RTTP (Registered Technology Transfer Professional) and ATTP

RTTP is not a course you sit and pass. There is no exam, and no training provider can award it. It is a portfolio credential: you assemble documentary evidence against a published standard, submit it to ATTP, and a review panel decides. That distinction is the single most common misunderstanding about the designation, and it is why a certificate of attendance from an accredited course – however many of them you hold – is an input to an application rather than the credential itself.

The four things ATTP requires evidence of

ATTP’s published RTTP application guidelines (attp.global, checked 8 August 2026) set out four evidence requirements for the full RTTP designation:

1. Membership of an ATTP member association. The applicant must be a member of one of the associations that constitute ATTP, evidenced by proof of membership. Membership is the gate, not the credential.
2. Relevant professional experience. A minimum of three years in a relevant role, evidenced by an employer letter confirming job title, length of employment and current work status, plus a CV showing at least three years of work in knowledge exchange, knowledge transfer or technology transfer within a research organisation or institute.
3. Relevant skills, demonstrated by one of two routes described below.
4. An achievement, evidenced by a 1,000-word manager-endorsed Achievement Overview, also below.

The skills requirement: two routes, and the CE-points arithmetic

The training route (Option A) requires a minimum of 60 Continuing Education (CE) points earned through ATTP-accredited activity. The points are not fungible without limit; ATTP publishes minima and caps by activity type:

• Face-to-face (live) training – courses, masterclasses, workshops: minimum 15 points, no maximum. This is the binding constraint: at least 15 of the 60 must be earned at in-person ATTP-accredited events.
• Networking – conferences, annual meetings, and regional or other meetings of comparable scale: maximum 20 points.
• Online (live) training – courses, masterclasses, workshops: maximum 45 points, no minimum.
• Webinars: maximum 5 points.

The practical consequence of those caps: you cannot reach 60 on webinars and conference attendance alone, and you cannot reach it entirely online. The structure forces a mix, with a face-to-face floor.

The mixed route (Option B) exists for practitioners whose skills were built on the job rather than in accredited classrooms. It requires evidence of at least two of the following three: a list of professional qualifications or relevant courses attended, naming the training or awarding bodies (including any accredited courses that fell short of 60 CE points); a list of at least eight deals or projects the applicant has led, chosen to reflect appropriate size, quantity and quality of engagement; or a description of the applicant’s leadership roles in KE/KT/TT, including the size and scope of any teams or initiatives directly overseen.

The achievement requirement

The Achievement Overview is a 1,000-word essay, endorsed by the applicant’s manager, describing one outcome that would not have happened without the applicant’s input. ATTP offers three shapes: (A) a complex and significant collaboration or strategic partnership that met the parties’ intended goals; (B) a complex and significant commercial outcome – IP licensing, creation of a spin-out company, a major consultancy project, a major contract research effort – characterised by external investment, market impact or increased stakeholder value; or (C) a significant knowledge transfer initiative that created new capacity, structures, funding or incentives, such as establishing a knowledge transfer network, a proof-of-concept or venture fund, or an entrepreneurship programme. Each shape has its own required elements, and all three demand that the applicant separate activity from outcome and map their personal contribution onto the core competencies.

Applicants who are senior leaders in the profession, with at least five years of leadership experience, may instead evidence sustained leadership of KE/KT/TT activity: long-term performance improvement, effective shaping and management of resources, and a sustained track record of team outcomes.

The six core competencies, named

Evidence across the whole application is assessed against six internationally recognised competencies. ATTP names them as: Strategic & Business Insight (strategic thinking, market-led business acumen, commercial skill); Entrepreneurial Leadership (building collaboration and partnerships, changing organisations through innovation); Legal, scientific and technical knowhow (managing the legal, contractual and domain issues involved in exchanging and transferring knowledge); Effective Engagement (marketing, promotion, brokering, communication, negotiation and influence); Governance and Project Management (running complex projects with effective governance, compliance and evaluation); and Knowledge Transformation and Management (the systems and processes that carry knowledge from capture through to outcome).

Tiers, and what CASRAI could not verify

ATTP operates Candidate RTTP for newcomers to the profession, full RTTP, and RTTP Fellow. Everything documented above is the requirement set ATTP publishes for the full RTTP designation. CASRAI was not able to verify, from ATTP’s own published guidelines at the time of writing, the current experience thresholds, CE-point totals or fee amounts for the Candidate and Fellow tiers, or whether any renewal or re-registration obligation attaches to the designation once awarded; secondary summaries circulating on member-association websites disagree with one another on these points. Check attp.global directly before relying on a Candidate or Fellow threshold in a career plan or a staff development policy, and note that ATTP runs application rounds with published deadlines rather than accepting submissions continuously.

Related terms

• Technology transfer – the practice this credential certifies competence in.
• Technology licensing office (TLO) – the unit most RTTP applicants work in.
• Knowledge Exchange Framework – the UK institution-level assessment, distinct from this individual-level credential.
• AUTM Licensing Activity Survey – benchmark data published by one of ATTP’s member associations.
• University intellectual property policy – the institutional rules an RTTP works within.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does RTTP stand for?

RTTP stands for Registered Technology Transfer Professional, an individual credential for knowledge exchange and technology transfer (KE/TT) practitioners. It is awarded by ATTP, not by any training provider or single national association.

Is RTTP a certification exam?

No. There is no exam, and no course can award RTTP on its own. It is a portfolio credential: applicants assemble documentary evidence against ATTP’s published standard and submit it for a review panel to decide, so a certificate of attendance from an accredited course is an input to the application rather than the credential itself.

What do you need to apply for RTTP?

ATTP’s published guidelines set out four evidence requirements for the full RTTP designation: membership of an ATTP member association, at least three years of relevant professional experience, demonstrated relevant skills via one of two routes, and a 1,000-word manager-endorsed Achievement Overview describing a significant outcome the applicant helped bring about.

Can you qualify for RTTP through online training alone?

No. Under the training route (Option A), applicants need 60 Continuing Education points, but online (live) training is capped at a maximum of 45 points and at least 15 points must come from face-to-face, in-person ATTP-accredited training. The caps by activity type rule out reaching 60 points on webinars, conferences, or online training alone.

What competencies does ATTP assess for RTTP?

ATTP evaluates RTTP applications against six named competencies: Strategic & Business Insight, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Legal, scientific and technical knowhow, Effective Engagement, Governance and Project Management, and Knowledge Transformation and Management.

What is the difference between Candidate RTTP, RTTP, and RTTP Fellow?

ATTP operates three tiers: Candidate RTTP for newcomers to the profession, full RTTP, and RTTP Fellow. The experience, CE-point, and competency requirements described on this page apply to the full RTTP designation; published thresholds for the Candidate and Fellow tiers should be confirmed directly with ATTP.