CNRS@CREATE

What CNRS@CREATE does

CNRS@CREATE Ltd. is the first international subsidiary of CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), France's national scientific research centre. Established in 2019 at Singapore's CREATE Tower, it operates as a publicly funded, non-profit international research organisation that bridges French and Singaporean scientific ecosystems through the National Research Foundation's CREATE programme. The organisation serves government agencies (HTX, NRF, NRP, MPA, A*STAR), academic institutions (NUS, NTU, SMU, INSA Toulouse, INRAE), and industrial partners (Thales, Naval Group, SKF, Aria Technologies) by hosting multi-disciplinary research programmes rather than commercial products.

Its technology portfolio is anchored by the flagship DesCartes Programme, which develops Hybrid-AI methodology combining physics-based models with data-efficient machine learning to produce real-time parametric predictive models for urban systems. Concrete outputs include the DesCartes Augmented Marina Bay Twin (simulation of wind flows, pollutant dispersion, thermal and acoustic comfort), the DesCartes Mixed Reality Port Twin, and a Future Urban Dispersion Simulation and Validation Exercise co-developed with HTX for emergency response. Beyond DesCartes, the organisation runs five Intra-CREATE projects: CNegSAF (twin synthetic bacterial consortia for carbon-negative sustainable aviation fuel production), HYCOMBS (hydrogen/ammonia combustion testbeds), NGAP (nanophotonic gates with exciton-polaritons), SPACE (infectious disease epidemiology), and the newly launched 4-year Embodied AI programme, which develops robotic foundation models, vision-language-action systems, and mobile manipulation platforms. Awards include the 2024 Red Dot "Best of the Best" for the CALIPSO project.

The business model is entirely grant-funded; CNRS@CREATE does not sell commercial products or services. Funding flows from NRF Singapore (through CREATE), CNRS France, and programme-specific co-funding from agencies such as NRP and HTX. Research outputs are disseminated via formal Research Collaboration Agreements, MoUs, publications, live demonstrations at events such as the NRF CREATE Symposium, MTX 2026, and Wandercraft showcases, and technology transfer under CNRS IP frameworks. GTM motion is event-driven and institutionally anchored, with high-profile diplomatic engagements (President Tharman, President Macron state visit) reinforcing its bilateral mandate.

Name

CNRS@CREATE

Legal name

CNRS@CREATE Ltd.

Website

https://cnrsatcreate.cnrs.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CNRS@CREATE is the first international subsidiary of France's CNRS, hosted in Singapore. It runs publicly funded interdisciplinary research programmes in hybrid-AI for smart cities, embodied AI robotics, synthetic biology for sustainable aviation fuels, and hydrogen/ammonia combustion for government and academic partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research and Development Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Synthetic Biology & Genetic Circuit Design Platforms (pathway engineering, chassis development) (HLAAAIAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Motion & Machine Control (CNC, Robotics Controllers, Servo/Motion Controllers) (IMAGABAG)

Keywords

• Hybrid AI research
• Embodied AI robotics
• Sustainable aviation fuels
• Urban systems modeling
• Hydrogen combustion research

Headquarters

HQ city

Singapore

HQ country

Singapore

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public Research Grants and Government Funding: CNRS@CREATE is a publicly funded international research centre. Its primary funding comes from the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore through the CREATE programme, supplemented by CNRS (France) contributions. Additional project-specific funding includes NRF's Decarbonisation Grand Challenge (CNegSAF) and National Robotics Programme support (EAI). The organization operates as a non-profit research entity with no commercial revenue model.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CNRS@CREATE is a publicly funded international research collaboration centre and the first international subsidiary of CNRS (France's national scientific research centre), operating in Singapore. It conducts interdisciplinary research across multiple programs including the flagship DesCartes Programme on hybrid-AI for smart city decision-making, Embodied AI for human-robot collaboration, synthetic biology for carbon-negative sustainable aviation fuels (CNegSAF), and hydrogen/ammonia combustion (HYCOMBS).

