Building a Successful Knowledge Transfer Office

Training Course

Building a Successful Knowledge Transfer Office

This is a unique course for people who have responsibility for creating or restructuring knowledge transfer teams and offices and establishing effective policies, processes, and strategies to translate publicly funded research into impact in society.

Book Your Place

27 Jan - 29 Jan 2027 Barcelona, Spain
Members
€1,290.00
Non-members
€1,940.00

Whether you are setting up a new KTO or enhancing an existing one, Building a Successful Knowledge Transfer Office offers essential guidance for institutions seeking to establish or develop effective units in the dynamic field of knowledge transfer. Through practical case studies and interactive sessions, participants will learn about the structures, approaches and policies needed to bridge the gap between academic research and commercialisation opportunities.

This course is for individuals who are developing new KTOs or reshaping existing ones, as well as for experienced KT practitioners who wish to gain a deeper understanding of how to bring together all the elements needed to grow a successful KTO. The course provides an excellent foundation for those aspiring to leadership roles — including Director positions — within a KTO, as such responsibilities will inevitably involve designing the operations required to conduct a KTO’s business.

This course is practical and relevant, so we would like participants to have some operational management experience and current responsibilities within their unit. It is sufficient that they recognise there is room for improvement and that better systems exist. This way, the scenarios we discuss are more likely to resonate, provide a stronger basis for learning, and enable richer exchanges with fellow participants.

For more information on the programme click on More Info.

Why Join The course?

This three-day course provides a framework for establishing or running a successful Knowledge Transfer (KT) operation within a university or research organisation. Although each organisation approaches its KT activities differently, many of the core challenges faced by Knowledge Exchange (KE) leaders are similar.

The course has been designed by KT Directors with decades of experience in structuring offices and managing the challenges of delivering long-term outcomes and impact — often with short-term resources and staffing — while working with institutional stakeholders who may have limited KE experience but high expectations.

The course explores how to develop an effective KT strategy, build trust with researchers, attract and retain the right KE staff, and implement robust policies, systems, and processes. The interactive sessions include case studies and practical examples of KTO operations, with ample time to share experiences and discuss common issues. Delegates will also be able to explore new trends and emerging challenges in KT and consider how to approach these.

Course Objectives

The course objectives are to:

  • Understand the context of KT within the organisation
  • Explore organisational frameworks for KTOs
  • Development of strategic goals, KPIs and financial drivers
  • Professionalise KT processes, policies, contracts and agreements
  • Encourage and incentivise academic engagement
  • Development of strong teams
  • Effectively engaging stakeholders and partners

Key Topics

The key course topics are:

  • The environment for KT and the need of the KTO within the organisation
  • Organisational models for a KTO 
  • Who is the KTO’s customer? 
  • Creating and supporting a motivated team
  • Professionalising your KT processes, policies and agreements 
  • Setting KPIs, Understanding your Value and reporting upwards
  • The KTO Strategy - how do you intend to spend your time? 
  • Governance and Quality Assurance
  • Future trends/ emerging problems 
  • What have I learnt that I can apply in my role?

Booking Options

  • Are you an ASTP Member?

  • By proceeding with this booking, you are agreeing to allow ASTP to use your image solely for promotional and educational purposes.

Testimonials

testimonial

Organisation and speakers were great, so enthusiastic about their work and very good at transferring their knowledge.

Sarka Bartova

Research Centre Rez, Czech Republic

testimonial

Always simply inspiring! That is ASTP.

Filip Auinger

Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

testimonial

This course gives an in-depth understanding on managing contract portfolio, including research contracts, license agreements, and other collaboration agreements.

Ram Siddappa

Erasmus MC, Netherlands

testimonial

It is always encouraging to see that other TTOs are encountering the same problems that we do!

Aurore De Boom

Université Libré de Bruxelle, Belgium

testimonial

Recent studies on both sides of the Atlantic, directed by either ASTP or AUTM, demonstrate the tremendous economic and societal benefit and value technology transfer has brought us.

Koenraad Debackere

KU Leuven, Belgium