The Centre of Technology and Innovation was found in 1999 as the Research and Development arm of the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT). Through APIIT, CTI was awarded Multimedia Grant Scheme (MGS) funding for two separate research and commercialization projects based on the application of Image Processing and Artificial Intelligence technologies to real life problems. Applications developed during the course of these projects won awards at MSC-APICTA in 2001, 2002 and 2003. In June 2003 APIIT was presented the ‘Excellence in R&D’ award by the Ministry of Education. In 2004 APIIT R&D achieved CMMI Level 3 certification for its software development practices, three MSC-APICTA awards, and PIKOM- Computimes ICT Product of the Year Award.

In 2007, APIIT was upgraded to university college status known as Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation (UCTI) and APIIT R&D became the Centre of Technology and Innovation (CTI). CTI now operates from its own premises and continues to expand rapidly.