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KTP Design Futures: Scottish Innovation 2075

Guidelines and considerations

 

About KTP

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme turns 50 in 2025!

“Since the programme started in 1975, KTP has helped around 12,000
organisations – big and small, in all industry sectors and right across the United Kingdom – to innovate for growth.” - Innovate UK

KTP helps businesses find innovative solutions by pairing them with an experienced academic from a Knowledge Base and a graduate who acts as a bridge between academia and industry, fostering the perfect combination for delivering innovation.

Did you know KTP Associates also benefit from a personal upskilling development budget?

 

Why are we creating the competition?

To mark the 50th anniversary of the KTP programme, we wanted to develop an event that would highlight the impact of design, creativity, and "out-of-the-box" thinking in shaping the future of Scottish innovation. The “KTP Design Futures: Scottish Innovation 2075” creative competition is part of a series of events hosted, planned, and curated by Scottish Regional KTP Centres (formed by the North of Scotland KTP Centre, the West of Scotland KTP Centre, and the East of Scotland KTP Centre) to celebrate the creativity of the region by encouraging artistic expression.

KTP projects use expertise from a wide range of subjects, from AI and engineering to life sciences, design and social sciences. By opening this competition to artistic expression, we are aiming to highlight how SHAPE disciplines are part of the paramount efforts needed to visualise the future of Scottish society, and of course, to spread the word about the benefits that KTP could have on your career path.

How can I participate?

We want you to create an entry that represents your vision of Scotland in 2075 as a result of technology and innovation developments happening in the region. And for this you will need to:

  1. Choose one of the areas where KTP innovates: net zero or healthy living and agriculture or digital technologies.
     
  2. Select two more key concepts from the following list, which will need to be reflected in your artwork:
     

Rural | Accessibility | Fashion | Water | Art | Diabetes | Health | Share | Performance | Sustainability | Environment | Mental health | Inclusion | Storytelling | Energy | Urban | Medicine | Fruit | Offshore | Mountains | Space | Society | Childhood | Textiles | Community | Forests | Islands | Diversity | Transition | Language | Communication | Partnership
 

  1. Get creative! You can create an illustration, a collage, intervened photograph, or even combine a mix of techniques... but please note that all finalised artwork should be submitted via an online form and will be part of a digital gallery, meaning that we won’t be receiving any physical entries.  For the shortlisted projects there will be a physical gallery, please see section 7.
  • You can submit your artwork through the online entrey from at the bottom of this page.
  • Digital images of your entry should be uploaded to an image sharing site, e.g. Flickr.
  • The URL of the shared digital image should be included in the online entry form.
  • Please check the privacy settings of the platform you use before submitting your entry, so that we can download your image for distribution to the judges.
  • Please note that the orientation of your artwork needs to be portrait to comply with the physical gallery purposes. 
     
  1. Prepare and submit either a 50-word summary or a 1-minute video explaining the rationale behind your design. If you are using AI at some point, this should be justified here too (please read the further details section below).
    • Videos should be uploaded to a video sharing site, e.g. YouTube.
    • The URL of the video should be included in the online entry form.
    • Please check the privacy settings of the platform you use before submitting your entry, so that it can be viewed by anyone with the URL.

 

Who can participate?

Our design competition is open to current students and alumni (maximum 2 years after graduation) from an art, design or creative industries-related course delivered by a Scottish Higher Education institution. If you are not, you must team up with someone who is. You can choose to participate as:

  1. An individual
    1. Where all the creative process and artwork is of your authorship.
  2. As a team
    1. A partnership of maximum three individuals who contribute their creative skills to create and submit the artwork with shared authorship.

Please note that submissions are limited to one per person, so you will have to choose if you want to participate as an individual or as a team. You cannot participate in both categories.

