StartUp House was officially opened earlier this year by Stoner along with the NSW Government’s new trade office in San Francisco.

“The NSW Government is committed to growing our digital sector and this announcement will help Australian entrepreneurs get a foothold in the US market by providing a subsidy to access the co-working space and accommodation at StartUp House from May 2012,” Stoner said.

The 36,000 square foot facility that is StartUp House is a joint venture between Australian entrepreneurs Elias Bizannes and Bardia Houseman and New Zealander Stephen Weir. It offers premium office space and will house 210 desks, a cafe and hostel for early stage companies.

“Silicon Valley continues to be a leading hub for high-tech innovation in the United States and an important target point for NSW technology companies with global ambitions,” Stoner said.

“Helping NSW entrepreneurs link into key global technology centres like Silicon Valley will open access to critical markets, capital and mentoring beyond the opportunities available in Sydney.”

According to Australian entrepreneur and facilitator David Thomas, China is leading the way into the future by financially delinking themselves from troubled developed economies.

“It’s going to be imperative for the Chinese to take over the technological leadership, they’re already doing that,” Thomas said.

The accumulating debt of developed countries is resulting in China becoming the leader of foreign investment.

“What they do have which the west doesn’t have is the abundance of land, people and capital. The western world doesn’t have capital now, in fact has a lot of debt,” Thomas said.

According to Thomas this change in global leadership is a step in the right direction for Australia in continuing to survive the global financial crisis.

“We are China’s number one source of outbound investment with 36 billion dollars or so committed from China to Australia,” Thomas said.

“The biggest opportunity right now, in this part of world, down in Australia, is the opportunity to attract and source and investment from China.”

Chinese investment into Australia will be discussed at the 2012 Asian Financial Forum.

Watch the video interview with David Thomas, courtesy of HKTDC here.

The first two traits naturally go together and they’re ideal for maximising space in your carry-on bag as well as taking from one client meeting to the next meeting. And being able to use the laptop at your airline’s departure lounge, during an international flight and still being able to do a quick email session at the airport while waiting for your bags to hit the carousel? That seals the deal.

So when will you be able to get a laptop that’s made for the long haul? When can you hit the road but leave the AC adaptor at home?

The answer to that question is today, depending on the price you’re prepared to pay and sometimes the compromises you’re willing to make. Some netbooks easily strut past the 10-hour mark but they lack the muscle, features and capabilities of a fully fledged laptop.

In some cases you can add a secondary battery which replaces the notebook’s CD/DVD drive or attaches to the notebook’s underside (this type of battery is sometimes called a ‘travel slice’) so you can hit the road with two full tanks of juice – although this adds to the laptop’s bulk.

But within the next few years that won’t even be an issue. The ever-onwards march of technology in computer chips and other components will make ‘all day computing’ a trait of almost every laptop.

“The challenge for us is to bring all-day battery life to the mainstream so that you take the laptop to work and leave the power supply at home,” says Mooly Eden, general manager of Intel’s Mobile Platforms group.

“But ‘all day’ means different things to different people,” Eden tells Dynamic Business. “For me it might be eight hours, for you it might be 10 hours. And we need to do even more than that, because as the laptop gets older the battery life will slowly get lower.”

Eden’s goal for Intel? “We need to deliver 10-to-12 hours without the charger. And we will be able to do that, because all-day battery life is not just possible, it is inevitable.”

The foundations are already in place. Intel’s family of Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 chips perform the neat trick of running faster than any previous generation of Intel silicon while drawing less power from the battery. And even that dollop of extra speed is being channelled into eking out extra battery life.

If you divide the laptop’s typical working day into tiny slices of time, most of that day is spent in varying states of idle rather than being actively used. More processing muscle means the notebook can do the heavy lifting faster so that it more quickly returns to the low-power idle state – and the more time it spends there, the longer the battery lasts.

Eden calls this feature “hurry up and get idle”, and it’s enhanced by ‘turbo boost’ modes which further accelerate the processor for short but intense bursts. These can be everyday tasks like opening an email attachment or previewing a PowerPoint deck as a set of thumbnails. Tasks that take six seconds suddenly take three or four: but it’s less about speed than sleep.

“The idea is wake the notebook up, do the job and then go to sleep again,” Eden explains. “If the chip does the job faster it can go back to sleep sooner, so you get better performance and you also get extended battery life. This is the real secret of energy efficiency.”

Yet the processor is just one part of the notebook. The screen is responsible for the largest portion of a laptop’s power drain, followed by the hard drive. Dramatic efficiencies in these areas are slower to come, with fewer breakthroughs and smaller leaps.

