‘We need to talk ourselves up’: Australia primed to be global leader, say tech pioneers

Australia has a unique set of attributes that mean it can compete globally in fields like AI and quantum computing. But we can’t take success for granted, say some of the country’s best-known and most successful tech leaders.

Speaking at CommBank’s BrighterTech festival, a two-day experience to connect technologists and tech enthusiasts to the best and brightest thinking in the industry, leaders including CommBank CEO Matt Comyn, Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht, data centre group NextDC CEO’s Craig Scroggie and quantum computing pioneer Professor Michelle Simmons made it clear – Australia has what it takes to be a global technology player.

'You're going to be disrupted'

Joining CommBank’s Matt Comyn, Canvas' Cliff Obrecht said Australia had to make sure technologists and entrepreneurs were “dovetailing” to produce great commercial outcomes.

Obrecht told the story of pitching Canva - at that stage a school yearbook company – to US investors. After many rejections, one investor realised Canva was already dominating its niche and delivering a healthy profit. That alone put it ahead of 95% of the companies he worked with, he said.

Obrecht said it was a lightbulb moment and Canva learned a key lesson. “We learned how to talk ourselves up,” he said. Today the company has 240 million users and 95% of Fortune 500 companies as customers.

It’s that ability to reset that will make the difference in the technology race, Obrecht said. “If you’re not disrupting yourself, you’re going be disrupted.” Technologists should not be afraid of technology, and at Canva, AI is “accelerating our ability to do more and get more shots on goal”, he said.

But with technology and competitors evolving fast, businesses “need leaders with a sense of urgency”, he warned.

CommBank CEO Matt Comyn said there was a strategic shift in thinking needed to make the most of AI, especially at big companies, because the risks of being left behind were high. “It needs to feel urgent”, he said.

It can be tempting for companies to sit back and then try to follow those doing the pioneering work. But instead, leaders needed to take the initiative and get better about drawing a line between the parts of their businesses where risks had to be minimised and the parts where experimentation should be encouraged, Comyn said.

Speaking at the event, Commonwealth Bank group CIO Gavin Munroe said recent discussions with major tech companies in the US showed the pace of technological change had accelerated even in the last quarter. It was an ongoing challenge for big established companies to keep pace with smaller, nimble new players, he said.

“Don’t assume that what made you unique in the past, or what gave you an advantage in the past, can’t be overcome by these types of companies,” Munroe said.

Australia’s unique advantages

“I don't subscribe to the idea that we can't compete. I absolutely believe that we can,” NextDC’s Scroggie said.

Australia’s supply of land, energy and stable politics put it in a unique position to put the tech infrastructure in place to export knowledge to the world, he said. “I think the opportunities on offer far outweigh any of the complexities that we've got in getting there.”

“We have access to the technology, and we have the skilled people.”

With data security a growing concern, Australia’s status as a trusted member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the US, UK and Canada also gave us an advantage, he said. “It's a pretty choppy time globally now, and I think that puts Australia in a leadership position.”

Global quantum computing leader, Founder and CEO of Silicon Quantum Computing Professor Michelle Simmons told the event that Commonwealth Bank has been a long-time supporter of her organisation’s pioneering work and was now a key customer for the solutions it develops.

“CBA is right at the forefront,” she said, saying Australia was also a leading player in the quantum computing space, which like AI, has become a global race for technology leadership.

Many global quantum experts had trained in Australia, Professor Simmons said. “Australia is right up there,” she said, explaining how her organisation’s technology was answering key questions about reliability in a way that rival technologies would find hard to match.

Once people had the chance to apply the potential of quantum to real-world problems its true potential would start to emerge, Professor Simmons said. “It will change the way we see the world.” 

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Held over two days at the Foundry Campus in Sydney, BrighterTech brings CommBank tech teams together for deep dive into the innovations shaping the way we work and connect. From hands-on demos to thought-provoking panels, the event is designed to spark ideas, share stories, and build momentum for what’s next.