State Secretary Alexander Pröll’s Visit to the USA
Ambassador Schneebauer with State Secretary Pröll and David Weller at the Google Headquarters in Washington
From January 5-8, 2026, State Secretary Alexander Pröll led an Austrian delegation to the United States with visits to Washington, DC, CES 2026 in Las Vegas and to San Francisco, placing a strong emphasis on innovation, emerging technologies, and transatlantic exchange.
During his time in Washington, State Secretary Pröll and Ambassador Petra Schneebauer met with Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ellen Germain at the Department of State to discuss the importance of Holocaust education and combatting antisemitism. Additonally, he and Ambassador Schneebauer met with and Amy Ritualo, the Chief Date and AI Officer at the Department of State, and visited Google Headquarters for a meeting with David Weller, Senior Director of Emerging Tech, Competitiveness, and Sustainability Policy, for more about the latest developments in digitalization, AI and date management.
At CES in Las Vegas, the delegation, accompanied by Ambassador Schneebauer, engaged with global technology leaders and Austrian companies active in fields such as autonomous mobility, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and digital infrastructure. Highlights included high-level discussions, keynote sessions by industry leaders, and hands-on exposure to next-generation mobility solutions.
Following his participation at CES 2026, State Secretary Alexander Pröll visited San Francisco for a high-level delegation program focused on autonomous mobility, emerging technologies, and digitalization, especially in the public sector. The visit was coordinated by OPEN AUSTRIA, under the leadership of Co-Director Isabella Tomás, with Co-Director Michael Dobersberger and OPEN AUSTRIA team-member Silke English. State Secretary Pröll was accompanied by a distinguished Austrian delegation, including Christoph Neumayer, Secretary General of the Federation of Austrian Industries, Harald Kräuter, CTO of ORF, Alexander Windbichler, CEO of Anexia, and Michael Zettel, CEO of Accenture Austria.
The program began with an autonomous vehicle ride through San Francisco with Zoox, offering a first-hand experience of cutting-edge mobility technologies currently being developed in Silicon Valley. At a breakfast briefing on the Silicon Valley Startup ecosystem at EY, hosted by fellow Austrian Herwig Felber, the delegation heard insights from Patricia Bubner, founder of Orbillion Bio, recently acquired by Fork & Good, as well as Thomas Enzendorfer, serial entrepreneur in solar and energy storage. An overview of the GoUSA Silicon Valley accelerator program for Austrian startups was presented by Jeff Wallace and Michael Dobersberger, highlighting opportunities for Austrian companies entering the U.S. market.
The visit continued at Salesforce, where meetings with Manuela Mohr-Zydek, Salesforce Austria representative, and San Francisco–based Rob Lamb, Senior Director at Salesforce Innovation Center, and Kendall Collins, CEO of GovCloud, explored how global innovation and global impact can collaborate with public entities. Autonomous mobility was again a key theme during a visit to Waymo. Hosted by Nathalie Teer, the delegation toured the Waymo depot, met fleet maintenance teams, and gained insights into operations, charging infrastructure, and ambitious growth plans.
At Netflix, Christoph Kofler guided the delegation through the campus. Discussions with Vice Presidents Elmar Nubbemeyer and Ritwik Kumar addressed the intersection of creativity, technology, and storytelling at scale. The official program concluded with a networking evening at the House of AI, connecting State Secretary Pröll with members of the OPEN AUSTRIA community of successful founders and tech leaders.
On their second day in Silicon Valley, the delegation visited NVIDIA’s headquarters. The visit was hosted by the head of Global AI Nations, Shilpa Kolhatkar, Rupali Deshpande and Michael P. Unger, responsible for the DACH-region, and included briefings on NVIDIA’s public sector engagement and demonstrations across its technology portfolio. With new insights and strengthened connections across Silicon Valley’s innovation ecosystem, the delegation departed for Los Angeles as a last stop in their U.S. program.
Photos: BKA/Alexander Zillbauer