That said, notebook screens with LED backlighting draw less juice than the non-backlit models while also providing a brighter picture. And while ‘solid state drives’ (SSDs) draw almost no power compared to the conventional and battery-hungry spinning platters of a hard disk, their high price and relatively low capacity can make them impractical for many notebook users.

Seagate is leading the move towards a new wave of ‘hybrid’ hard drives where a high capacity hard disk is partnered with a slab of solid state memory which automatically stores the most commonly-used files and data.

There’s also a growing trend towards lightweight operating systems which let you dive into email, browse the web and play music or movies without loading Microsoft Windows. Typically based on the Linux operating system and embedded into a flash memory chip inside the laptop, these ‘instant on’ systems spring to life within seconds instead of the hard disk-hammering (and power sucking) minute that Windows often demands – making them a boon for short work sessions on the go.

Those are some of the technologies now converging into the next generation of notebooks. Give us a few years, the experts say, and almost every laptop will be built for the long haul.

Introducing the Ultrabook

If you’re in the market for a thin and light laptop you’ll soon start to hear a new bit of jargon being tossed around. It’s the ‘ultrabook’ – a notebook which is ultra thin and ultra light.

Conventional ‘thin and light’ laptops have a waistline less than 2cm and tip the scales at under 2kg, but ultrabooks blast past the 2+2 recipe. They’ll typically have a ‘flying wedge’ chassis tapering to 0.5cm and weighing closer to 1kg.

The posterchild for the ultrabook movement is the MacBook Air, although you won’t hear Apple spouting the ‘u-word’ – it’s a term used by the makers of Windows notebooks. The typical ultrabook will resume instantly from sleep mode, use flash memory SSD chips rather than spinning mechanical hard disks, run for four-to-six hours and be priced at around $1,000.

That specification is a tall order against the price-tag . Notebooks with those spec sets have usually belonged to the ‘ultra premium’ category with a much higher price tag. However, Apple has demonstrated that it’s entirely possible to produce a laptop that meets these requirements, with the entry level 11-inch MacBook Air selling for $1,150.

The first Windows-powered ultrabooks, from Acer and Asus, should be on sale by the time you read this, with models from Dell, HP and Toshiba tipped to follow before the year is out.

This article first appeared on Dynamic Business.

Forensic science equipment company Foster + Freeman has manufactured the TFD-2 after receiving the intellectual property rights from UTS commercialisation partner Uniquest Pty Ltd.

The TFD-2, a version of the Thermal Fingerprint Developer used in the trials, is an automatic, high-throughput device that can develop fingerprints on large volumes of documents. This cuts down search times and manpower requirements for the investigation of white-collar crimes like fraud and embezzlement that involve the examination of large quantities of paper.

Existing methods of detecting fingerprints are labour-intensive, time-consuming and use toxic chemicals to stain the fingerprints to increase their visibility. The TFD-2 uses heat to develop the fingerprint in a matter of seconds without destroying sensitive evidence.

Foster + Freeman connected the TFD-2 with markets around the world, showcasing it in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the US and to its distributor network across 80 countries.

UniQuest managing director, David Henderson said partnering with a strategic industry supplier like Foster + Freeman has connected the researcher’s ideas with the new technology’s target markets.

“Trials and demonstrations with end-users represent important milestones for an innovation’s commercial development, shortening the time gap between a ‘what if’ moment in the research lab and a workable solution helping to solve a globally significant problem.”

Henderson believes the combination of design and manufacturing capabilities of a key industry partner with the intellect of Australian academic researchers is “a win-win outcome for all stakeholders, and in this case, especially for the fight against all kinds of crime.”

Although the TFD-2 can currently only be used on flat surfaces, researchers behind the device plan to adapt the concept into portable models to be used at crime scenes, and even adapt the technology to retrieve prints from the wooden tops of undetonated improvised explosive devices, which could contribute to anti-terrorism investigations.

Tech23 is a competition that showcases 23 of the best young, innovative and fast growing Australian technology companies and gives them the chance to showcase their work to over 400 potential investors, mentors, entrepreneurs and customers.

“The NSW Government is supporting this event to promote technology innovation and the growth and development of smart jobs and businesses in our digital economy,” Stoner said.

“We are committed to making NSW the leader in ICT and already established a new ICT Governance framework and ICT Board that will develop the NSW Government ICT strategy.”

Each of the 23 companies will be given five minutes to pitch their technologies and discussions on investment opportunities and business models to expert panels of industry leaders, investors and entrepreneurs.

The exhibition will be followed by an evening awards celebration which includes $150, 000 in cash prizes from the NSW Government.

Winner of the Innovation Excellence Award in 2010, Marathon Robotics Director Alex Brooks, said it had raised the company’s profile and provided an external validation when communicating with customers.

“The prize money was instrumental in establishing a development and testing facility, allowing round-the-clock testing of robots which has allowed us to greatly improve the robustness of our product.”

