A case study of the benefits and conflicts of knowledge between industry, academia and government

Research and Development is critical for manufacturing companies to produce market leading products. R&D is expensive and usually incorporates expensive stakeholders and specialist experience and education. Small to medium sized manufacturing companies can struggle to keep pace with technological advancements mainly due to limited R&D budgets coupled with knowledge deficits. The UK government recognised these conflicts and instigated an initiative initially called the Teaching Company Scheme (TCS), which it is now referred to as the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme (KTP). The objective of the scheme is form a close, supportive collaboration of the three sectors for the benefit of all parties. It is clearly focused on key business goals facilitated by the drive and enthusiasm of a graduate called the “associate” directly employed by the KTP initiative. This paper describes and analyses the benefits and problems of such schemes to all parties from a firsthand perspective applied to a manufacturing company based in the UK.