National recognition for our Knowledge Transfer Partnership work

The prestigious award recognises the significant milestones the team has reached this year - from achieving a portfolio of 21 KTPs to rising up to the top 10% of universities in the UK for the size of its KTP programme, and diversifying into areas including humanities and sport.

Presenting the award, the panel noted that the Leeds Beckett University (LBU) KTP team has "delivered an impressive and consistent level of KTP support, reaching deeply and widely into the host university and well beyond."

Jo Griffiths, Head of Funding Support and KTP at LBU, said: "We have reached some significant milestones in terms of what we have built at LBU. The range of the projects that we have include a public sector project, third sector projects, and projects with large businesses and small SMEs. We have reached a place where KTP is really woven into the wider work of the university. A number of our graduates have now gone on to become KTP associates. We've got some really excellent student projects and research outputs from KTP and our academic colleagues are now actively looking at KTP as a route to showing the impact of their research in wider society."

LBU's recently completed KTPs with Aggregate Industries and Riverside Greetings have both been graded Outstanding by Innovate UK, the highest possible rating.

A new KTP with Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) - to develop world-leading diversity programmes - was announced earlier this month. This year also saw the university's first KTP with a public sector business, YORHub, get underway.

Professor Silke Machold, Pro Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation at LBU, added: "I am incredibly proud of the work our KTP team is doing. KTPs bring innovation and academic expertise to the companies we work with - allowing a three-way exchange of knowledge between us, the company and the talented associate who leads the project. This benefits our university through creating real-life case studies in our teaching, student projects, new research, and jobs for our graduates. The range of projects within the university is inspiring."

The success of LBU's KTP programme has also been recognised in the latest Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF4), where LBU placed in the top 20% of universities in three categories.

Earlier this month, LBU were also finalists in the Praxis Auril KE Awards 2024 - in the Place-based KE Initiative of the Year category - for The Knowledge Exchange.

The annual Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership Awards celebrate the people and partnerships driving the UK's longest-running knowledge transfer programme.

With over 800 inspiring collaborations happening each year, the awards represent just a glimpse of the projects shaping the future of UK innovation.

The awards ceremony was held at the Vox in Birmingham on 27 November 2024.