Austria Connect North America 2020

AUSTRIA CONNECT NORTH AMERICA 2020

13th Annual Conference

December 3rd, 2020

www.advantageaustria.org/us

Welcome to the first virtual AUSTRIA CONNECT NORTH AMERICA, the largest conference for U.S.

Newcomers and Executives of Austrian Subsidiaries in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

AUSTRIA CONNECT NORTH AMERICA 2020 DECISIONS 2020 – WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

At the beginning of 2020, we expected a year full of challenges and changes; a year marked by an intensive election in the U.S.; yet another year of exciting business delegations, trend-setting conferences and crowded trade fairs. No one could have predicted how our daily lives, our work environment would change, and that phrases like “flatten the curve” or “social distancing” would make it into our everyday Michael Friedl, New York conversations. Despite the impact of the Covid-19 on people’s lives in the U.S. and globally, the expected recession on the North American continent and all the challenges businesses have to face, Austrian companies and organizations have continued to express a lot of interest in North America as a market and a destination for investment. Especially with

Peter Sedlmayer, USMCA in force since July 2020, together with my colleagues in the U.S., Canada and Chicago Mexico, we want to again provide a platform to help Austrian companies, that are first- time explorers, understand the North American market and at the same time facilitate an exchange between our long-standing Austrian subsidiaries here. Therefore, we are happy to welcome you the 13th AUSTRIA CONNECT North America. While this year we will not have the chance to see each other in-person, this will

Walter Koren, hopefully not prevent us from getting together digitally on December 3rd, 2020. Los Angeles The title of this year is „Decisions 2020 – What will the Future hold?”. When we started planning the program right after last year’s conference, we wanted to host all of you in the Nation’s capital Washington DC and discuss the impact of the elections and possible changes afterwards. Now we are looking at a new set of “decisions” and skills that are necessary to move forward such as how to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship in

Irene Lack-Hageneder your business and enhance security in times of completely changing work Washington, D.C. environments, new urban realities and entirely unexpected ways to communicate with each other. Our speakers this year will help us understand and cope with the current challenges and changes. We might learn how the arrival (and hopefully soon extinction) of a pandemic impacts our perspectives and how our decision-making processes may be Christian Lassnig, Toronto adapted to these challenges, be they in societal, economic or technological terms.

I am looking forward to seeing you virtually very soon!

Michael Friedl

Nella Hengstler, Austrian Trade Commissioner in New York Mexico City

Last edit: 30.11.2020

PROGRAM (TIMES IN CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME)

PART 1 FAST TRACK USA 2020 FOR NEW EXPORTERS AND INVESTORS

CET 13:45 ADMISSION TO THE PLATFORM EST 07:45

13:50 – 14:00 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO THE CONFERENCE PLATFORM  Daniel ZAWARCZYNSKI | Deputy Trade Commissioner in New York

14:00 – 14:05 WELCOME STATEMENT BY AUSTRIAN FEDERAL ECONOMIC CHAMBER  Michael OTTER | Head of AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT AUSTRIA

14:05 – 14:10 WELCOME STATEMENT BY U.S. EMBASSY IN VIENNA  Julia RAUNER GUERRERO | United States Commercial Counsellor to Austria, U.S. Embassy Austria

14:30 – 15:30 PANEL: DOING BUSINESS IN THE USA

Moderation: Anton EMSENHUBER | Deputy Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles

 Tycho STAHL | Partner, Arnall Golden Gregory

 Horst LIEBL | President, TaxPoint, Inc.  Christian ZELLER | Managing Partner, Maney | Gordon | Zeller, P.A.

