The Center for Research in Experimental and Applied Epistemolgy (CRESA) was founded in 2006 by the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, with the aim of fostering interactions between philosophy, cognitive science, and neuroscience. Such interactions concern the epistemological reflection on the method and findings of the sciences, of the mind as well as the application of ideas stemming from that reflection to areas such as knowledge technologies, information design, economy and decision making, communication, marketing and social science.

Epistemological enquiry is experimental in so far as it looks at the neuro-cognitive sciences and their methods in seeking solutions to classical problems in the theory of knowledge. And it is applied in so far as it views such experimental and theoretical enquiry with an eye to possible improvements for mankind and society.

As a consequence, CRESA's main activities fall in the area of neuroeconomics, neuroethics and neuroesthetics.

The CRESA project in based on the conviction that the current revolution in the biological and cognitive sciences requires the creation of institutes where researchers from different fields and with different interests can participate in multidisciplinary enquiries that are essential for understanding the processes of production, use and distribution of knowledge.
The research groups that together constitute CRESA are hosted by the Faculty of Philosophy of the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele.