Australia has a small but vibrant community of digital media innovators. Starved of funds by a dying venture capital sector, most have gotten by through boot-strapping. And with a home market of only 21 million, they're looking to export sales early in their life cycles.

Even deep in the global economic crisis, the plummeting Australian dollar makes the New York market look like a good bet.

So last week a group of seven Australian mobile technology companies - games developers and other assorted digital media technology companies - descended on Manhattan to present their wares to a group of ad agency executives and publishers, courtesy of the Australian Trade Commission and the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association.

Mobile has been quick to develop, both in terms of content and as a marketing platform in Australia, and was the focus of three of the presenting companies. MIA International demonstrated a solution that it says lets companies create rich media mobile websites with almost no technical skill in as little as half an hour. Its QuickSites technology is pitched as giving agencies the ability to build functional, low-cost sites for clients with corresponding high margins, backed by a full analytics package that allows for custom campaign creation based on knowledge of the consumer. The company has grown to employ 55 people in Sydney and another 10 in the UK and has yet to take a cent in venture investment.