Tech23 will be held on 23 August at The Auditorium at Surry Hills.

Hosted by Slattery IT, the Tech23 technology showcase will be held at Surry Hills in Sydney on 23 August.

The awards are funded by the NSW Government. Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner encouraged innovative new companies to apply.

“Tech23 will give 23 of the best new Australian companies the chance to pitch their cutting edge technologies to an audience of around 400 potential investors, mentors, entrepreneurs and customers,” he said. “By bringing together the best emerging technologies and investors, Tech 23 is a practical initiative that helps foster new commercialisation and business opportunities.”

Awards include:

Broadband Innovation Award—$25,000 for the company whose business model, product, service or solution has the best ability to drive demand through broadband services

Outstanding Collaboration for Innovation Award—$25,000 for the company which best demonstrates active engagement in a business partnership or collaboration contributing to the development of their innovation

Community Contribution Award—$25,000 for the company best demonstrating how their innovation will significantly and measurably benefit their local or national community

Greatest Potential Award—$25,000 for the company which best demonstrates how they will progress their business model to the next level providing the greatest potential for growth and progress

Innovation Excellence Award—$50,000 for the company judged the best of the Tech23 by demonstrating how their innovation is unique, underpins company performance, industry dynamics, productivity change and economic growth.

For more information or to apply, visit Tech23.

Applications close on 24 June 2011. Successful applicants will be announced in mid-July.

The first of the baby boomers will be retiring this year. In fact when Bob Hawke and Paul Keating floated the dollar, many baby boomers were in their thirties and forties and taking their businesses out of Fortress Australia and onto the world stage. The lucky country indeed made its own luck as our leaders opened up our economy to Asia and the emerging world, and many of our businesses were brave enough to chance it in new lands that were not nearly as affluent or easy to do business in as they are today.

Yes, the lucky country was lucky to have those brave baby boomers but we were also lucky in another sense. Much of Australia’s success as an exporting nation was due also to the efforts of the post-war immigrants who ended up leading successful companies. Think about some great Australian icons: Westfield, Bing Lee, Aussie, Crazy John’s, Myer… they were all started by someone born outside Australia or a first generation Australian. Around 50 percent of all exporters and two thirds of all entrepreneurs were born overseas, so immigration has helped build our export capability.

Who Takes the Baton?

So who are the next generation of exporters that will lead Australia for our next stage of prosperity? When the post-war generation moves on to that business lounge in the sky and when the baby boomers retire to their lucrative superannuation and part-time directorships, will Generation X fill their shoes to become ‘generation export’ and will Gen Y become the ‘global generation’?

Austrade and Sensis data can give us some guidance. Of all small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who are exporters, 42 percent of businesses have been in the game for over 20 years. This compares to 6 percent who have been around for less than five years, and 25 percent who have been around for less than 10. Why is this so? Because you need a bit of experience to compete in global markets (to get used to swings in commodity prices, exchange rates and so forth) and also to build strong relationships with your overseas business partners so you can survive dramatic events like the Asian financial crisis or the recent GFC (which Australia got out of unscathed, thanks to our past reforms and the resilience of our experienced exporters).

But there’s another implication to gaining export experience. This also means that the average age of the proprietor of an exporting SME tends to be older than that of your local domestic businesses. According to the research, 39 percent of all exporting SMEs are classic baby boomers aged in their 50s, and a further 27 percent are over 60. By contrast Generation Xers made up smaller numbers, with 20 percent of all SME exporters in their forties and 13 percent thirtysomethings. GenYs are 1 percent and Gen Zs are still watching The Wiggles.

Should we be worried? Not necessarily, as it is just a matter of Gen Xers getting the experience to run exporting companies. This will occur through generational change as the baby boomers pass on the baton. In addition, there are many reasons why Gen X and Y and Z will be okay to lead the charge.

The specialist draught beer dispensing equipment was developed in South Australia by local firm Hoshizaki Lancer. After the show it will be sold to bars and clubs through the US, Canada and Latin America.

Australia leads the world in draught beer technology, said Hoshizaki Lancer’s managing director Joe Thorp. “Australia’s harsh climatic conditions with periods of extreme heat and our love of icy cold beer have provided a fertile market for innovation in this area.”

The technology is completely new to the American market, he explained. “Glycol chiller plate technology, which enables beer to be served at 0 degrees in even the hottest ambient conditions, is a major point of interest.”

Hoshizaki Lancer spent 2010 gearing up for export into North America, conducting market research and developing products specifically for the American market. “We’ve also streamlined our manufacturing operations in Adelaide to ensure we can meet the anticipated demand from the American markets.”

The move into the US market follows significant export success in Singapore, the United Kingdom, Dubai and South Africa. Thorp credited the State Government and Innovate SA for helping Hoshizaki Lancer continue manufacturing in Adelaide.

