Innovation means more to us than just new technology. It means constantly challenging the status quo. At RBC, we're striving to be innovative in everything we do and to connect what is possible to what is valuable to our clients.

Innovation is a mindset, not a department. At RBC we don’t view innovation as being the responsibility of one team or one area of the bank; it is instilled in our corporate culture. It must also have the full support of the senior leadership to be successful. That’s why the Applied Innovation Team is part of the innovation infrastructure at RBC, working with senior executives and RBC’s businesses to advance innovation enterprise-wide. This involves collaborating with our business sponsors to support and facilitate idea creation, identifying emerging technologies and processes, and validating ideas that have the potential to make it easier for our clients to do business with us. The Applied Innovation team has established the Innovation Lab, a stand-alone environment to assess concepts and new technologies in a safe, off-network "sandbox" environment.

A Tradition of Innovation

We have a history of innovation stretching back to purchasing the first armored van in North America. The RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge™ itself is an RBC innovation, a source of new ideas and a way to connect to our clients. We were the first major Canadian financial institution to have a public blog and a virtual agent, both of which were launched as part of the Challenge. RBC Better Student Life , a site for young people who want to learn about money management, evolved from an idea that was submitted in the first Challenge.

Innovation in Practice

Innovation brings about a wealth of opportunity and knowledge and allows us to connect what’s possible to what’s valued by our clients. Some examples include:

• RBC teamed up with Research In Motion (RIM) and Thomson Reuters to launch the BlackBerry® Partners Fund , a US$150 million venture capital fund, to invest in mobile applications and services for the BlackBerry® platform and other mobile platforms. The Fund is designed to advance the industry by fostering development and driving the entrepreneurial spirit to create the most innovative mobile offerings for customers.
• RBC Direct Investing launched Practice Accounts , the first integrated offering of its kind by a Canadian self-directed brokerage that provides the opportunity to test-drive RBC Direct Investing's online site and experience real investing without using real money.
• As part of the RBC Blue Water Project, RBC supports Imagine H20 , an innovation challenge, with $50,000 USD in prizes for business plans promising the greatest breakthroughs in the efficient use of water.
• RBC Royal Bank is the first Canadian bank to issue Visa payWave technology that allows the RBC Visa cardholder to simply "wave" their credit card in front of Visa payWave enabled terminals to pay for small purchases (typically less than $25) at participating merchants. RBC is also testing this technology on payWave capable cell phones that   let the cardholder simply wave their mobile phone to complete secure Visa  payWave transactions.  
• To help the claims management team at RBC Insurance improve client service by reducing the processing time for claims, RBC was the first bank in Canada to implement wireless connectivity to its field of auto claims agents. This coupled with a state of the art automated dispatch system, served to significantly enhance the claims management process. The project earned RBC recognition as a top innovator in CIO Magazine’s CIO 100 Awards program.
• RBC was the first bank in Canada to implement a state of the art text analytics capability which, using a linguistic analytical model, is able to scan through thousands of client originated written communications and mine those communications for insight into emerging needs and service improvement opportunities. 

RBC has also been recognized with several awards for innovation, including:

• The 2008 CIO 100 Awards, honouring 100 companies that are creating new business value by innovating with technology.
• 3 Finalists for 2007 Canadian Information Productivity Awards (CIPA). CIPA is awarded for IT and innovation implementation excellence.
• 2007 Bank Technology News Innovator Awards, ranked 4th globally
• The 2006 Data Warehouse Institute Award for Best Practices

Challenging the Status Quo Throughout the Organization

At RBC, innovation applies to internal policies as well. Because we believe that an individual's growth and success will translate into business growth, we have developed innovative talent management practices. These innovations identify potential, develop capabilities and enhance the performance and success of employees across our diverse population.

The companies under RBC participate in many recruitment events: on-campus, at career fairs and on-line. Find out when we'll be in your neighborhood and you'll have the opportunity to visit one-on-one with our recruiters and HR representatives to discover more about our programs and how you can build your future and achieve your goals with the RBC team.

 

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