Final report from the KT-Box programme now online
KT-Box is a government-funded programme that takes leading-edge research from a consortium of major UK higher education institutions and, with the collaboration of four of the UK’s leading technical service providers, turns it into practical tools to support the creation and management of service operations and reduce the potential risks involved.
The research reported, 'Improving the competitiveness of UK service providers through applying academic research', was developed by six university partners, working on ten major EPRSC research projects aimed at enhancing the impact of academic research to create and improve complex services. KT-Box has enabled the academic team to develop their ideas further than research funding usually allows, spending more time with organisations to better understand their needs, engaging with users who do not normally collaborate with universities.
The practical tools developed by the programme embody research knowledge in software or workshop processes, enabling users to apply them with little or no input from the research team. In supporting the use of these tools across many sectors, KTBox demonstrates how high-quality academic research can be applied well beyond the application originally envisaged.
A web based tool to help organisations assess their ability to provide services has also been completed and can now be accessed via the AIM Practice website
