Accelerated Knowledge Transfer

Unlock the power of rapid innovation with an Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT)
Business boardroom photo

Accelerated Knowledge Transfer

Designed for UK businesses and charities, this is your fast-track to success. In just 2–4 months, collaborate closely with expert academics, access crucial funding, and ignite game-changing concepts for your project.
“The programme has been designed to create short-term collaborations between a Business Partner and a UK Knowledge Base* to rapidly inject innovation capacity. Inspired by the highly successful partnership model of KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership), Innovate UK – Accelerated Knowledge Transfer’s concept is to deliver a rapid and targeted intervention to accelerate the evaluation or development of an innovation project or concept, which has the potential for significant impact for the Business Partner.”
*The University of Plymouth will be the Knowledge Base.
Why choose an accelerated route?
  • Problem solving: identify and resolve innovation blockers efficiently.
  • New thinking: stimulate fresh ideas, processes, and business models.
  • Swift impact: accelerate evaluation or development, ensuring swift progress.
  • Expert collaboration: join forces with leading academics to propel your project forward.
  • Funding access: gain financial support with grants of up to £35,000 for your innovation.
 

Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) Round 3: circular fashion

Round 3 of the Innovate UK AKT will be a thematic round on circular fashion. The scope of round 3 is summarised below.
Circular fashion
AKT projects will seek to de-risk innovation and support the transition for scalable circular and sustainable solutions within fashion's supply chain to meet net zero targets before 2050.
The AKT projects may explore:
  • Transparency and accountability of carbon footprint: reducing the environmental impact (e.g., design interventions, sourcing, and production of garments; decarbonising)
  • Sustainable manufacturing and design interventions for circularity and improved efficiency and output
  • Addressing scope three emissions: emissions that businesses are indirectly responsible for through the actions of suppliers, distributors, and use of their products by consumers (these tend to account for the largest proportion of an organisation's carbon footprint).
  • Use of AI: efficient agile supply chains, enabling traceability in the supply chain (i.e., visibility across all tiers of manufacturing) to better demand planning, transforming how shoppers find and buy clothes.
  • Transformative technologies and materials, e.g., to support extended producer responsibility, on demand production, zero waste, and supply chains of the future.

Round 3 AKT competition date: 1 – 31 July 2024, and closes on 31 July 2024 at 11am.

Submissions for Round 3 are now closed.

Eligibility

Public sector organisations are not eligible as Business Partners in an Innovate UK AKT project.
To be eligible for an AKT, businesses partners:
  • must employ a minimum of 4 FTEs
  • should be a UK registered business
  • the Business Partner must contribute 10% (minimum) of the total project costs in cash.

Contact us

Would you like to talk to one of the team about an AKT? Email one of our experts:
Ioanna (Yana) Papanikolaou: ioanna.papanikolaou@plymouth.ac.uk
Dave Marshall: d.marshall@plymouth.ac.uk