Effective technology transfer intervention methods

It is increasingly recognised that industry must continually innovate products and processes, and constantly develop their knowledge base, in response to contemporary technological and social change. What is not always recognised is that for such development to be successful it is necessary for high-level company dedication, coupled with wide-ranging vision matched against workforce skills. This paper focuses on the Teaching Company Directorate (TCD) method of technology transfer as a vehicle for injecting new knowledge into companies. The effectiveness of the method is dependent on the existence of fundamental organisational conditions, which are explored. Case studies of collaboration between Kingston University and a range of industrial partners, both through Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) and other mechanisms, in particular the MSc by Learning Contract, will show that timely, in-company strategies to customise higher degree learning to enthusiastic practitioners can provide considerable impetus to sustain work based learning, enhancing performance that leads to step-changes of sizeable significance.