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You probably have a lot of misconceptions of what Texas is all about. You probably think bolo ties, cattle, ten gallon hats and President Bush, but I’m here to tell you that in the heart of Texas in the city of Austin is a burgeoning tech and entertainment scene and come March, it will be the place to be for any hip startup looking to brush shoulders with the best.

The 16 year old South by Southwest interactive festival, or SXSW as it is referred to, is a unique event because it brings together three festivals into a week-long span. The event starts with multimedia,gaming and interactive then goes to movies and then to music. So for a tech startup that deals with entertainment, such as mobile marketing, online video, music or fashion or social networking, it is triple threat to reach your customers on all sides. You can expect to meet and hear panels from experts at Threadless, Facebook, Etsy, Zappos, Mashable, Vimeo, Spotify, Twitter, Foursquare and more.

This year Melbourne-based startup (and recent Tech23 winner) QMcodes will be providing QR codes and mobile marketing for the annual event and is working The Victorian Government with support from Film Victoria and Austrade to organize a trade mission to Austin, Texas for SXSW.

A select few Victorian-based tech and digital media business’s will be offered the chance to attend and present at the Victorian Government 2010 Trade Mission to SXSW, approved attendees will be given a place in the Victorian Government trade show booth, Platinum attendance badges to attended all events across Film, Music and Interactive for the 9 days, a Victorian Government party to mingle with representatives from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Razorfish and similar companies, attendance on a panel on doing business between Australian and the USA, partial flights and accommodation will also be covered.

IPitch will be there documenting the activities and companies in the lead up to and during the mission. To be considered for the event you MUST be a registered Victorian business. To submit your company for consideration for trade mission, please send a 100 word pitch on your company and how SXSW would be useful for it, a link to your site and confirmation of your Victoria establishment to rachel@ipitch.com.au by December 20. The entries will be judged by QMcodes and fellow Melbourne startup and trade mission organizer Portable Content.