 Gregor VOGRIN | Managing Partner, Syngroup Management Consulting, LLC Q & A at the end of the panel

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15:30 – 16:30 FOCUS: STATE OF THE INDUSTRY – AND HOW TO INVEST

Moderation: Peter SEDLMAYER | Austrian Trade Commissioner in Chicago

 Reshoring and its Impact on the U.S. Economy Harry MOSER | Founder and President, the Reshoring Initiative

 The current state of the U.S. automotive industry – Opportunities in the

supply chain

Bernard SWIECKI | Director, Automotive Communities Partnership (ACP),

Center for Automotive Research

 Investing in the USA Sergio DOMINGUES | President, Council of American States in Europe Q & A at the end of the panel

16:30 – 17:00 NETWORKING AND SPONSOR EXPO BREAK Arrange 1-on-1 video calls or join the spontaneous Speed-Networking to meet new people. Visit the partner booths to meet the experts and talk logistics, legal, finance and more.

17:00 – 18:00 PANEL: THE FUTURE OF SILICON VALLEY Moderation: Georg FÜRLINGER | Head at OPEN AUSTRIA San Francisco  Sean RANDOLPH | Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute  Rick RASMUSSEN | Industry Fellow, UC Berkeley  Stefan LEDERER | Founder and CEO, Bitmovin Q & A at the end of the panel

18:00 – 18:40 BEST PRACTICE ROUNDTABLE: INSIGHTS FROM AUSTRIAN MANAGERS IN NORTH AMERICA Moderation: Nella HENGSTLER | Austrian Trade Commissioner in Mexico  Gerald JOBST | CFO, EGGER Wood Products, USA

 Stefan POLLMANN | Managing Director, Pollmann de Mexico  Aleksandar STANOJEVIC | Vice President Operations, STARLIM North American Corporation, Canada

Q & A at the end of the panel

18:40 – 19:00 NETWORKING AND SPONSOR EXPO Arrange 1-on-1 video calls or join the spontaneous Speed-Networking to meet new people. Visit the partner booths to meet the experts and talk logistics, legal, finance and more.

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PART 2 AUSTRIA CONNECT NORTH AMERICA DECISIONS 2020 – WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

EST 13:00 – 13:06 INTRODUCTION AND OPENING OF AUSTRIA CONNECT NORTH AMERICA “PART 2”

CET 19:00 – 19:06  Michael FRIEDL | Austrian Trade Commissioner in New York City

EST 13:06 – 13:10 OPENING STATEMENT BY THE AUSTRIAN FEDERAL ECONOMIC CHAMBER CET 19:06 – 19:10  Harald MAHRER | President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber

EST 13:10 – 13:14 OPENING STATEMENT BY THE US EMBASSY IN VIENNA

CET 19:10 – 19:14  Trevor TRAINA | United States Ambassador to the Republic of Austria

EST 13:14 – 13:18 OPENING STATEMENT BY THE AUSTRIAN EMBASSY CET 19:14 – 19:18  Martin WEISS | Austrian Ambassador to the United States

EST 13:18 – 13:20 WELCOMING REMARKS

CET 19:18 – 19:20  Margarete SCHRAMBÖCK | Austrian Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs

EST 13:20 – 13:50 NORTH AMERICAN ECONOMIC OUTLOOK CET 19:20 – 19:50 Moderation: Michael FRIEDL | Austrian Trade Commissioner in New York City

 William REINSCH | Scholl Chair and Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Q & A at the end of the keynote

EST 13:50 – 14:30 U.S. POLITICAL ANALYSIS AND IMPLICATION FOR NORTH AMERICA | FIRESIDE CHAT CET 19:50 – 20:30 Moderation: Irene LACK-HAGENEDER | Austrian Trade Commissioner in Washington  Hannelore VEIT | Chief, Washington D.C. Bureau - Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF

 Daniel HAMILTON | Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Professor, John Hopkins University  Ambassador Arturo SARUKHÁN | Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. (2007-2013) and President, Sarukhan + Associates LLC

