Research and promising ideas have the potential to solve real-world problems. But moving from what we know to what works requires experimentation, application and collaboration.
CRI helps bridge that gap.
Explore our purpose ↓Too often, valuable research and promising ideas stop at understanding, publication or concept. CRI helps move them forward.
We bring together research, evidence, experimentation and the right partners to test ideas in real-world settings — turning insight into practical solutions with the potential for wider adoption and impact.
Our purpose is to accelerate the journey from discovery to application — so good ideas don’t just inform, they deliver.
Research & Knowledge
Ideas & Possibilities
EVIDENCE · EXPERIMENTATION · VALIDATION · COLLABORATIONPractical Application
Impact
CRI works between discovery and adoption — building the bridge that helps promising knowledge and ideas move into practice.
Understand the research, evidence, problem and opportunity.
Explore possibilities through experimentation, testing and pilots.
Translate what we learn into approaches and solutions that can work in real-world settings.
Use evidence and learning to identify pathways for wider application and impact.
How do we move this idea forward?
Connecting research and evidence with practical challenges and opportunities.
Testing ideas in real-world contexts to understand what works, what doesn't and what needs to change.
Bringing together researchers, organisations and complementary expertise around opportunities worth exploring.
Helping promising ideas move from concept towards practical application.
During COVID-19, CRI developed a dashboard that brought together data and technology to provide real-time contact-tracing intelligence.
The challenge was not simply accessing information. It was translating complex, fast-moving data into intelligence that could support execution and meaningful outcomes.
This is CRI's approach in practice: understand the problem, translate evidence into actionable intelligence, and support the path from execution to impact.
CRI's foundations are in Singapore's research and innovation ecosystem. Dr Lillian Koh established the Center for Research and Innovation at NTUitive, extending her work across academia and research into applied commercialisation.
Today, CRI builds on that foundation with a broader ambition: to help research, knowledge and ideas move into practical application and impact.
Lillian brings three decades of experience spanning policy, academia, research and entrepreneurship. Her career includes Singapore's Ministry of Education, Nanyang Technological University and Curtin University Singapore, alongside building organisations that translate knowledge into real-world application.
Li Si brings a product, entrepreneurship and commercialisation perspective to CRI, with experience developing new products, building businesses and creating pathways between ideas, organisations and markets.