Commonwealth Bank has established a technology hub in Brisbane's CBD to help support the expansion of Queensland's tech community and skills. It is the third tech hub to be created by CBA this year, following the launch of similar hubs in Adelaide in February and Melbourne in July.
CBA is working with The University of Queensland (UQ), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and TAFE Queensland, to give students and graduates the chance to join CBA's Tech Associates and Graduate programs, along with the creation of a range of student engagement and sponsorship initiatives.
In addition, the tech hub will create new employment opportunities for engineers, cyber specialists and data scientists, adding 100 jobs to the already emerging tech industry in Brisbane. These jobs are part of the ambitious target CBA set itself this year to recruit 1,000 engineers.
Brendan Hopper, CBA's Chief Information Officer for Technology, said: "We're excited about this next phase of our plan to build tech hubs outside our head office in Sydney, to allow people to work from wherever they want but to still go into the hubs to drive connection, collaboration and innovation to engineer secure data-driven products for our customers.
"The COVID pandemic saw many of our technology professionals choose to relocate to Queensland to pursue a change of lifestyle. By having the tech hub in Brisbane, our people based there will still have access to major technology employers like CBA and can make an impact in their work without having to relocate interstate.
"Brisbane is the perfect location for our latest hub as it has a strong focus on innovation, digital education and, with the Olympic Games coming up in 2032, we anticipate further investment in technology along with more people moving there."
By partnering with key universities and vocational education providers such as UQ, QUT and TAFE Queensland, CBA is also able to develop its local talent pipeline for early technology careers and to help it invest in its future workforce. CBA's partnerships are targeted towards institutions that are academically focused in the areas of computer science, engineering, data science and cyber security.
"Australia has for some years been facing a critical skills shortage in technology," said Mr Hopper. "Working with education helps us to address this issue, and also enables us to invest in the local tech community to help keep the country competitive."
Neil Horrocks, Director of Data Energy Innovation at UQ, said: "There is significant potential for education to work with the tech hub on a range of initiatives and we look forward to continuing those discussions over the coming weeks and months. UQ welcomes opportunities for our students that may arise as a result of these future partnerships."
Professor Lori Lockyer, Executive Dean of QUT, commented: "We commend CBA in initiating this important partnership with the School of Design in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice. With strong skills in user experience design and user interface design, our students are well placed to further advance CBA's tech hub initiative. We look forward to broadening the partnership to engineering, data science and IT from our Faculties of Science and Engineering."
Jackie French, Director of Faculty Creative Arts and Digital Design, TAFE Queensland, said the partnership with CBA would offer graduates a pathway into technology careers with an iconic Australian organisation closer to home.
"Queensland already has a vibrant digital community with a well-established pipeline of graduates," said Ms French. "As the state's largest training provider, we're delighted to partner with CBA to supply skilled and job-ready information technology, cyber security, website and software developer graduates for the placements this program will deliver."
CBA is building out its presence in tech hubs across the nation to continue to position itself as a global digital bank and a leader in digital experiences and technology.
Banner image: Brendan Hopper, CBA's Chief Information Officer for Technology; Jackie French, Director of Faculty Creative Arts and Digital Design at TAFE Queensland; and Miriam Fox, CBA's General Manager HR for Technology, at Mt Gravatt TAFE (Paul Harris)
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