UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership Grants 2026 to 2027 Round Three: Up to £750,000 for Business Innovation

UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership Grants 2026 to 2027 Round Three: Up to £750,000 for Business Innovation

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) 2026 to 2027 round three is the live competition for a UK business and an eligible UK knowledge base that want to deliver a strategic innovation project together. Innovate UK’s published schedule says this round opened on 29 June 2026 and closes on 16 September 2026 at 11:00 UK time. The same schedule lists a new partners workshop on 9 December 2026 for successful applicants. Dates can change, so use the official guidance before submitting.

This is not a general research grant and it is not a short consultancy voucher. A KTP is a structured partnership: a UK-registered business brings a defined challenge, a university, college, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult supplies relevant knowledge, and a suitably qualified graduate is recruited as the KTP Associate. The associate works primarily with the business while being supported by the knowledge base and business supervisors. The goal is to put new knowledge, technology and skills into practice, then leave the business with a capability it can continue using.

At a glance

The primary schedule is Innovate UK’s dates and deadlines for KTP applicants. UKRI also lists the round’s £10 million total fund and £750,000 maximum award on its future research and innovation funding opportunities page. Treat those pages as the authority if the Innovation Funding Service or a partner’s internal timetable displays different information.

What a KTP is designed to do

The strongest KTP proposals start with a business problem that matters to the company’s strategy. That might be a manufacturing bottleneck, a product that cannot yet be produced reliably, a service that needs a new digital capability, or a process whose performance is holding back growth. The project then identifies the missing knowledge and explains why the business cannot reasonably obtain the result through routine hiring or an ordinary supplier relationship.

The knowledge base is not a passive name on the application. It should provide subject expertise, facilities where appropriate, academic supervision and a route for transferring knowledge into the business. The associate is the person who connects those resources to day-to-day delivery. The associate may develop a new product or process, build a data or engineering capability, test and refine an operational method, or establish a repeatable approach to future innovation. The exact subject can vary, but the project must be specific, strategic and useful to the business.

The official KTP guidance describes classic KTPs as helping to build better products and services and management KTPs as helping to build better businesses. Both models are based on a defined challenge and a 12-to-36-month placement. The associate has an employment contract with the knowledge base but works primarily for the business partner. Academic and business supervisors share responsibility for making sure the work is technically sound, commercially relevant and embedded rather than left as a report at the end.

Funding and project costs

UKRI lists a total fund of £10 million for this round and a maximum award of £750,000. That maximum is not an automatic entitlement and should not be treated as a standard award size. The project budget must follow the eligible-cost rules and be proportionate to the workplan, the associate role and the capability the partnership is building.

Innovate UK’s KTP cost guidance says a typical project package is valued at about £80,000 to £100,000 per year. It includes the associate’s salary, academic team costs, project consumables, mentoring, training and development, and travel and subsistence. The same guidance says the business funds a proportion of the total costs: normally 50% for larger businesses and typically 67% for small and medium-sized enterprises. The exact contribution depends on factors including business size or group size and the knowledge base selected, so partners should have their finance or KTP office confirm the numbers before they promise a budget.

The business contribution is part of the partnership, not an optional extra. The business must demonstrate that it can support its share of the project, provide the associate with day-to-day supervision, host required meetings at its own expense and fund the activity needed to exploit the result. A credible budget therefore connects each cost to a deliverable: associate employment, development activity, travel, consumables, academic supervision, estates and any other justified eligible item. Avoid presenting a large unexplained request or assuming that in-kind staff time will replace every financial commitment.

Who can take part

Each application must be led by a UK-registered knowledge base. The eligible lead can be a higher education institution, further education institution, RTO or Catapult, and it must be registered as a knowledge base with the KTP programme. The knowledge base cannot apply alone: it must work with a UK-registered business and invite that business into the Innovation Funding Service application.

The business partner must be UK registered, have two or more full-time equivalent employees, and be able to support its contribution to project costs. The business must provide financial information, including current and previous financial-year information as requested, and evidence that it can support both the project contribution and the later exploitation of the work. A UK subsidiary of an overseas parent can be eligible if the subsidiary is individually registered in the UK. The registered name and registration number used in the application must match the relevant public register.

