Development of Licensable Technology, which support the development of technology to a point at which a user is able to licence it; Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, a tried and trusted scheme enabling users to apply research-based knowledge to product/process development. The KTA will also focus on the development of CPD where Masterclasses on a given technology domain will enable users to develop strategies to exploit it.

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Researchers

Rod Coombs (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Knowledge Transfer Account - University of Glasgow
Knowledge Transfer Account - University of Liverpool
Knowledge Transfer Account - Loughborough University
Knowledge Transfer Account - University of Sheffield
Knowledge Transfer Account - University of Bath

Original classification

Training Grant

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.