CommBank Group Executive Business Banking, Mike Vacy-Lyle, said: “Productivity matters because over time it supports stronger wages, competitiveness and living standards. But for business owners, productivity is not abstract. It can mean quoting faster, cutting time from admin, using data to manage stock, adopting technology, or freeing teams up to spend more time with customers. Those changes do not always look like major breakthroughs, but they can make a real difference.
“CommBank research shows small and medium businesses are already putting ideas into action, but many are being held back by cost, time, resources and capability. That is the gap we want to help address.
“Access to finance matters, but so do skills, confidence, momentum and the right connections. By bringing together the Awards, free training and support from our partners, we want to celebrate businesses already creating impact and help more businesses build the capability to grow,” said Mr Vacy-Lyle.
New CommBank Business Innovation Awards celebrate SME innovation
At the centre of this support are the CommBank Business Innovation Awards, which will recognise emerging, scaling and established SMEs turning new technology, products, services and better ways of working into practical outcomes. Applications open in July to eligible SMEs across Australia, even if they don’t bank with CommBank.
Winners and finalists will receive practical support designed to help build capability and momentum, including cash grants, mentoring from Square Peg, University of Melbourne hosted bootcamps, AWS funding, Deloitte and AWS workshops and, for selected category winners, a Seattle learning experience including visiting Amazon Web Services and CommBank’s Seattle Tech Hub.
To help more businesses build capability, CommBank has partnered with the University of Melbourne to provide online innovation training for Australian SME Businesses through the Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship – available to business owners, employees and aspiring entrepreneurs across Australia, even if they don’t bank with CommBank. Participants can complete individual modules or the full self-paced course, with a certificate from the Wade Institute available to those who complete the full program.
The Wade Institute’s Managing Director Jessica Christiansen-Franks said “Practical innovation is not only about starting a new business or developing a breakthrough invention. In many businesses, it starts with asking how a product, process, customer experience or business model could be better. The training is fully online and self-paced, with modules focused on real business challenges and principles that can be applied across industries and business types.”
Innovation is more than tech alone
Further CommBank research findings show practical innovation is broader than big tech, venture capital or breakthrough inventions with recent or planned activity spanning:
- product and service development (69 per cent)
- digital and technology adoption (69 per cent)
- customer experience improvements (68 per cent)
- operational and process improvements (64 per cent)
- sustainability initiatives (52 per cent)
Among SMEs that have already introduced new products, services or processes, the strongest enablers were reinvesting profits (50 per cent), hiring people with the right skills (35 per cent) and staff undertaking additional training or studies (34 per cent), showing practical support is about capability as well as capital.
Businesses can access the free online training, learn more about the CommBank Business Innovation Awards and register to be notified when applications open at commbank.com.au/innovation.
Notes:
¹About the SME R&D statistic - Source: Strategic Examination of R&D discussion paper (page 27). BERD stands for Business Expenditure on Research and Development. SME definition for this statistic is businesses with 0–250 employees.
²About the CommBank research - The CommBank-commissioned research was conducted by YouGov between 16 and 24 October 2025. The survey was completed by a nationally representative sample of 500 Australian small and medium business owners and senior decision makers. Results were weighted by location and business size to be representative of Australian small and medium businesses. Small businesses were defined as having 1–19 employees and medium businesses as having 20–199 employees.
About the CommBank Business Innovation Awards - The CommBank Business Innovation Awards are designed to recognise, celebrate and support innovative Australian businesses at different stages of growth. Applications are expected to open in July across three categories:
- Emerging Innovators: for businesses with annual revenue up to $3 million, recognising original ideas that solve a meaningful problem, show early progress and have a credible pathway to market.
- Scaling Innovators: for businesses with annual revenue between $3 million and $15 million, recognising innovations already delivering value for customers, supporting commercial growth and showing potential to scale further.
- Proven Innovators: for businesses with annual revenue between $15 million and $50 million, recognising established businesses whose innovation has delivered strong commercial performance, broader impact and potential for continued expansion.
About the Wade Institute training - The online innovation training has been developed through the Wade Institute, in partnership with University of Melbourne. The course is available to people across Australia. Participants do not need to be CommBank customers or sign up to a CommBank product to complete the course. Participants who complete all modules will receive a certificate of completion from the Wade Institute.
