We're delighted to announce that Zikodrive has been awarded an Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnership (AKTP) with the University of Manchester.
The award marks the next chapter in our work with the University following the completion of an AMPI project with them earlier this year. It brings together Zikodrive's practical, production-focused engineering with Manchester's world-class research expertise, and it gives us a structured route to turn new ideas into real products for our customers.
Opening up new applications
We can't share the technical detail of the project just yet. What we can say is that the work will enable our motor controllers to be used in a broader range of applications than we have previously discussed.
For our OEM customers, that means more options. Our brushless DC, stepper and asynchronous motor controllers already serve a wide variety of products. This partnership is about taking that capability into new territory, backed by rigorous research and tested to the standards our customers expect.
We'll share more as the project progresses and as we're able to talk about the results.
Continuing our collaboration with Manchester
This AKTP builds on the relationship we've already developed with the University of Manchester. We've valued working alongside their academic team, and we're delighted to continue that collaboration on a new and exciting challenge.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are designed to help businesses bring university expertise directly into their operations. The accelerated format lets us focus that expertise on a specific, well-defined goal, and move from research to application at pace.
As with our Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of Sheffield, this project reflects our belief that the best products come from combining academic depth with hands-on manufacturing know-how.
R&D collaboration at the heart of what we do
Collaborative research and development is central to how Zikodrive grows. As a high-mix, low-volume manufacturer, we work on a wide range of motor control challenges, and partnering with leading universities lets us explore new ideas with a depth that would be hard to achieve alone.
These partnerships work both ways. Our academic partners gain a real-world industrial setting for their research, while we gain access to specialist knowledge, advanced facilities and talented researchers. Together, we can move promising concepts from the lab to the production line.
We see R&D collaboration as a long-term commitment rather than a one-off project. Each partnership strengthens our in-house engineering capability, and the knowledge we build stays with us to benefit future products and customers.
Why it matters?
At Zikodrive, we're proud to design and manufacture motor controllers here in West Yorkshire. The Calder Valley has a long history of engineering and manufacturing, and we want to play our part in its future.
Partnerships like this one help us do that. They strengthen our technical capability, create opportunities to develop skills locally, and help us deliver better products to the OEMs who rely on us.
They also reflect our core values: humility in learning from others, ownership of the results we deliver, and a commitment to mastery in everything we build.
Looking ahead
We'd like to thank the University of Manchester for their continued support, and we look forward to working with them on this project.
Keep an eye on our blog and LinkedIn for updates as the work develops. In the meantime, if you're exploring a motor control challenge that doesn't fit an off-the-shelf solution, we'd love to hear from you. Get in touch with the Zikodrive team to talk about what we can build together.