Product overview

CNRS@CREATE is a research organization (the first international subsidiary of CNRS) based in Singapore operating as a platform of research programs and projects. The main portfolio includes the DesCartes Program (5-year flagship on hybrid-AI for smart city decision-making) and multiple Intra-CREATE projects (3-year duration): SPACE (infectious disease epidemiology), NGAP (quantum/nanophotonics), CNegSAF (sustainable aviation fuels), HYCOMBS (hydrogen/ammonia combustion), and Embodied AI EAI (human-robot collaboration). The organization also develops digital twin demonstrations and prototypes for urban systems modeling, all focused on research outcomes rather than commercial products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DesCartes Program: A CNRS@CREATE Program on Intelligent Modelling for Decision-making in Critical Urban Systems - hybrid AI research program for smart city applications
• N-GAP
• CNegSAF
• HYCOMBS
• Embodied AI (EAI)
• SPACE

Products and services

• DesCartes Program A flagship interdisciplinary research program developing hybrid-AI combining physics-based models with data-efficient approaches for smart city planning, supporting parametric predictive models in real-time for air quality, pollutant dispersion, thermal comfort, and acoustic comfort.
• Embodied AI Project (EAI) 4-year research program developing robotic foundation models and vision-language-action systems for general manipulation tasks in real-world environments, including mobile manipulation and whole-body control.
• CNegSAF Project Intra-CREATE research project on carbon-negative production of advanced Sustainable Aviation Fuels using twin synthetic bacterial consortia, addressing aviation decarbonization through microbial technologies.
• HYCOMBS Project Intra-CREATE research project on hydrogen and ammonia combustion in Singapore, studying combustion fundamentals of hydrogen, ammonia, their blends, and hydrocarbon fuels for zero-carbon energy systems.
• NGAP Project Intra-CREATE research project on Nanophotonic Gates with exciton-Polaritons, focusing on quantum science and technology with research in excitonics and polaritonics.
• SPACE Project Intra-CREATE research project on Shaping Public Adaptive Capacity for Environmental Infectious Diseases, focusing on prevention and management of dengue and COVID-19 in Singapore through epidemiology, computational modeling, public health, and social sciences research.
• CNegSAF Synthetic Biology Laboratory Synthetic Biology Laboratory for enzyme engineering, strain engineering, and fermentation studies under heterotrophic and autotrophic conditions, supporting carbon-negative SAF production research.

Quantifiable outcome

• Surrogate modelling reduces chemical incident simulation time, enabling real-time emergency decision-making (DesCartes × HTX)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability12 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered emerging, core and major.

• WandercraftemergingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 April 2026Wandercraft showcased its Calvin autonomous industrial humanoid robot at CNRS@CREATE on 6 April 2026. CNRS and Wandercraft are in advanced discussions on a research collaboration agreement, and Calvin may serve as a platform for future Embodied AI research projects at CNRS@CREATE in Singapore.
• National Robotics Programme (NRP) SingaporecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 May 2025CNRS and NRP signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 30 May 2025 (during President Macron's state visit to Singapore), setting the foundation for a Singapore-France Centre on Embodied AI to explore robotics, AI, and their ecosystems. The MoU involves several Institutes of Higher Learning from both countries.
• National Robotics Programme SingaporecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 April 2025NRP co-launched the 4-year Embodied AI for Human-Robot Collaborative Task Execution project with CNRS@CREATE in January 2026, with support from NRF Singapore. NRP Executive Director Tung Meng Fai participated in the Wandercraft Calvin showcase.
• A*STAR IHPC (Agency for Science, Technology and Research - Institute of High Performance Computing)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 November 2024A*STAR IHPC leads the DASH (Dispersion Analysis and Simulations for Handling) project for future fuels, with CNRS@CREATE as a research partner alongside TCOMS and TMSI/NUS. The project develops multi-fidelity planning tools for predicting ammonia and methanol dispersion during bunkering operations.
• TCOMS (Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine, Singapore)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 November 2024TCOMS is a partner in the DASH project alongside A*STAR IHPC and CNRS@CREATE, focusing on subsea anomaly detection and future fuel safety simulation.
• MajuLab (CNRS International Research Laboratory)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 November 2024MajuLab is a CNRS International Research Laboratory (IRL) jointly organising the Franco-Singaporean Quantum Symposium (FSQS 2024) with CNRS@CREATE's NGAP project, National Quantum Office, Quantonation fund, and Centre for Quantum Technologies.
• HTX (Home Team Science & Technology Agency)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 February 2024CNRS@CREATE and HTX signed a Research Collaboration Agreement (RCA) on 4 February 2024 to enhance Advanced Urban Modelling and Simulation Tools for Singapore under the DesCartes Programme. The project aims to test and validate the DesCartes wind map under real Singapore conditions provided by HTX, advancing tools for real-time environmental modelling relevant to emergency response and urban planning.
• National Research Foundation (NRF) SingaporecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 February 2024NRF Singapore funds CNRS@CREATE through the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. DesCartes is an ambitious research programme funded by NRF through CREATE, with more than 25 academic and industrial partners. NRF also funded a S$90 million Decarbonisation programme in which CNRS@CREATE participates.
• Aria Technologies, CETIM-Matcor, Expleo, Naval Group, SKF, Thales (DesCartes Industrial Members)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 February 2024DesCartes Programme has 25+ academic and industrial partners including Aria Technologies, CETIM-Matcor, Expleo, Naval Group, SKF, and Thales. These partners participate in roundtable discussions, use-case development, and collaborative research within the DesCartes Hybrid-AI programme.
• INSA Toulouse (France)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022INSA Toulouse is a partner in the CNegSAF project, with Prof. Philippe Soucaille (INSA Toulouse) serving as Lead PI for the carbon-negative SAF production research.
• INRAE (France)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) is a partner in the CNegSAF project contributing to synthetic biology research for carbon-negative aviation fuels.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• AI Singapore: National AI programme led by NRF Singapore. Operates in the same AI research ecosystem in Singapore with overlapping themes in AI for industry and society; comparable scale and public-sector mandate though focused exclusively on AI.

Broad incumbents

• INRIA (French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology): France's national public research institution dedicated to digital science and AI. Sister institution to CNRS within the French public research ecosystem, with comparable government mandate and applied AI/robotics research output.
• RIKEN: Japan's largest comprehensive research institution for basic and applied science. Comparable as a government-funded interdisciplinary research organisation with international collaboration programmes and a broad research portfolio.
• CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation): Australia's national science agency. Comparable as a publicly funded, mission-oriented research organisation conducting applied science across energy, AI, bioscience, and environment with international industry partnerships.
• A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research): Singapore's lead public sector R&D agency. A CNRS@CREATE partner on DASH and Embodied AI projects, and the dominant Singaporean counterpart for applied science research funding and infrastructure.

Direct peers

• SRI International: US-based non-profit research institute. Comparable as an independent, non-profit applied research organisation working across AI, robotics, bioscience, and energy with both government and industry clients.
• TUM CREATE: Technical University of Munich's CREATE entity in Singapore, also part of the NRF CREATE programme. Comparable structure: international research subsidiary co-funded by Singapore's NRF and a European research university, focused on applied research.
• Max Planck Society: Germany's premier publicly funded basic research organisation. Comparable in operating model: government-funded, internationally recognised, interdisciplinary research institutes, and technology transfer from fundamental research.
• Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART): MIT's flagship international research entity in Singapore, operating under the same NRF CREATE programme. Directly comparable as a foreign research institution subsidiary conducting interdisciplinary research in Singapore with government co-funding.

Others

• CREATE Campus partner entities (e.g., NUS-Environmental Research Institute): Other research entities operating within Singapore's CREATE Campus ecosystem. They share infrastructure, funding framework, and collaborative model with CNRS@CREATE, making them operational neighbours rather than direct competitors.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CNRSatCREATE
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cnrs-create

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about CNRS@CREATE