Catapult wins at Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025

Catapult blends science, design, and collaboration to turn leadership development into a transformative experience.

Catapult, Southeast Asia’s first shared executive learning centre, has been awarded Singapore Learning & Development Innovation of the Year - Training and Development at the Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025, recognising its pioneering work in transforming leadership education through experience-driven learning design.

Catalysing leadership for a changing world

Launched in November 2022, Catapult was established to nurture the next generation of leaders for Singapore and the region. As an ecosystem enabler, Catapult convenes leaders from industry, academia, and government to co-create learning experiences that are both rigorous and relevant.

Since its inception, Catapult has engaged over 63,000 learners through leadership programmes, curated learning journeys, and immersive experiences. Its growing network of knowledge partners — including IMD Business School, Human Capital Leadership Institute, Dale Carnegie, Eagles Flight Asia, The Deloitte Academy, BTS, Aalto Executive Education Academy and many more — reflects the diversity and depth of its approach to leadership learning.

A campus designed for the future of learning

Catapult is anchored within Rochester Commons, an integrated development by CapitaLand Development located in Singapore’s one-north innovation district. Situated at the heart of a vibrant ecosystem of multinational corporations, research institutes, start-ups, and government agencies, Catapult serves as a nexus for leadership and innovation, fostering collaboration across business, academia, and the public sector.

The campus is designed with neuroscience-informed principles to foster human-centred learning. For example, natural lighting and spatial design are used to reduce cognitive fatigue, enabling sharper focus during intensive sessions. Breakout areas and rooms are positioned to encourage social interaction, drawing on research that shows learning is strengthened when paired with collaboration and reflection.

Catapult’s immersive 180-degree projection rooms, collaborative studios, and reflective zones are not just spaces but modern learning environments that shape behaviour, strengthen engagement, and make learning deeply experiential.

Reimagining how leaders learn

At the core of Catapult’s success is its Experience-Driven Leadership approach. This pedagogy is designed to help leaders build capability through doing, not just knowing. The approach blends human behavioural science with applied practice into learning experiences that leverage the brain’s most effective pathways for change.

Specifically, the framework prioritises emotion, socialisation, and experimentation.

By creating immersive contexts, learnings stick to memory. Socialisation is fostered by facilitating intense peer interaction and dialogue for immediate feedback and behavioural reinforcement. Lastly, it is ensured that learning translates directly into effective action by providing safe spaces where leaders can boldly practice new skills without real-world consequences..

Participants of Catapult curated programmes, from emerging leaders to experienced ones, describe gaining greater clarity about their leadership identity and renewed confidence in tackling uncertainty. Many speak of “aha” moments when personal insights clicked with practical application, sparks that translated into immediate changes in how they led back at work. Across programmes, the sentiment is consistent: Catapult creates an environment where learning feels less like training and more like transformation.

Pioneering the next era of leadership learning

Catapult’s win at the Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025 affirms its role in shaping leadership education. Through its science-based, experience-driven approach and rich network of global and regional knowledge partners, Catapult continues to pioneer diverse and transformative pathways for leadership development – equipping leaders not only for today’s challenges, but for the opportunities ahead.

The Asian Innovation Excellence Awards is presented by Asian Business Review. To view the full list of winners, click here. For more information on the awards programme, you may contact Julie Anne Nuñez-Difuntorum at (+65) 3158 1386 ext 242 or at [email protected].