Entrepreneurs mount up for invitation-only event

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/The Press

COOL RIDE: Grant Ryan, designer of the Yike Bike, demonstrates how it works. Attendees at Morgo will see the new fold-up electric bike, which is about to start production.

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At last year's Morgo, entrepreneurial attendees got to watch the personal helicopter, the Martin jetpack in action; this year they'll be able to test drive the new fold-up electric bike – the Yike Bike, which is about to start rolling off the production line.

But it's not all fun and games at the annual invitation-only gathering of the country's top entrepreneurs in Waitangi.

Morgo is the brainchild of Wellington venture capitalist, Jenny Morel, whose No8 Ventures has money invested in 12 Kiwi companies, including the Martin Aircraft Company.

She's had less focus on the 8th Morgo event – which kicks off on Wednesday – than previous years because she's been busy with another of her investments, Rex Bionics, the Auckland company that has produced the world's first robotic legs. The technology was unveiled last month after seven years of research and has already secured interest from the United States military despite the relatively high price of around $208,000 each to overseas buyers.

Rex company founder and chief technology officer, Richard Little, is one of a number of speakers lined up for this year's hype-fest along with Christchurch-based Yike Bike founder, Grant Ryan, who'll follow his talk with a free demo on the bike.

Other speakers include Australian entrepreneur Naomi Simpson, from Red Balloon, Kiwi physicist, military theorist and Rhodes Scholar, Sean Gourley, leading Australian nanotechnology expert, Andrew Dzurak, and medical technology developer, Professor Jonathan Sackier, who helped develop the world's first commercial surgical robot.

A morning session focuses on China, one of our largest trading partners.

It's easier to gain a foothold in a country where the market is growing quickly rather than trying to take market share from others, Morel says.

Her motivation to keep doing Morgo is to showcase some of her investments, and to help more innovative companies that can go global from New Zealand.

"Our primary goal is to give a recharge to those senior executives who are dealing with these new entrepreneurial companies from New Zealand and going out to the world," she said.

"I've had that same recharge from it."

- © Fairfax NZ News