The Aussies banded together at CES this year, and did a nice job in with eight companies in one booth at the Hilton — which was called (of course) the Australia Pavilion. The whole effort was sponsored by the Australian Trade Commission and AEEMA, a computer industry association Down Under. I attended their press event at 11:00 this morning and met a number of the people involved, and later had time to catch at least one demo from the eight startups represented before I had to head off to the Yahoo press luncheon. Cesaussiebooth1

I met Angus Robinson, the CEO of AEEMA, based in Sydney…Barbara Adams, a U.S. representative of the Australian Trade Commission (based in Orange County, of all places!)…Annette Ahern, an Aussie based in Melbourne working for the U.S. Consulate there, and Aussie Susan Fitzpatrick, CEO of PR firm Dateline Media (Palo Alto, Sydney, and New York). They did a great job putting together this first-time organized presence for Australia at CES. (In addition to the eight companies in their booth, Robinson said there are an equal amount of other Aussie companies with their own individual booths in the show.)

AEEMA’s Robinson said his organization decided last year, after he had scoped out CES for the past three years, that this was the year to “show the world what Australia can do.” He said many technologies had their beginnings in Australia, including “the 802.11 wireless standard, the technology behind the Dolby headphone, the IMAX rolling loop, the electric drill, the inflight black box, the refrigerator, and more.”

Later, the one firm I got a chance to spend my limited time with I was really impressed with: Bluebox Devices, based in Melbourne. It has nothing less than a new “from the ground up digital media platform for the home.” I saw the concept demoed, and it was very cool. “It’s a complete on-demand digital content purchasing and management system for the mass market – TV, movies music, and other media types,” said Robert Yearsley, CEO. Cesbluebox

Interestingly, I also met an investor and board member of the company, an Australian named Ron Nissen, who’s now based in Milwaukee! He told that Bluebox lets people watch the content they want for free. “Basically, the pay TV model isn’t working, and free-to-air TV isn’t either.” I’m betting they can get the attention of the content and advertising industry in the U.S. A main objective of the firm is obviously to meet partners at CES, the CEO told me. One good one sauntered up while I was there, and quickly got his attention: Warner Brothers! I’m pulling for these guys, and have already suggested a potential funding partner that I know would like to hear about their technology.

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