De Montfort University in Leicester is celebrating a milestone in its Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme.

Despite the current economic downturn, DMU's KTP scheme has seen an unprecedented increase of over 50% in the number of programmes established over the last year, which will support the future success of the East Midlands region. During the last five years alone, the university has established 40 KTPs which have resulted in 10 permanent graduate posts.

The part government-funded scheme involves a highly skilled graduate (KTP associate) working in a company on a project of strategic importance for between 12 and 36 months (a Classic KTP) or 10-40 weeks (shorter KTPs), with supervision from an academic who acts as a mentor. This results in the partner company benefitting from competitive advantages and academically benefits the university, while providing valuable commercial experience for the associate. Employers can see an increase of up to £200,000 in profits before tax after completing a classic KTP.

Joanna Lawrence, knowledge transfer manager at DMU, said: "KTPs are a real success story for the university. They are hugely popular, providing businesses not only with the skills of high calibre graduates, but also access to leading academics and the university's state-of-the-art facilities. 

"We are working with a whole host of companies from across the East Midlands and further afield from manufacturers to charities and product designers on projects which will provide innovative solutions for business and market growth."

Currently benefitting from the scheme is Flextraction Ltd, a firm specialising in the supply and manufacture of Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) products for dust extraction and fume extraction in the workplace, based in Melton. The company has recently completed a KTP to develop an in-house design centre to enable expansion of their market within the UK and Europe. They also need to create a brand identity to strengthen their competitive position. They have just taken on the associate, Chris Lamb, permanently.

He said:  "The KTP has had a huge impact on both my professional and personal development. It has given me the confidence to apply the skills that I have learnt at university in the work place, taking an idea off a piece of paper and bringing it to life. There is nothing more satisfying than to watch products that I have designed and developed going out the door!" 

M. Wright & Sons, manufacturers of woven narrow fabrics, webbings and technical ribbons, took on a KTP project with DMU to realise complex 3D preforms for carbon fibre reinforcements.

George Wright, production director at M. Wright & Sons Ltd, based in Quorn near Loughborough, Leicestershire, said: "We found the KTP an ideal tool for combining the academic research skills of a postgraduate student with our own technical development project. The KTP scheme enabled us to gain maximum benefit from the involvement of De Montfort University, which is continuing to make our project such a success, especially as we were able to offer Chris Silva a permanent position after the two year period." 

Funded by the Technology Strategy Board, along with other Government funding bodies, KTPs are designed to encourage collaboration between universities and organisations and help improve the profitability and competitiveness of UK companies.