Partnering with a department within the University of Bath

KTPs and how they work

One of the main ways to partner with a department is through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP. is a three-way collaboration between a company, a UK university, and a graduate, designed to realise a transformative business opportunity. For over 40 years, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships have been helping companies to innovate for growth by accessing the UK’s world-leading knowledge base.

Partnerships can cover any important area where there is a need for additional expertise and resources, enabling dynamic organisations to improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance.

Knowledge transfer is achieved by the University of Bath employing one or more graduate, or 'Associate', to work on a strategic project based at the company, varying in length from 2 to 3 years. An academic supervisor at the University, with relevant expertise to the programme, maintains close involvement with the graduate and organisation throughout.

The programme aims to stimulate innovation, by providing industry based training and development of talented University graduates, including post-graduates. Around 70% of associates are offered a post with the company on a permanent basis, following project completion. Companies are eligible for a grant of up to 67% as an SME or up to 50% for a larger organisation

KTPs can benefit businesses of any size and in any sector looking to address a core strategic challenge.

KTPs are funded by Innovate UK who has recently introduced new Management Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (MKTPs) for improved management practice and business performance.

If this sounds like something you are interested in, this guide will explain how to go about looking into a partnership, the funding required, who to speak to and much more.

Current and Previous Partnerships

Spin Out vs Spin Off Partnerships - University spin-offs are companies that transform technological inventions developed from university research that are likely to remain unexploited otherwise.

While the terms "spinout" and "spinoff" are often used interchangeably in university contexts, there is a subtle distinction: spinouts typically refer to new companies formed directly from university research with active involvement from the founding researchers, while spinoffs can include broader commercialisation ventures that may involve licensing to existing companies or more arms-length arrangements.

University spinoffs (USOs) are firms created to commercialise research outcomes or innovative technologies developed by university members.

Below are details of companies that have partnered with the Department of Computer science, either currently or in the past.

2025

• Code Left AI is working to help you empower your team to uphold SOLID and Clean Code standards, meet MISRA C++ guidelines for safety-critical environments, tackle OWASP Top Ten threats, and enhance Functional Coverage—all from the start.
• Mood Metrics AI is introducing a transformative approach to understanding market dynamics through in-depth analysis of video and audio files of the public appearances and communications of high-value individuals. Utilizing advanced patent-pending AI techniques, our product dissects speech patterns, eye movements, facial expressions, vocal fluctuations, and other verbal and non-verbal behavioural cues to predict their effects on market movements with greater precision.
• cpp.ai is a spin off from the University of Bath (UK), focused on C++ software development and consulting. Their niche is all flavours of C++. Their engineers are world experts in the language, with decades of experience in developing mission critical C++ applications. They operate principally in the USA, UK, Germany and Switzerland, with other developer resources available remotely.

The University of Bath Commercialisation Process

At the University of Bath, the conversion of research outputs into commercial impact follows a structured pathway managed by the Technology Transfer team within Research & Innovation Services (RIS).

The Technology Transfer team in RIS can help you with commercialising your research outcomes through: - Reviewing academic invention disclosures and identifying novel outputs. These could be protected through patenting, software, design or database rights, trademark and copyright. - Working with academic staff and external partners to develop, review, file and manage the ongoing renewal of the University patent portfolio. - Undertaking market analysis, marketing of opportunities, identifying partners, developing licence deals and new company formation. - The process begins when researchers complete an Invention Record Form to disclose their innovations to the university, enabling assessment of commercial potential and intellectual property protection needs. - If it is agreed that the best way to commercialise the technology is by company formation, the Technology Transfer Team will form the company following the university regulations as agreed at the time. The University Ordinances (22.9) cover the expected equity position of the company that is formed and the regulations cover the required permissions prior to company formation.

The University has established clear revenue-sharing arrangements, with residual income from licensing agreements received by the University split with the academic staff as agreed and following Ordinance 22.8. At present it is set at either 90%/10%, 70%/30% or 55%/45% in favour to the academic team.

Bath has demonstrated notable success in this area, with companies that have spun-out of the University of Bath as a result of our research commercialisation

Spin out companies from University of Bath research including successful ventures like Microsulis Medical Limited(acquired by AngioDynamics in 2022), NanoGaN Ltd, and more recent spinouts such as EnsiliTech, a biotechnology start-up developing ensilication, a platform technology, to remove the need for refrigeration when transporting and storing biologicals such as vaccines EnsiliTech Spin-out of University of Bath — EnsiliTech and Transdermal Diagnostics, a MedTech startup is developing a wearable technology to revolutionise the diagnosis and management of chronic disease. Transdermal Diagnostics Spin-out of University of Bath.

If you wish to spin out a new company from the Computer Science department, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us, and we can guide you through the exciting process of taking your start up from conception through to becoming a successful enterprise.