Business Engagement Opportunities with Coventry University

To find out more or discuss your requirements contact:

Derek Hall

Programmes Manager

Coventry University Enterprises Ltd, KTP Office, IC2.2

Coventry TechnoCentre, Puma Way, Coventry CV1 2TT

T: +44 (0)24 7623 6843

M: +44 (0)797 498 4925

F: +44 (0)24 7623 6024

E: dhall@cad.coventry.ac.uk

www.coventry.ac.uk

www.ktponline.org.uk

Business support from Coventry University

Project Type Project cost Project term Funding available

Application

SMEE Consultancy £3k to £10k 5 – 16 days 50% Standard form

ESP Graduate £12k 12 weeks 0% Standard form

SKTP Graduate £25k - £50k 26 - 51 weeks 40% - 60% Two Stage (EoI & Full2)

KEEN1 Graduate £40k - £100k 1 - 2 years 50% Standard form

CKTP Graduate £50k - £500k 1 - 3 years 40% - 60% Two Stage (EoI & Full2)

1 - WM:- West Midlands-based companies only2 - EoI & Full:- Two stage application process – Expression of Interest, followed by Full Proposal

Coventry University has a range of services for business aimed

at driving growth and increasing competitiveness.

The University can offer assistance in:

• Developing new products and services.

• Improving your processes and efficiencies.

• Understanding your markets and developing business strategy.

• Identifying, valuing and protecting your Intellectual Property.

• Assessing and providing staff learning and development needs.

• Providing access to specialist funding.

This is achieved in a variety of ways to suit individual business needs including:

• Internships

• Student projects

• Funded knowledge transfer

• Funded collaborative research and direct consultancy

Means of Engagement

Contact us to discuss how our projects can be tailored to your individual needs

Internships

The University works closely with companies across the UK and Europe to offer a

wide variety of internships within large corporate businesses, SMEs, public sector

organisations and not-for-profit organisations. Internships offer short-term, 3-6

month focused and cost effective placements that have the advantages of:

• A focused scope of work

• Well defined deliverables

• The chance to assess future graduates and their fit in an organisation

Student Projects

Investigation and accumulation of information is one of the key

activities that students undertake. They are taught methods of

research, analysis and interrogation of information and have

strong skills in the use of communication media. They take this

information and develop it into a creative proposal for the client.

This has a number of advantages:

• It stimulates and inspires company staff by demonstrating a

wide range of dynamically presented innovations;

• It will involve a culturally diverse perspective due to the

demographic make-up of our student population.

An example student project model:

a. The client provides a project brief

b. The student will carry out market research into the customer

groups and their lifestyle choices expectations and latent needs

c. The student will present proposals in a variety of formats

d. Further analysis can follow if the client wishes to focus in on

specific areas of interest

This model can be further tailored to the key requirements of

the client in terms of urgency and level of expertise required.

These factors will determine which group of students would be

appropriate for the project.

Knowledge Transfer

Coventry University is partnering with regional and national

businesses to increase their competitiveness, productivity

and performance. We can offer jointly funded collaborative

partnerships enabling the embedding of new knowledge

and the delivery of solutions which are led by the business

and supported by a University expert. Recent graduates

are placed into the company, thereby enabling access to

knowledge, skills or technologies.

Knowledge transfer activities are typically suited to more

urgent/complex projects with a longer timeframe and have

the benefits of:

• Focused brief with high impact deliverables

• The ability to engage high quality graduates

• Being able to access Government/EU funding

• Reduced administrative costs for the client

Projects offered include:

• National Classic Knowledge Transfer Projects (CKTPs)

from 1 – 3 years

• West Midlands Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise

Network Projects (KEENs) - from 1-2 years

• National Short Knowledge Transfer Projects (SKTPs)

from 26 – 51 weeks

Alan Malik, Managing Director, Exasoft plc:

“The key benefits of a KTP are that it allows you to concentrate on developing on specific part

of the business. Ordinarily we wouldn’t go out to spend money on the two new products that

we developed as a part of the KTP. Additional benefits of KTPs are that you make cost savings

where you haven’t expected any. The collaboration with Coventry University enabled us to

widen the scope of what we wanted to develop initially. If you don’t develop new products then

ultimately companies fail. KTP’s makes it more affordable to develop collaborative solutions and

attract best postgraduates”.

SME Engagement Programme (SMEE)

The SME Engagement Programme is designed to facilitate greater access

to the expertise, facilities, and equipment. Based on the significant and

successful organisational reputation of Coventry University, direct business

engagement activity with SMEs will be further developed by addressing

specific sector needs and introducing new initiatives designed to improve

levels of access and engagement. Projects can include:

• Focused advice specific to business needs.

• Expertise from CU that provides a wide range of business related support.

• Assistance and guidance to help introduce and implement business

improvement projects.

• Assistance and guidance to help develop staff.

The cost of each SMEE project (worth from £3,000 up to £10,000) will be

subsidised at up to 50% by the university; the remaining cash costs will be

met by the client organisation.

Executive Short Project (ESP)

The ESP is a short structured project which brings together the expertise

of an academic and a graduate to work on a specific problem facing your

business. These projects run for 12 weeks and can be set up quickly using

the University’s structured project briefing process to ensure that you get that

expertise you require into your business as fast as possible.

Commercial Consultancy

Coventry University runs much of its commercial, income-generating

and business-partnership work through its trading subsidiary - Coventry

University Enterprises Ltd (CUE Ltd). CUE focuses on innovation, design,

high performance automotive engineering, health, and information and

communications technology as areas of expertise. Consultancy projects can

be run on an individual basis, with the University’s Business Development

Group providing commercial proposals in response to a specific client brief:

• Delivery will be through specific, industrially experienced staff members

identified for their particular expertise.

• Commercial consultancy provides high impact solutions for complex briefs

in the shortest timeframe.

David Thompson, Managing Director of Bedsons Ltd, said:

“As a small business, Bedsons’ lack of design capability was restricting product development

and sales growth so we needed a reliable, competent and responsive external resource. The

Design Institute Team at Coventry University proved an ideal solution; so much so that I have

had no hesitation in commissioning another, larger project with them.”

The diagram

illustrates how

the different

projects are

aligned to the

customer needs.

Com

plex

ity

Urgency

Hig

hLo

w

Low High

3rd Year Project

1st Year Project

Internships

National SKTP Projects

Regional KEENProjects

National CKTPProjects

ESP

Staff Consultancy

SMEE