When is the deadline for submitting my artwork? (And other important dates)

  • The competition will be accepting entries from Friday 16th May 2025, at 8:00 a.m., UK Time.
  • Submissions will close at 23:59 p.m. BST on Tuesday 30th September 2025.
  • The judging panel will conduct the assessment for all artwork during October 2025.
  • The prizegiving ceremony will take place at the Music Hall in central Aberdeen on 13th November 2025; further details will be provided once the shortlisted entries are announced.
  • Please note that if your artwork is shortlisted, we will get in touch to request a Hi-Res version for printing.

 

What are the prizes?

  • The winner of the creative competition, regardless of the selected artwork’s authorship being by an individual or a team entry, will receive fully-funded place on a development course (e.g. Design Thinking) to boost your personal and professional growth, a trophy, and a physical certificate for their participation.
  • The runner-up, regardless of the selected artwork’s authorship being by an individual or a team entry, will receive a £50 Amazon Gift Card and physical certificate for their participation.

 

Where will my artwork be showcased?

  • The 12 shortlisted artworks will be presented as part of the prizegiving ceremony at Aberdeen Music Hall on Thursday 13th November 2025.
  • The gallery will also be exhibited at a public venue following the prizegiving ceremony event.
  • In addition to this, there will be satellite galleries of the shortlisted artworks across Scotland.
  • All participants will have their work displayed on a digital gallery on the North of Scotland KTP Centre website and as part of the KTP@50 celebrations archive on the KTP Scotland website. The artwork will be live from Monday 24th November 2025, and you will be able to access to it until March 31st, 2026.

 

Who will evaluate and decide the winners?

  • We know art is subjective! This is why we are honoured to be supported by a group of professionals from across the diverse creative departments at Scotland’s academic institutions, and other stakeholders from the creative sector and the wider KTP programme who possess relevant experience, to evaluate your art and design work.
  • The judging panel, formed by 15 professionals, will evaluate all submissions per domain and then as a general panel. This is why they have also contributed to the consolidation of the competition’s rules in key aspects, including the evaluation rubric.

Further considerations

Use of AI software must be restricted to the conceptualisation stage, meaning that fully AI generated artworks won’t be eligible. If a participant decides to use AI this must be addressed upon submitting the artwork explaining the purpose and the name(s) of the software(s).

The North of Scotland KTP Centre reserves the right to not accept, consider eligible and/or publish any artwork identified as offensive by our evaluation panel or goes against our Knowledge Bases’ Dignity, Equality and Diversity, Ethics or equivalent relevant policies.

The North of Scotland KTP Centre reserves the right to declare a category vacant if there are not suitable entries.

By entering the competition, entrants give permission to the North of Scotland KTP Centre to use and reproduce their artworks, including on social media channels, provided that due credit is given. Entrants retain ownership of their intellectual property and are therefore able to publish, use and commercialise their own entries without restriction.

 

FAQ

 

  • Can I participate if I’m based or study outside Scotland?
    • Unfortunately, this competition is limited to participants based in Scotland and currently enrolled at or recently graduated from a Scottish Institution.
  • Can I participate if I don’t have an arts background?
    • Yes. We welcome artworks from creative individuals regardless of their professional background.
  • Can I submit an artwork if my institution doesn’t have an Art & Design school or department?
    • Yes! You can enter the competition if you are currently studying or have recently graduated from an art, design or creative industries-related course, or you can partner up with another student who is studying or has recently graduated from one of these courses. Many institutions offer courses with a design or creative element but are not aligned to an art school.
  • Can you support with partnering up with someone if I have an idea but I’m missing the skills to create the artwork?
    • Although we can’t guarantee to find someone you can partner up with, we are happy to provide a forum space where you can ask if someone is interested in doing a partnership for this competition. Please send an email to hello@ktpnorth.scot and we will add you upon request.
  • Can I submit two different entries, one as a team and the other one as an individual?
    • No, we want to give a fair chance to everyone participating, therefore you will need to decide if you want to work collaboratively or on your own.