This year's program recognizes 10 winners spanning financial services, communications, health and life sciences, manufacturing, retail and CPG, energy and utilities, enterprise technology, public sector, digital-native businesses and excellence in cybersecurity. Together, they represent some of the most inventive and impactful uses of Databricks we've seen — and we're thrilled to celebrate each of them.

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards and consumer finance. The bank is using data and AI to integrate risk, treasury and finance; harden cybersecurity; and modernize the digital experience for clients.

At the center of that transformation is a single Databricks lakehouse that brings SMBC's data together across regions — on one governed platform. Unity Catalog provides the bank with cross-region data sharing, lineage and access controls. Lakehouse runs analytics and AI at the scale a global bank requires, while holding the line on cost and complexity.

On that foundation, SMBC is using Genie and Agent Bricks to put trustworthy, data-driven intelligence directly in the hands of the business. The platform powers a chatbot for the Cash Management System, generates Early Warning Indicators for portfolio risk and is being extended into front-office credit memo workflows — turning analyst hours into minutes.