The Corporate Entrepreneur Awards 2019 (CEA) were held on Thursday, 24 October in Sydney to recognise and celebrate big business innovation across a range of industries.
The inaugural event, hosted by Deloitte Digital at the Powerhouse Museum, brought together a thriving community of corporate entrepreneurs to celebrate new products, services and business models, and new approaches to building a culture of innovation inside established businesses.
There were five award categories: Best Proposition, Best Venture, Best Innovation Culture and Best Social Impact, as well as a ‘People’s Choice’ award, voted for on the night.
“It’s clear that there is a spirit of entrepreneurship at the core of many large established Australian and New Zealand businesses. Companies are taking action and responding to the needs of their customers, grasping new opportunities from technology, industry and regulatory change” said Lead Partner of Proposition and Experience Design at Deloitte Digital, Robin Scarborough.
The CEA 2019 winning entries were:
1. Best Proposition: BPAY
- The Best Proposition ‘Influential Innovation Award’, for a new product or service within their core market, went to BPAY’s OSKO real time payments service
- Comment from the judges: “the winning nomination solved an incredibly complicated industry-wide challenge, and has already had major impact. Along their journey, they learned from experience and adapted their proposition to ensure it met customer needs and unlocked new value.”
- Highly Commended went to Healius / Primary Dental for SwiftQ Dental Care, and Worley for CAROL (Catalyst Removal Amphirol)
2. Best Venture: NZME
- Best Venture ‘Breaking Boundaries Award’, for breaking assumptions and shaking up their industry with a new adjacent business model went to NZME for OneRoof, a new property search and information platform
- Comment from the judges: “This nomination has tested the limits of the industry with their consumer-centric focus and value-adding execution. With strong performance already, this team overcame significant competitive forces along the way to develop a market-leading platform.”
- Highly Commended went to Kiwi Wealth for Hatch, and Mondo for Mondo Community Grids
3. Best Innovation Culture: IAG
- The Best Innovation Culture ‘Growth Mindset Award’, celebrating those who champion new approaches to innovation within their businesses, went to IAG for their Innovation / Firemark teams
- Comment from the judges: “To date, IAG’s nomination has resulted in many new products to market, employed best in class innovators and has both a local and international focus…it has the potential to have a profound impact on the future innovation culture of Australia.”
- Highly Commended went to Z Energy for their Innovation Culture, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia for the CBA Behavioural Economics team
4. Best Social Impact: Kathmandu
- The Best Social Impact ‘Greater Good Award’, for new propositions that deliver both commercial value to the business and have a significant positive social and / or environmental impact, went to Kathmandu for their certification as a sustainable ‘B Corporation’ and their commitment to achieving 5-year social impact goals
- Comment from the judges: “We felt Kathmandu showed an unparalleled commitment to sustainability and reducing inequality. Through the combination of various initiatives across the supply chain and significant progression towards producing all new products sustainably, the company has shown that it can live up to its bold ambitions.”
- Highly Commended went to Serco Australia for ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Strait, and UnitingCare QLD for Spark Innovation Team – Lightkeeper
5. People’s Choice: IAG
- The People’s Choice award, voted for at the event by the attendees went to IAG for Safer Journeys.
Mr Scarborough added that the awards night provided a great opportunity for all nominees to make new connections, share their stories, and celebrate the hard work of their teams in bringing new initiatives to market.
“We have been overwhelmed by the standard and volume of nominations in this first year of the Corpororate Entrepreneur Awards in Australia & New Zealand. We received a total of 45 submissions from various industries including the financial services, telecommunications, energy, retail, consumer products, healthcare, media and other sectors. It’s fantastic to see that top businesses in the region are delivering truly innovative new products, services and businesses to market, and investing in their capability to realise new growth,” Mr Scarborough said.
“It’s been a rewarding experience hosting the first CEA awards in Australia and celebrating the hard work and achievements of the teams pioneering innovation in their respective industries. “It was also encouraging to see that a number of entries were joint ventures. That really speaks to increasing willingness for businesses to collaborate to pursue new opportunities in response to customer and market change.”
The independent judging panel consisted of Rod van Onselen, Chief Transformation and Digital Officer of Origin Energy; Tzipi Avioz, Executive Vice President Customer Success of Mirakl Inc.; Nick Wailes, Director, Australian Graduate School of Management and Deputy Dean of UNSW Business School; and Lauren Capelin, Partner, Platform and Operations of Reinventure.
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