We create diverse connections to drive positive change.

KTN helps organisations interested in AgriFood innovation access the expert information, funding and connections needed to drive change. Our experts work with businesses of all sizes; locally, nationally and globally.

The Biotechnology team at KTN focuses on Industrial Biotechnology (IB), Engineering Biology (EB, commonly referred to as Synthetic Biology) and Microbiomes.

By 2050 our industry will have embraced a circular economy and be using different feedstocks, technologies and energy sources to produce chemicals. The KTN Chemistry team can help you navigate these changes and identify innovation that will ensure your business, research or service remains sustainable.

The KTN Creative team helps organisations interested in innovation in the Creative Industries to access funding, expert knowledge and to make powerful and diverse connections.

Human-centred design is for businesses of any size who are interested in early-stage innovation strategy. For start-ups, strategic design helps get brilliant ideas to the right market. For established businesses, it helps reposition or expand their offering.

The KTN Digital team helps organisations interested in Digital innovation to access funding, expert knowledge and to make powerful and diverse connections.

Electronics is the enabler of all things digital. It is the hardware and embedded software that allows products and processes to communicate, have power, have intelligence and awareness, be controlled, be automated and operate safely. It’s built into many sectors, including health, aerospace, manufacturing and retail.

KTN’s Energy Team is at the centre of KTN’s work contributing to delivering the UK’s ambitious Net Zero targets. With specialists in Nuclear, Offshore Wind, Thermal Energy Systems, Batteries, Water, Hydrogen, Sustainable Energy, Grid and Distributed Systems, Electrical Energy Systems and Solar, the team has deep expertise, powerful connections and a track record of successful projects delivering environmental and societal impact.

The world is powered by data; turning data into information helps us make decisions across all sectors of the economy. Innovate UK KTN hosts an innovation network that focuses on connecting the data holders and data processors with the people that can benefit from the insight geospatial data can provide.

Health is critical to our wellbeing as individuals, plays a key role in societal and economic advances, and presents many opportunities for environmental impact. Innovations in health & care allow us to alleviate suffering, increase quality of life and life expectancy, and manage the needs of a changing and ageing population.

This KTN team harnesses the power of mathematics to meet the needs of business, government and not-for-profit organisations, helping a wide range of sectors express problems and challenges in an accessible way. We also facilitate new partnerships with an extensive network of mathematical science practitioners and diverse institutions across the UK.

Against an overarching low carbon agenda, our mission is to support the development of UK innovation to deliver clean, accessible and secure energy & water systems through a digitally enabled construction sector and so provide smart, resilient and successful cities and communities.

We do this by simplifying the UK Innovation landscape and providing rapid transfer of high-quality information on technologies, markets, funding and partnering opportunities.

The expertise we bring spans energy systems, water, infrastructure and construction.

KTN’s Manufacturing team helps manufacturers to innovate, and innovators to manufacture. We work with a broad spectrum of organisations, sectors and technology areas, advising on innovation and connecting to partners, experts, facilities and funding.

The Materials Team in KTN covers a broad scope of the materials life cycle, from feedstock, processing techniques, design and manufacture, testing, standardisation, resource efficiency and circularity.

Photonics is the science and technology of light. This includes lasers, optical systems and components, as well as fibre optics. Photonics is a £13.5bn industry in the UK. Photonics technology is used across various UK industries and in society, from optical communications and data storage to laser sensors for autonomous vehicles.

Quantum-enabled devices present a huge market opportunity for the UK. These technologies could transform a range of sectors including transport, healthcare, infrastructure, ICT, telecommunications and defence.

From Healthcare to Legaltech, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence are significant globalised technologies that can be applied in many sectors. The extensive industrial and academic research base in the UK can support both the national and global markets in addressing key challenges impacting societies today.

The UK is committed to spending a minimum 2% of GDP on defence over the next decade, and at least 20% of that spending on equipment. This commitment represents spending some £186 billion on defence equipment and support in the ten years from 2018/19. In addition, the UK is the second largest defence exporter, winning defence orders worth £14 billion (2018).

Sensor technologies create measurements and convert them into digital data. This data can then be analysed to inform decision making. What’s being measured could be chemical, biological, physical, mechanical or any other quantities such as chemicals, proteins, weight, dimensions and more.

Space is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK, with the ambition to capture 10% of the world market by 2030. Currently, the UK manufactures over 20% of the satellites in orbit and has established a path towards launching satellites from UK soil by 2021.

Transport connects people, places, goods and services. Innovation in transport has the potential to benefit our economy, society and environment. The transport system of the future will be more efficient, cleaner and smarter, through utilising enhanced digital, communication and autonomous technologies.

The water sector impacts on every single person, business and industry type in the UK. We turn on the tap and expect clean water. We rely on the water infrastructure, the pipes, the sewerage treatment, the rapid fixing of leaks. And we expect environmental issues to be a cornerstone of the industry and its operations.

Covid-19 continues to be present in our lives at home and at work. KTN is ideally placed to work for the greater good and has already demonstrated its powerful connections through work on the Vaccines Taskforce, the Ventilator Challenge and advising the government on social distancing. We can bring together sectors to work on supply chain issues and our network can be a source of innovative solutions and approaches.

We want the very best of the world connected to the very best of the UK. That’s why we built this programme; to form international collaborations with governments, societies, enterprises, institutions and people from every corner of the globe. It is innovation diplomacy at its best.

We are driving positive economic, societal, and environmental change through innovation.

We work with public innovation funding and private finance providers where investment can create a positive change.

For over 45 years Knowledge Transfer Partnerships have been helping businesses innovate for growth by accessing the UK’s world-leading knowledge base.

The world is changing at an ever greater pace. Industry and innovators are responding, working together to create the products, services and businesses of the future. KTN is here to help.