Commonwealth Bank of Australia Opens Innovation Lab

Commonwealth Bank of Australia became the latest bank to open up an innovation lab, the Australian financial institution announced today.

According to the bank, the 690-square-meter lab will act as an "idea incubator and accelerator" focused on developing cutting-edge products, services, and solutions in collaboration with customers, partners, startups, and industry experts. It will be located at Commonwealth Bank Place in downtown Sydney.

The launch of the innovation lab coincides with the rollout of a program for Commonwealth Bank employees designed to uncover innovation and fresh ideas, the institution said. The "Unleashing Innovation" program, as it is known, is designed to allow employees to submit their innovative ideas to a panel of senior executives, with successful proposals moving into the innovation lab for incubation.

“The real value we expect from the Innovation Lab is twofold in being able to explore new ideas and make quicker decisions on which ones will work best for our customers, and being able to scale those ideas across CBA so all customers and employees can take advantage of the innovation,” said CIO David Whiteing in a prepared statement.

[See Also: Eastern Bank Pursues Culture of Innovation]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio