KTP – A Mechanism to Embed Research into Your Company Innovation

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a UK-wide programme enabling businesses to improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance.

A KTP achieves this through the forming of a Partnership between your business and an academic institution (such as university, further education college or research and technology organisation), enabling you to access skills and expertise to help your business develop.

The knowledge sought is embedded into the business from the knowledge base through a project, or projects, undertaken by a recently qualified person (known as the Associate), recruited to specifically work on that project. KTPs can vary in length from 1 to 3 years (classic KTP) and from 10-40 weeks(shorter KTP), depending on the needs of the business and the desired outcomes.

KTP enables new capability to be embedded into the business and has benefited and continues to benefit a wide range of businesses across many sectors, including micro sized, small and large businesses, third sector organisations or public.

A good example of a KTP is between  Salts Healthcare Ltd – a family owned company that manufactures hydrocolloid polymers for skin contact applications – and Aston University Biomaterials Research Unit (BRU). The academic team, led by Professor Brian Tighe with support from Dr Allan Amass and Dr Val Franklin, have extensive experience in the design, synthesis and application of polymers for use in biomedical applications.

Salts manufacture and supply stoma-care and wound-care products to the NHS and other healthcare providers across the world.

Salts Healthcare hydrocolloid products consist of two major types of components, a polymer based adhesive and fluid absorbent hydrocolloid powders. The KTP project supported these product improvements by enhancing the understanding of the synergistic effect of the hydrocolloid powders within Salts current product portfolio and the interaction between devices and the human body. This provided scientific support for the selection and design of hydrocolloid systems for use in the two key application areas.

The KTP enabled Salts to gain a greater understanding of the physical characteristics’ of hydrocolloids and their behaviour as biomaterials using the analytical capabilities and expertise available within BRU.

The benefits from the project are both social and economic. Salts is a medium-sized company competing successfully against multi-national companies with much larger in-house R&D facilities. In order to continue this success, grow the business and maintain competitiveness, continual product range improvement through development of advanced materials is required. These developments can significantly improve the quality of life of patients. In economic terms, products with skin contact applications have an enormous and increasing financial impact in Europe and the USA – a feature of an aging population.

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