Knowledge Transfer partnerships is a process that links academia: research organizations and higher centres of learning with business and industry.  This activity helps business to improve their competitive edge and products. This comes about through the use of knowledge, technology and skills found in these knowledge base.  Also in the process  knowledge exchange  makes the knowledge base to understand the skills and knowledge needed by business or industry.  This is open to all sizes of business SMMEs, SMEs and big enterprise.   The purpose of this partnership  is to: - facilitate the transfer of technology, skills and knowledge in a two way process (double loop) -  encourage business relevant research and education; close the existing gap between knowledge base and industry. 

This knowledge transfer partnerships can take place with all other sectors including the general public.  The needs for students to meet general public in understanding their challenges and general public getting appropriate knowledge as generated by responsive research will be crucial in using knowledge and information in dealing with community problems.  The added value from this approach is using locally developed knowledge in addressing community problems rather than using knowledge developed elsewhere all the time.  Using knowledge developed elsewhere has embedded  connotations and syndrome that is characterized by poor assimilation of knowledge referred to as a “ Distance Syndrome” (Mbananga 2002). 

Knowledge transfer partnerships

• Develop national knowledge transfer partnership
• Develop organizational knowledge transfer partnership
• Facilitate private & academic partnerships
• Facilitate private public partnerships
• Facilitate academic – public partnership
• Facilitate public – public partnership