Management KTP V/Blog: Why now is the right time to engage in MKTP

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 links to others below), Senior Knowledge Transfer Adviser, Fiona Nightingale, looks at why now is the right time for businesses to engage in Management KTP.

WHY NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME TO ENGAGE IN MANAGEMENT KTP

“I would like to talk to you about why now could be the right time for you to be thinking about applying for a Management Knowledge Transfer Partnership to support change in your business.

To drive that change you often have to do more than develop a new technology. You may also have to change the business itself …..and that might be by changing its structure, it markets, its supply chains, its scale or even its management style and the behaviour of its people .

In the last few years we have been living in difficult times. Coping with the challenges of Brexit, COVID, austerity and responding to fast changing new technologies have meant that many businesses have been in survival mode – reacting and adapting quickly – sometimes responding to challenges and sometimes to opportunities. A lot of the solutions have been short term, quick fixes that have revealed longer term needs.

Businesses can now start to focus on their longer term futures and the strategies that they need to get them there. This is the time to think about how to move forward most effectively – and we believe that Management KTPs can help.

There are other options:

You could use your own in-house knowledge – but you may have found that your short term measures have identified areas where you need ideas or knowledge from others outside your organisation.
Or you could employ an external consultant to analyse your needs and recommend an action plan – but that still means that you have to find the resources and the know how to implement the actions.

A mKTP gives you the best of both options. By partnering with a University team you get the expertise that you need. The mKTP has a project plan, specific to your needs, which not only develops strategy and identifies solutions but also implements the solutions and embeds change within your business. An mKTP can de-risk your solutions by sense checking your ideas are creating new ones with the help of academic experts.

An mKTP uses a KTP Associate (someone at an early stage in their career) to work in your company to act as the change agent, by developing and delivering the plan under the joint guidance of the academic team and yourselves. You are involved throughout the whole process of developing the plan and overseeing its delivery – so you are in control but with extra expert help and effort.

It can be an ideal solution as you are gaining academic expertise – and so new ideas – and a new capability which is embedded for the long term.

So, if you are looking to develop and implement strategic change for the future – mKTP may be the perfect option for you”.

Interested in finding out more about MKTP?

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.