BDRC Asia in Singapore is rebranding to “Novema”, coinciding with a management buyout of the BDRC Group shareholding after its acquisition from Ipsos.

The new business will be led by Piers Lee, founding MD of BDRC Asia since its 2011 joint venture with the BDRC Group. Joy Ngiam, with the company since 2012, will head Novema’s data-collection capabilities as Operations Director.

Over the past 14 years, the company has built a strong reputation in B2B, financial services, hospitality, media, and FMCG research. Since 2017, it has also moved into a dominant position in the international schools sector, running annual syndicated studies on school brand equity, reputation, and the drivers behind parent decision-making.

“Under the new Novema brand, we’ll continue our category specialisms while integrating AI solutions, particularly ‘qual at scale’, that will complement our quantitative research,” said Piers Lee, Founder & Managing Director. “The winning research firms of the late 2020s will be lean, AI-enabled, but powered by senior researchers who bring market insight, business context, and human judgment to every project.”