Development and Innovation


Innovation at RC is grounded in the everyday: ideas begin with the lived experience of our students, clients and families, are shaped alongside our practitioners, and are tested for real-world impact before they grow.

Development and Innovation (D&I) drives RC’s mission forward by asking a constant question: How can we serve better? The team turns insight from practice into new models, tools and partnerships that improve the lives of persons with disabilities within RC and beyond.

Working across our schools and services, the team drives the execution of our annual Learning Day event, supports service design and research, pilots new approaches to persistent gaps, and scales what works. 

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01

Shaping Good Lives Through Research and Evidence-Based Practices

In FY 25/26, RC presented at five conferences and supported research and innovation efforts, including the Good Life Befrienders Playbook, SIT innovation projects on an AI-integrated AAC device for children with autism and an AI app for caregivers supporting persons with autism.

It also supported a final-year project by Temasek Polytechnic students on public perceptions of persons with intellectual disabilities at community events.

02

Promoting Innovation and Action Research

We started an online newsletter publication to allow staff to subscribe to get termly updates of the latest research in special needs.

To motivate staff to do research learning, we also created an AI step-by-step chatbot to help staff to write a proposal to apply for research grants, and went further to trial a journal article request system for staff to access specific articles from research journals. A learning management system was also set up to teach staff basic concepts about action research.

03

Supporting Staff in Using Technology

This year, we supported staff across RC in building confidence with digital and AI tools - curating guides to commonly used AI tools such as chat assistants, research tools and writing aids, with practical pointers on what each does well and how to use them appropriately in our context.

Staff were also invited to share their own ideas and use cases.

04

Rainbow Centre Seed Grant Programme (RCSG)

The Rainbow Centre Seed Grant Programme (RCSG) encourages innovation and spreads good evidence-based practices across RC. Through RCSG, teams closest to our students and clients can test promising ideas in practice, with successful pilots refined and scaled across the organisation.

The programme strengthens RC’s innovative and adaptive spirit, so that we continually break new ground for the people we serve and their communities.