Centre for Finance, Innovation and Development (CFID)
Our Mission
CFID's mission is to advance understanding of the most pressing challenges in finance, innovation, and development facing households, businesses, and governments across advanced and developing economies, and to produce rigorous evidence that informs policy and practice.
Our research is organised around three core themes:
- Finance: We investigate how financial systems shape the allocation of capital and the financing of investment, entrepreneurship and firm innovation, and how these affect productivity and economic growth. Our research covers banking, capital markets, fintech, microfinance and community-based financial institutions, including the factors that determine access to finance and financial inclusion among households and businesses.
- Innovation: We examine what drives innovation, how it can improve economic and societal outcomes, the risks it creates and how economic policies can address them. Our research spans artificial intelligence, including large language models, satellite technologies, financial innovation and other emerging technologies.
- Development: We investigate why some economies grow and prosper while others face persistent barriers to development, including poverty, inequality, weak governance and violent conflict. We examine how finance, innovation, institutions and public policy can help overcome these barriers, promote pro-poor growth and improve people's living standards and opportunities.
Founding Members
CFID was founded in November 2026 by Dr Deven Bathia, Professor Roxana Gutierrez Romero and Professor Sushanta Mallick.