The partnership must also fit the programme’s project rules. The knowledge base and business should have a genuine knowledge gap to address, and the proposal should show the new knowledge or capability that will be transferred and embedded. Innovate UK’s competition material says projects should align with the Industrial Strategy’s eight sectors. The proposal should therefore explain the relevant sector connection in practical terms, whether the work involves digital tools, manufacturing, health, energy, materials, services or another area. A proposal that is only routine delivery, a generic internship, pure discovery research or ordinary consultancy is a poor fit.

The business cannot lead the application, and an organisation eligible to be a knowledge base cannot participate as the business partner. The knowledge base also cannot have ownership of 50% or more of the business partner or a controlling interest through a shareholder agreement. Both parties should settle an intellectual-property agreement before the project starts.

How to build the application

Start by contacting the KTP office at the knowledge base or by finding an appropriate participating knowledge base. A business that already has an academic relationship should begin there. If it does not, Innovate UK’s guidance points applicants toward a local knowledge base or a Knowledge Transfer Adviser (KTA). The adviser supports the development process and must approve the application before submission.

Next, define the business challenge in operational language. State what is not working, what opportunity is being missed, why the business lacks the required knowledge or capability, and what will be different if the project succeeds. Then identify the knowledge base team that can address that gap. The application should make the connection visible: business need, missing expertise, associate work, academic support, measurable result and a plan for embedding the result.

The application is completed jointly, but only the knowledge base can submit it. Build the workplan around milestones rather than broad aspirations. For example, a project might begin with requirements and baseline measurement, move through method or prototype development, validate the result in the business environment, and finish with staff training, documentation and an exploitation plan. Each phase should have an owner, evidence of progress and a clear reason for the next phase.

The KTP Associate role needs the same care. Describe the skills needed, the decisions the associate will own, the access they will have to data or facilities, and the way both supervisors will support them. The knowledge base must provide at least half a day of academic support per week, while the business provides day-to-day guidance. The associate should have a credible development plan covering technical training, business understanding and the ability to communicate with both partners.

Before submission, the knowledge base and business should check the required supporting information. The business partner needs to enter its eligible cost estimates and provide the financial material requested by the application. The partners must complete a joint commitment statement, agree intellectual-property arrangements, and explain how the project will be exploited during and after the KTP. The financial section should include the associate employment costs, development, travel and subsistence, consumables, academic supervisor costs, estates and any other relevant eligible categories, with itemised justification where required.

Finally, ask an informed person outside the project to read the proposal. They should be able to answer five questions after one pass: What does the business need? What knowledge is missing? Why is this partnership the right route? What will the associate deliver? How will the business use the result after the project? If any answer is vague, fix the application before the KTA review. Allow time for the knowledge base’s internal approvals and for the business to supply financial documents; the published closing time is a hard portal deadline.

What makes a proposal credible

KTP assessors need to see additionality. Explain why the business cannot deliver the proposed change at the same quality, speed or scale without the partnership. That explanation should be more specific than “we lack resources.” Identify the missing specialist knowledge, the implementation risk, the cost of recruiting a complete team internally, or the reason the business needs an associate who can work between research and operations.

Set outcomes that can be measured. Depending on the project, those might include a validated production method, a new service ready for customers, a reduction in defects or processing time, a new decision-support capability, a documented and trained operational process, or a route to market. Do not claim a commercial result that the workplan cannot support. Show the baseline, the target, the evidence to be collected and who will make the adoption decision.

The proposal also needs mutual benefit. The business should gain capability, productivity, growth or a defensible new offer. The knowledge base should gain meaningful engagement, research or teaching value, impact evidence and a stronger understanding of the business problem. The associate should gain structured professional development and a role with real responsibility. These benefits reinforce one another when the project is designed well; they should not appear as three unrelated lists added at the end.

Risk management matters too. Name the technical, data, adoption and commercial risks that could affect delivery. Give each a mitigation, decision point or fallback. If the business depends on data access, explain how data quality and confidentiality will be managed. If a prototype could fail, describe the test criteria and the alternative route. If staff adoption is critical, include training, user feedback and an accountable business sponsor. Specific risk management makes the proposal more believable than a promise that everything will run smoothly.

Bottom line

The current KTP round three is a live opportunity for a prepared UK knowledge base and business partnership, not a page for the completed 2025 to 2026 round five. The deadline in the metadata is the official 16 September 2026 closing date, and the page keeps historicalReference = false because the current round is open. Confirm the schedule before submitting, then work through the KTP office, the business partner and the appointed Knowledge Transfer Adviser so that the final application is complete, financially supported and ready for competitive assessment.