G'Day USA 2012 Opens with Two Splendid Events in Silicon Valley: Australia-USA Dialogue on Energy Efficiency; and, An Evening of Australian Innovation

The Australia-US Dialogue on Energy Efficiency at Stanford was terrific with a full house of some of the best minds in Australia and California. Great speakers included The Hon. Robert Hill, the Former Australian Minister for Environment and Minister for Defense. I learned a lot from the event and am reinforced in my view that a smart electric grid driven by smart meters smartly used will drive economic growth and innovation. I made the point that in 2013, Victoria will be the only State in Asia with ubiquitous smart meters and this was attracting global interest for Melbourne as a place to roll out new smart appliances, devices and software. The papers will be available soon but in the meanwhile some relevant papers may be read at Stanford's Precourt Energy Efficiency Center online library. Congratulations to Consul-General, Chris deCure and his Victorian-raised Consul Ed Wilkinson and their team for a great event.

An Evening of Australian Innovation at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, Silicon Valley attracted a full house of 250 attendees with talented Americans and Australians enjoying a showcase of Australia's innovation. The Australian Ambassador to the USA Kim Beazley made a brilliant speech and Nigel Warren, the Australian Consul General in San Francisco moderated the event and the panel with aplomb. Congratulations to Nigel, Emma Tom and the rest of the Austrade team for a great event/

Brilliant Victorians featured included Patrick Llewellyn of 99 Designs and Professor Alan Trounson, President of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Simon Yencken, an experienced start-up leader, living in the Valley with his roots firmly in Melbourne always impresses me with his insights. Other outstanding Victorians at the event included Louis Mathews, the west coast Director, of Advance. The Victorian-based global business Treasury Wine Estates was a sponsor with Tim Irwin making an excellent sponsor's speech. Global Corporate Challenge is a Victorian Access America participant and was ably represented by its U.S. leader Catherine Bishop.

Good to see Team Australia working so well. The NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner made a great speech presenting an award to a NSW honouree Atlassian. It was good to see Chris Rodwell, my Queensland peer, make the trip up from Santiago to join us and honour the Queensland participants. Chris O'Meara and I had the privilege of giving a lift back to the City to Queensland's global citizen Peter Riddles and Mario Pennisi, the CEO of the Queensland Clinical Trials Network - as you can imagine the conversation was excellent and stimulating. Dawn Lillington, Executive Director at Australian American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco, was there too - we're looking forward to her team's Australia Day Celebrations.