Wellington, October 14, 2009 - Following a successful pilot last year, Wellington to the World (W2W) returns next month to help technology companies pitch themselves to a global audience. Organised by the Wellington region's premier networking organisation for IT professionals, Unlimited Potential (UP), this year's W2W is being held on November 17 as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. "With its link-up with Global Entrepreneurship Week celebrations, we are hoping this year's W2W will attract innovators, entrepreneurs and technology investors from all around New Zealand," UP's W2W Project Manager, Paul Spence, says. "This year's W2W offers a huge opportunity for Wellington's technology sector to gain global recognition." W2W is free to attend. It will present a live technology showcase featuring pitches from selected and groomed Wellington technology companies, speeches by well-known industry representatives and concludes with a networking session. This year's theme for the half-day event is 'Going Global with Your Technology Business'. Keynote speaker is internationally renowned blogger, Wellington-based Richard MacManus, whose ReadWriteWeb site is ranked as one of the world's leading technology blogs. Other speakers are Ben Young (entrepreneur, author and marketing guru) and John Watt (nanotechnology pioneer and MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year). Paul Spence says UP is staging W2W in an effort to strengthen the Wellington region's entrepreneurial ecosystem by building bridges between technology innovators, entrepreneurs and investors. "Our aim is to support technology start-ups with great potential by building up a knowledge base offering to the world." The Wellington region boasts a high concentration of creative and technology-related industries, ranging from digital animation and software to nanotechnology, and is recognized as a leading technology hub. During W2W, emerging high tech companies will be filmed making their pitches and the video footage will be circulated via UP's YouTube channel, KEA's global network of Kiwi expatriates as well as through other online channels. Presentations from last year's W2W event can be viewed on UP's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/UPW2W