Exporter of the Year: Future Fibre Technologies

The Prime Minister’s Australian Exporter of the Year award went to Future Fibre Technologies (FFT), which was also the Small to Medium Manufacturer category winner. The Melbourne-based company is recognised as a world leader in the security systems industry.

Providing perimeter protection that can accurately locate breaches gives FFT a competitive edge in the global security market. Where other systems deliver alerts of an occurrence, FFT pushes the laser-based technology to enable more advanced analysis, identifying the location of an intrusion. The technology took four years to develop from inception in 2002, and a further four to trial.

“We can identify an intrusion event and give a very accurate indication where it is,” says chief executive Rob Broomfield. “We use one cable and through our system we can locate to the metre where the physical intrusion would be.”

This degree of accuracy, combined with the ability to cover 80 kilometres, made the system the preferred choice for perimeter protection and pipeline security for industrial, military, petrochemical and government sites. The company exports 90 percent of its product, with sales doubling every year from 2006 to 2009. Since its establishment in 1994, FFT has supplied more than 1 million metres of fibre optic security cabling to organisations including the United States army, navy and air force, BP, Shell and NATO, plus many other industrial, military and government organisations.

The company’s fibre optic cable systems are coupled with proprietary artificial intelligence technology that discriminates between false alerts and real events, and are immune to electromagnetic and radio frequency interference. FFT provides perimeter fences, pipeline security, data tapping protection and central alarm monitoring systems compatible with CCTV camera systems, devices using the Modbus communication protocol, high level security management and access control systems via TCP/IP.

Austrade’s state manager for Victoria Sally-Ann Watts described the company as a thought leader in its industry, due to the publication of its annual Boundaries of Security Report, regarded as the most comprehensive report on current global trends in perimeter security. “This document is now widely accepted as an industry reference source and has positioned FFT as the primary expert in this field,” she said.

I was recently at a meeting in Adelaide with the SA Minister for Trade Tom Koutsantonis and this very subject came up. The question was asked: “How do we ensure in the future our support continues to be relevant to assist this new breed in their export pursuits?”

It’s a very good question because some of the traditional export assistance programs don’t always fit with their dynamic business model and more often than not the world is their market from day one. What differentiates them though in terms of their competitive advantage is technology, the application of that technology and their drive to build a modern international business in many cases from the start. Being limited to the domestic market is simply not a consideration.
So what sort of companies are these new age exporters? Let me give you some examples of companies that I’ve come into contact with through the export awards program that I find simply fascinating.

The first is Atlassian Corporation. This very successful company didn’t exist 10 years ago. Today it employs 225 people and markets to 20 thousand customers across 134 countries. Atlassian was founded in 2001 by university colleagues Mike Cannon-Brooks and Scott Farquhar, both aged 22. They make development and collaboration tools that enable customer companies to deliver quality software products faster, from concept to launch. Atlassian describes themselves as different kind of software company, one that has rewritten the rules of enterprise software development and sales. What also makes them different is the fact that they encourage customers to download products from their website with a credit card at a fraction of the cost of competitors’ products. And it works, in 2010 their revenue is forecast to be $59 milllion.

Another example is the SMARTS Company. The SMARTS products began life in the research labs of the University of Sydney at a time when the Australian Securities market became one of the first in the world to automate and integrate six regional stock exchanges into one national trading platform. SMARTS market surveillance software is the unrivalled market leader with over 30 national exchange and regulatory customers as well as 50 national and multinational broking clients across 30 markets. As I understand it, in the world of stockbroking there are five major software providers. Three of them came out of Australia, and SMARTS is of course one of them.

Nuix also falls into the category of a new age exporter. Created in 2000, Nuix’s focus has always been on developing the world’s most advanced eDiscovery and electronic investigation software. The core of Nuix is an advanced processing engine which interrogates virtually any data set (emails, hard disks and disk images), indexing the results and making them available for immediate analysis. Nuix commenced actively commercialising its software in Australia in 2006 and over the next 12 months quickly expanded its Australian customer base to include a large number of major corporate and government, forensic and security, law enforcement, legal and regulatory organisations.

In 2007 Nuix began to participate in other markets and now has customers in over 26 countries, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, China and Japan, and offices in the UK, Europe and USA.

These three companies are but examples of what an increasing number of our exporters look like. They don’t put things in boxes and ship them around the world, they use technology, they are often young well qualified people who don’t see borders as a challenge. All of us involved in export, including government, need to sit up and take note of this changing picture. I’m certainly not promoting interference but what I am promoting is doing research to understand them better so that programs can be put in place to build this capability and get more Atlassian, SMARTS and Nuixes across the export line.

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