Two major initiatives are in place in Wales that aim to create a strong and internationally competitive small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector. These are the Technology Exploitation Programme (TEP) and the Centres of Excellence for Technology and Industrial Collaboration (CETIC) programme. The Materials Centre of Excellence at the University of Wales Swansea is one of the centres in the CETIC programme with traditionally strong links to the Welsh manufacturing sector. This paper describes the Centre's experiences during its first year in the programme as a way of highlighting both the successes and difficulties in the implementation of EU Objective 1 technology transfer initiatives.