Welcome to a series of blogs and vlogs designed to help you better understand Management Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (MKTPs).

Management KTPs are a funding opportunity aimed at helping UK businesses improve the way they work.

They are built on the highly successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership model – the UK’s longest running knowledge exchange programme which has helped more than 14,000 businesses innovate for growth.

Like KTPs, Management KTP’s link you in a collaborative partnership with specialist academics who have the know-how to help you transform the way your business operates. 

In this V/blog (one in a series – see below for links to others), Knowledge Transfer Adviser, Jim Berryman,  provides insights into how MKTP can be used.

• Register here for our Management KTP Webinar, 10-11.30 on Tuesday 27 April

HOW BUSINESSES CAN USE AND BENEFIT FROM MKTPs

Most businesses are inherently successful, if they weren’t doing something right they probably wouldn’t be here.  But most managers know that their business isn’t perfect, that some things work better than others and that there are areas that could be improved.  What triggers most to take action on driving improvement is an understanding that the successful business of tomorrow needs to be different from the one they live in today.

The Pandemic has crystalised a lot of thinking around this topic for a lot of businesses.  The strong messages coming from businesses as they reflect on COVID19 is that they need to become more resilient, more agile and more innovative.  All very fertile ground for Management KTPs.

These genuine drivers for change sit alongside emerging concerns around areas such as:

• We need to grow and grow quickly, how can we manage that when the current systems and processes are barely fit for purpose as it is?
• We’ve got good people but are not making the best use of their talents.  How can we keep them committed, motivated and enthused?
• Markets seem more dynamic; how can I analyse trends and spot opportunities
• We need to ‘pivot’, be more open to change, more responsive to customers and find ways to spot and capitalise on opportunities, how do we build this into our DNA?
• The leadership/ management team is constantly busy ‘doing’, we never seem to have time for stepping back. How can we be more strategic and collegiate?

So, the businesses we engage with tend to be progressive in their thinking and open to adjusting the way they are managed, even if they don’t quite know how they can go about this.  But one of the key components of KTP that make them so transformational is that we don’t just focus on the symptoms that the business brings to the table.

Early on in the process we bring the whole project team together – key business representatives along with a few academics from the nominated Knowledge Base. The University KTP Office plays an important role in this co-creation stage and the whole conversation is facilitated by your local Knowledge Transfer Adviser from KTN who brings a deep knowledge of MKTP in particular and in shaping collaborative partnerships in general.  

If the  fundamental building blocks for a KTP exist we dig deeper into scoping out the project.  Everyone adds a perspective so that we can see the Partnership holistically and test out areas where there is a genuine corporate will to improve and where current academic research thinking can help find solutions.  

The project that we leave the room with tends to be much broader and tailored to the business; it can also draw on a wider team than first thought, often adding expertise not even in the room.  The business drivers are always the foundations for any KTP. For MKTP my experience is that this joint decision of what it is we are going to do and what business issues we will address is at the heart of being able to come up with the most impactful solution for us all”.

Interested?

• Register here for our Management KTP Webinar, 10-11.30 on Tuesday 27 April
• Find out more about MKTP on our webpage
• Locate and contact your nearest Knowledge Transfer Adviser to discuss your idea

This is one in a series of V/blogs about Management KTP

Mark Lynch: Introducing MKTP

Mark Lynch: How does Management KTPs Funding work

Jan Stringer: The benefits of Academic Collaboration

Jim Berryman:What are MKTPs for?

Fiona Nightingale: Why Now is the time to engage in Management KTP

Dr Lorna Howarth and Dr Gordon Jack: Interview Management KTP Associate Dr Gordon Jack, IPIG LTD

Prof David Bamford (Manchester Metropolitan University): Why Academics should engage in MKTP

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Use Management KTP to:

• Access deep knowledge to solve key strategic challenges
• Apply fresh thinking to transform a wide range business activities 
• Create business-wide change to increase productivity, adaptability and resilience
• Introduce a culture of innovation for lasting, positive change.

Management Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are funded by the UK Government Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy through Innovate UK and delivered by KTN in partnership with Knowledge Bases.