CRI is co-constructing and sharing new ways of learning, teaching, conducting research and mobilizing collective intelligence in the fields of life, learning and digital sciences, in order to address the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs).
CRI operates around 4 main areas :
CRI was founded in 2006 by François Taddei and Ariel Lindner with the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation as an essential and key supporting partner and Paris City Hall. It also benefits from the support of a wide range of foundations, corporate sponsors and institutions including the University of Paris, with which CRI co-founded the interdisciplinary action-based research challenge institute (“Institut des Défis”) to prototype a model of a Learning University enable of responding to the global challenges of our time.
A learning society and a learning planet are organized to systematically promote the learning of individuals and collectives that compose them and enable them to solve the challenges they face.
Because our greatest challenges are global, we must develop a learning planet that facilitates learning through research, engagement and innovation at all stages of life: everyone must be able to document their learning, exploration and action so that others can learn from their successes, difficulties and failures, learn from their experiences and improve their solutions. We must develop a society where sharing, mentoring and cooperating are the norm and transform lifelong learning. Countries such as Finland, Singapore or Canada, that have been able to modernize their education systems show us that such changes are possible and that it is possible both to raise individual standards and to reduce inequalities.
CRI, founded by researchers specializing in evolutionary dynamics and systems engineering, brings together very diverse audiences throughout the world to design and prototype new learning ecosystems and new exponential dynamics in order to mobilize collective intelligence and thus accelerate our ability to meet the SDGs.
We have to learn how to take care of oneself, others and the planet - François Taddei - Chairman and co-founder of CRI
As a society and a planet we face a major challenge : Humanity generates problems faster than the knowledge needed to solve them. Our mission is to close this gap by combining three approaches:
We propose that over the next ten years, we will focus on four interacting and interwoven objectives :
Prototype and promote pedagogical innovations that develop original problem solving skills across all ages and layers of society, (i) to adapt our approach of training through research to SDGs, (ii) to build new methods to assess learning and acknowledge contributions to knowledge, (iii) to partner with other actors to scale up our pedagogical impact;
Develop and promote open research at the interfaces between life, learning and digital sciences by (i) building an environment that sustains novel interdisciplinary and collaborative research (the collaboratory), (ii) creating a research hub for the people and with the people, (iii) promoting SDG-driven, open and participatory science and technology;
Help build a global open source digital campus where learners can (i) access appropriate educational resources based on their interests and create learning paths adapted to their level, (ii) be connected to other learners and mentors, (iii) be evaluated and have their knowledge recognized (iv) participate in research and innovation for SDGs;
Foster collective intelligence that contributes to the evolution of learning places and institutions by (i) expanding, adapting and sharing ours and partners’ vision, programmes and know-how (ii) creating events and frameworks to recognize and mobilize collectives for the SDGs (iii) offering and instilling new perspectives to institutions willing to experiment and enhance collective intelligence.
In the tradition of Socrates and Humboldt, CRI is an evolving and fruitful framework of freedom based on key values.
To get involved and discover, you have to be free:
Trust facilitates learning, mobilizes everyone's energies and releases creative thoughts. It makes it possible to expose and overcome differences of opinion, to share and build together. To flourish, it requires people to display integrity and competence, and to be kind to each other. This is what allows constructive criticism to be expressed.
“We are all born scientists”. Asking questions is what human brains were born to do, as shown by Alison Gopnik. We can all contribute to the advancement of knowledge, even the youngest ones, because we can nurture the art of questioning, have access to knowledge and technology, learn from peers and mentors, and be trained to take into account best practice in research and ethics.
For Aristotle, knowledge takes three forms: Episteme, Techne and Phronesis. While the first two have given us science and technology, the ethics of action, is rarely taught in higher education. CRI encourages students to think about the applications and implications of their projects, the consequences for themselves and others, in the short and long term, at the local and global level to guide their approach throughout their careers and throughout their lives.
"None of us is smarter than all of us"; no single discipline is smarter than all disciplines considered together. No one knows everything, everyone knows something and being enriched by our differences is essential for creating new solutions.
[English version coming soon]
L’Institut des défis a été co créé par l’Université de Paris et le CRI afin de prototyper un modèle d’Université apprenante, accompagnant tout au long de leur vie ceux qui s’engagent pour répondre aux défis globaux de notre temps.
En favorisant la diversité, la confiance, l’exploration, la co création et l’intelligence collective multi-échelle, l’université peut abaisser les barrières entre les connaissances. Elle peut faciliter la coopération et inviter tous les acteurs à prendre conscience de la complexité des défis qui sont les nôtres, redéfinir les problèmes, réfléchir aux applications et aux implications de leurs idées et trouver des solutions novatrices.
The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation has been a strategic long-term partner since the CRI was created. We also receive support from an array of partners such as Ville de Paris and the INSERM, and we receive grants from the Axa Research Fund, the European Union, the Investments for the Future programme, the French National Research Agency and MSD Avenir.
The CRI develops its degree and research programmes through the Université de Paris and INSERM.
The new CRI campus, whose site was graciously provided by the Ville de Paris, opened in October 2018 after renovations made possible through the generous support of the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation. The campus includes an on-site student residence comprising 55 dormitories, and housing is provided based on income considerations as well as how far students have to travel to get to campus.
At CRI, we are committed to building a better future, working with the members of our community to ensure a positive social, economic, technological, and environmental impact in everything we do. Our vision is rooted in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and we foster sustainable development and social responsibility through four tenets:
Limiting our campus’s environmental impact by scrutinizing every aspect of our operations and activities and implementing the solutions necessary for continued responsible development.
Helping all learners in the CRI community to explore their role in a sustainable and inclusive future and working with the CRI’s pedagogical teams to foster agility in responsible education.
Driving research approaches ever forward and adding to scientific knowledge. Research carried out at the CRI seeks to effect real change in our society that benefits everyone.
Respecting the workplace principles of well-being, diversity, personal development, work-life balance, and meaningful work, all of which contribute to the further development of our organization.
