The ongoing slump in tech-stocks overseas, accompanied by declining employment prospects and the crash of a few local high-flyers in the Internet sector might just have cooled the government and investor passion for the "new economy."

There are however, still a number of local tech companies who continue to find funding for the development of advanced technology.

Do you remember PowerBeat, the local company that invented what was claimed to be a battery that would never go flat?

Well, for whatever reason, that invention seemed to be a bust from a commercial perspectives -- but they're now trying to pull another rabbit out of their R&D hat.

Their "Megamantis" digital communications system would seem to have the potential to offer a new way of delivering broadband to the home -- using street-lights!

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Hey, sounds good to me -- but then so did a car battery that would never go flat.

Let's face it, NZers are a pretty bright bunch. Who else could build a death-ray beam from two spools of fencing wire, an old Model T engine and the daggings from half a dozen sheep?

I have a sneaky feeling that the biggest problem many of our inventors now face is not so much gaining R&D funding to get their products to the working prototype stage -- but finding the right help to commercialise those inventions.

Another example of this commercialisation hurdle is the work I've been doing with my jet engines.

My R&D efforts have produced an engine that is ideally suited for use in military target drones (1/10th the price of gas-turbines and twice as powerful as other similar designs). I've already had expressions of interest from several international defense and aerospace companies regarding these engines but I now need to move from a development prototype to production and manufacturing version -- and that's expensive.

However, the size of the potential market is quite significant -- even prior to the military action in Afghanistan, the USA budgeted to spend over NZ$200 million per year on such craft.

Having already spent a huge amount of my own money on developing this new engine (and aided by a comparatively small technology grant) -- I find myself knocking on the door of a huge market -- dressed in my shorts and sneakers and lacking a "production" unit to sell.

As was the case with my dot-com activities I'm finding that without a large wad of local cash and the resources to actually market the product, relocation to the USA or Europe may be the only way to adequately capitalise on the work I've done to date.

I'm sure that there are probably dozens of other local entrepreneurs who are also in the same position, sitting on a great piece of technology or software but unable to find the cash to bring it to the market properly for lack of money and resources.

Full marks to the government for their efforts to give the local R&D scene a good kick in the pants. Now we have to ask -- what happens once the R&D is done?

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