The scheme was set up in 2002 with the aim "to build networks to connect high-performing researchers in the university system".
A 2001 review of university research by TEC had revealed a fragmented research system, which did not encourage collaboration and was based on the number of students enrolled or on a small and short term agreed programme of research, and could not be applied strategically to fund areas of importance to New Zealand's development.
The CoREs were intended to be networks of "high-performing researchers" that would be "strategically focused and linked to New Zealand’s future economic and societal needs, of excellent quality, and transferable.
[1] The initial centres were established in 2002, after a selection process run by the Royal Society Te Apārangi.
An assessment by the Ministry of Education in 2013 concluded that "the work of the CoREs has had wide-ranging impacts on New Zealand's society and economy".