The UK Government Department for Trade and Industry’s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) programme, was set up to facilitate strategic collaboration between universities and industry. In terms of economic benefit to industry, it has proved to be one of the most effective collaborative funding models in the UK [10]. In this paper we review two KTP programmes from Northumbria University’s Design School, exploring issues involved in setting up and running these projects in the context of the emerging role of universities worldwide as key drivers of economic growth. This provides a valuable perspective for both academics and industry considering ‘getting hitched’ and has implications for a number of other Knowledge Transfer approaches, beyond KTP
