Outstanding Business Partnerships and Future Business Leaders to Receive Major Awards
Outstanding Business Partnerships and Future Business Leaders to Receive Major Awards
(PRWEB UK) 11 October 2011
Businesses and higher education institutions from across the UK will celebrate the year’s most successful and innovative partnerships and recognise future business leaders when the annual Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) Awards are presented at the Innovate11 conference and exhibition in London today.
The KTP Awards honour and celebrate the best Knowledge Transfer Partnerships from the previous year and the winners of the accolade ‘Business Leaders of Tomorrow’. The awards recognise the outstanding partnerships fostered through the Technology Strategy Board’s KTP programme, which supports innovation-led, three-way partnerships between businesses, academic institutions and graduate associates.
The highlight will be the announcement of the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships National Award Winner. Five partnerships have been selected as finalists and will attend Innovate11, where one will be selected as the overall national winner. The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, will present this award.
The five finalists (involving a business, academic institution and graduate associate) are:
Cherry Pipes, Queen’s University Belfast and Justyna Grabowska
Aurora Medical Limited, University of Southampton and Alex Dickinson
Joseph Rhodes, Sheffield Hallam University and Karthik Ramakrishnan
Logical Glue, University of Essex and Faiyaz Doctor
Risktec Solutions Limited, Liverpool John Moores University and Roisin Gray
Some of the projects managed through the award-winning partnerships include:
The development of a novel hip replacement system that has been implanted over 3500 times;
The establishment of a plastics recycling department, which has tripled employee numbers from 20 to 60 and grown company turnover from £2.5 million to £10.5 million;
The development of novel artificial, computational intelligence based systems that enabled the realisation of an intelligent data analysis and decision support system. This is expected to lead to company profits of approximately £6 million within three years.
Commenting on the eve of the Awards, the Technology Strategy Board’s Chief Executive, Iain Gray said:
“KTP is the leading programme in Europe helping businesses to improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance through partnerships with higher education institutions and research organisations. It is an integral part of the Technology Strategy Board’s strategy and range of programmes to support businesses on their innovation journey.”
“Businesses are increasingly aware of the value of such collaboration and the rewards it can bring. KTPs help get the best minds working to solve problems, respond to challenges and spark creativity, thus stimulating growth and helping to drive the UK’s future economic prosperity.”
The Business Leaders of Tomorrow awards, for the graduate Associates who demonstrate clear potential to be future business leaders, will be presented to:
Catia Guimaraes – Oxford Brookes University and Intercontinental Hotels Group plc
Kenneth Macfarlane – Staffordshire University and Clive Durose Woodturners Ltd
Lisa Finney – Staffordshire University and GDM (Heat Transfer) Ltd
Matthew Druce – University of Southampton and Geotek Ltd
Simon Pykett – Sheffield Hallam University and Penny Hydraulics Ltd.
Other KTP awards to be announced at Innovate11 include:
Business Impact Award (given to the Business that has benefitted most from its KTP project in the 12 months following its completion): Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd.
Award for Engineering Excellence (sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering): Aurora Medical Limited, University of Southampton and Alex Dickinson
Award for Academic Excellence: Graham Cockerham, Sheffield Hallam University
Award for Best Application of Humanities for the Creative Economy (sponsored by the Arts & Humanities Research Council): Historic Royal Palaces, Kingston University and Suzannah Lipscomb
Award for Best Application of Social Science in a KTP (sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council): Clydesdale Bank, University of Leeds and Alena Audzeyeva
KTP partnerships work by employing a high-calibre graduate in a business to help address a specific needs-based project, with an academic institution acting as a ‘knowledge base’ to support the project’s development. As a result of the government’s investment in the KTP programme during 2009/10, it is estimated that UK businesses stand to benefit from over 15,870 business staff trained, some 1,443 new jobs created (aside from the recruitment of KTP Associates) and an overall increase in annual profit before tax of over £150 million – an increase of 19% on the previous year.
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I must admit that this is one great insight. It surely gives a company the opportunity to get in on the ground floor and really take part in creating something special and tailored to their needs.