ACCOUNTS

							KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
ACCOUNTS
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
ACCOUNTS
EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research
and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing
around 2.4 billion during the period 2008-11.
Improving the level of interactions between business and the
research base and increasing the uptake and exploitation of our
investments is very important to us. Our vision is for the UK to be
as renowned for knowledge transfer and innovation as it is for
research discovery.
Knowledge Transfer Accounts (KTAs)        12 KTAs were awarded in 2009, with 6 being institutional
make available the resources which        and 6 focused on particular areas:
are necessary to overcome the barriers    University of Bath
to exploitation of research, in order     The University of Bath’s £3.4M KTA award will accelerate and
to create an environment in which         increase the social and economic impact of its research. Funds
knowledge transfer is valued and          will, for example, be utilised to enable academics to put on training
encouraged just as much as the            modules on how to apply their research to a particular business
generation of original results.           or industry, to develop proof of concept funding to de-risk
                                          investment by potential licensees or investors, or to match fund
They are grants awarded to universities   investment in trials or further development by potential adopters
for three years, ranging in size from     of research results.
£2M to more than £8M. Their aim is to     www.bath.ac.uk
ensure that, where it produces results    University of Cambridge
which might benefit the UK economy        Recent research into service provision is creating valuable new
and society, the research that EPSRC      knowledge which can help manufacturers of complex engineering
funds will be exploited to maximum        solutions, such as rail transport or power generation systems. This
effect. Among more than 100               £2.2M KTA will bring together the universities of Cambridge, Bath,
collaborators, the KTAs will work with    Cranfield, Exeter and Nottingham to bridge a knowledge transfer
eight of EPSRC’s Strategic Partners:      gap, specifically in relation to engineering-based services. It will
                                          develop ways to turn the new knowledge created into practical tools
Arup, AstraZeneca, BAE Systems,
                                          and techniques which specialist teams of practitioners can apply
British Energy, Dstl, Mobile VCE, NPL     in companies.
and QinetiQ.                              www.cam.ac.uk
Durham University
This £2.6M KTA will allow the results of research by engineers and physical
scientists from the universities of Durham and Newcastle to be applied commercially
to the healthcare sector. The project, ‘Crossing the Clinical Boundary’, aims to reduce
the time taken for a novel material or process to come into use. Academic clinicians
will be directly involved in demonstrating the feasibility of the technologies.
www.dur.ac.uk

University of Exeter
Exeter’s £3.2M KTA will enable a unique collaboration between its academics and the
Applied Technologies Division of QinetiQ, to develop new opportunities in the field of
Functional Materials, specifically in the area of Tailored Electromagnetic Solutions.
The project will utilise existing patented technology and develop it to a level where
the ideas will attract external funding. The grant will support the appointment of an
experienced entrepreneur employed to gain third party investment.
www.ex.ac.uk

University of Glasgow
Glasgow’s £2.5M KTA will help to build upon the recognised strength and scale of
Glasgow University’s EPSRC funded nanotechnology research and, through the
mechanisms and partnerships it develops, enhance transfer into the marketplace. It
will be made up of three work packages: Marketing and relationship building, Funding
mechanisms and Training with an overall objective to capture, understand and respond
to industry’s needs to exploit EPSRC-funded research fully and speed up routes to
market for this research.
www.gla.ac.uk
University of Liverpool                                        University of Manchester
Liverpool’s £3.5M KTA will accelerate the transfer of          Manchester’s £8.3M KTA will be used to fund a number
research into industry by creating a Knowledge                 of schemes which will make knowledge transfer easier,
Exploitation Laboratory. The KEL will exploit £43 million      including secondments of staff between the university and
of EPSRC-funded research at the University in the fields       industry, and horizon-scanning events to bring together
of Molecular Engineering, Advanced Manufacturing, and          researchers and potential users from across a range of
Sensors and Monitoring. The Laboratory will allow the          sectors. The grant will enable Manchester’s researchers
University’s Engineering, Electrical Engineering and           to respond to challenges such as healthcare, energy and
Electronics, Physics and Chemistry departments to share        security, and to exploit research in major areas including
research and expertise with industrial and manufacturing       advanced materials, advanced engineering and the
partner organisations.                                         digital economy.
www.liv.ac.uk                                                  www.manchester.ac.uk

Loughborough University                                        Queen Mary, University of London
This £3.0M KTA will build on Loughborough’s strong             This £2.9M KTA will establish links between industrial
links with industry through a range of activities, including   partners and early career researchers who will undertake
two-way secondments, continuing professional                   projects which will transfer leading edge EPSRC funded
development and opportunities to exploit leading-edge          research into business. At the same time, these researchers
research through licensing or new business creation.           will be mentored in the skills required to transfer research
It will focus on areas of strategic national importance        into economic impact for the UK, leading to a new brand of
(such as healthcare, transport and energy) providing           researcher with both the technical and business abilities to
opportunities throughout the lifecycle of research             succeed in an increasingly competitive environment.
activities. These will range from workshops to scope out       www.qmul.ac.uk
significant new research areas to sharing the findings
with user organisations.
www.lboro.ac.uk
University of Sheffield
Sheffield’s £5.7M KTA will ensure that the results and experience arising from its EPSRC
funded activities are exploited to maximum benefit, while creating an environment that
supports and encourages collaborative working. Researchers will disseminate their
results in accessible ways and engage end-users in the process of exploiting research,
thereby ensuring the take-up of results to deliver economic growth for the nation, improve
quality of life, and inform public policy for future generations.
www.shef.ac.uk

University of Strathclyde
The £2.6M Strathclyde KTA consists of three linked programmes of activities. These
activities will escalate company and academic engagement in research exploitation
around the EPSRC portfolio through transitions between companies and the university
of people and technologies. Escalator activities will play to the strengths of Strathclyde’s
EPSRC portfolio aligned to key sectors: Power and Energy, Chemical and Biotechnology,
Advanced Manufacturing and Defence, Electronics and Communications, and Healthcare.
www.strath.ac.uk

University of Surrey
Surrey’s £3.9M KTA will develop three platforms based onits EPSRC funded research in
communications and signal processing; next generation materials and characterisation;
and nanotechnology and photonics. Together with industrial partners and experts in
Knowledge Exchange, Surrey’s KTA will overcome challenges to exploitation and deliver
real and tangible benefits to the UK economy and society. It will connect university
research with users, identify appropriate partners and markets for exploitation and
accelerate innovation.
www.surrey.ac.uk
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
SECONDMENTS
Knowledge Transfer Secondments (KTSs)             13 KTSs were awarded in 2009:
are grants awarded to universities for 3 years    Imperial College London www.imperial.ac.uk
and range in size from £450K to nearly £2M.
                                                  University of Cambridge www.cam.ac.uk
They support secondments of EPSRC funded
staff into organisations which can exploit        University of Southampton www.soton.ac.uk
their research results. KTS funding can also      University of Leeds www.leeds.ac.uk
be used to host researchers from industry.
                                                  University of Oxford www.ox.ac.uk
                                                  University College London www.ucl.ac.uk
                                                  The University of Nottingham www.nottingham.ac.uk
                                                  University of Birmingham www.bham.ac.uk
                                                  University of Warwick www.warwick.ac.uk
                                                  University of Bristol www.bristol.ac.uk
                                                  Queens University Belfast www.qub.ac.uk

For further information on KTAs or KTSs           Newcastle University www.newcastle.ac.uk
please visit the individual university websites
                                                  Durham University www.dur.ac.uk
or the EPSRC website at www.epsrc.ac.uk
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
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