Q & A at the end of the session

EST 14:30 – 15:00 DISRUPTION HAS EVOLVED BUT INNOVATION HASN’T

CET 20:30 – 21:00 Moderation: Daniel ZAWARCZYNSKI | Deputy Trade Commissioner in New York  Greg LARKIN | Best-selling Author and Founder, Punks & Pinstripes Q & A at the end of the session

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EST 15:00 – 15:30 CYBER CONFLICTS AND THE EXPANSION OF THE GRAY ZONE

CET 21:00 – 21:30 Moderation: Daniel ZAWARCZYNSKI | Deputy Trade Commissioner in New York  David LASHWAY | Partner and Global Co-Chair Cybersecurity, Baker McKenzie Q & A at the end of the session

EST 15:30 – 16:00 WHERE TO FOR THE U.S. HEALTH CARE REFORM

CET 21:30 – 22:00 Moderation: Daniel MÖRTL | Technology Officer, Austrian Trade Commission New York  Jonathan GRUBER | Ford Professor of Economics, MIT Department of Economics Q & A at the end of the session

EST 16:00 – 16:40 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT – NECESSARY SKILLS AND THE FUTURE OF WORK CET 22:00 – 22:40 Moderation: Daniel ZAWARCZYNSKI | Deputy Trade Commissioner in New York  Sean NESS | Director Business Development, Institute for the Future (IFTF) Q & A at the end of the session

EST 16:40 – 16:50 WRAP-UP OF THE AUSTRIA CONNECT 2020 AND OPENING OF THE NETWORKING

CET 22:40 – 22:50  Michael FRIEDL | Austrian Trade Commissioner in New York City

EST 16:50 – 18:00 NETWORKING AND EXPO CET 22:50 – 24:00 Arrange 1-on-1 video calls or join the spontaneous Speed-Networking to meet new people. Visit the partner booths to meet the experts and talk logistics, legal, finance and more.

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SPEAKERS – AUSTRIA CONNECT NORTH AMERICA 2020

Sergio Domingues President, Council of American States in Europe Linkedin | http://www.invest-in-usa.org/

Jonathan Gruber Ford Professor of Economics, MIT Department of Economics Profile

Daniel Hamilton Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Professor, John Hopkins University Linkedin

Gerald Jobst CFO, EGGER Wood Products, USA Website

Greg Larkin Best-selling Author and Founder, Punks & Pinstripes Linkedin

David Lashway Partner and Global Co-Chair Cybersecurity, Baker McKenzie Linkedin | Website

Stefan Lederer Founder and CEO, Bitmovin Linkedin | Website

Horst Liebl President, TaxPoint, Inc. Linkedin

Harald Mahrer President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Website

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Harry Moser Founder and President, the Reshoring Initiative Linkedin | Website

Sean Ness Director Business Development, Institute for the Future (IFTF) Linkedin | Website

Michael Otter Head of AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT AUSTRIA Linkedin | Website

Stefan Pollmann Managing Director, Pollmann de Mexico Linkedin | Website

Sean Randolph Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute Linkedin | Website

Rick Rasmussen Industry Fellow, UC Berkeley Linkedin

Julia Rauner Guerrero United States Commercial Counsellor to Austria, U.S. Embassy in Austria Linkedin | Website

William Reinsch Scholl Chair and Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies Linkedin | Website

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhán Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. (2007-2013); President, Sarukhan + Associates LLC Linkedin | Website

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Margarete Schramböck Austrian Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs

Tycho Stahl Partner, Arnall Golden Gregory Linkedin | Website

Aleksandar Stanojevic Vice President Operations, STARLIM North American Corporation, Canada Linkedin | Website

Bernard Swiecki Director, Automotive Communities Partnership (ACP), Center for Automotive Research Linkedin | Website

Trevor Traina United States Ambassador to the Republic of Austria Website

Hannlore Veit Chief, Washington D.C. Bureau - Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF Linkedin

Gregor Vogrin Managing Partner, Syngroup Management Consulting, LLC Linkedin | Website

Martin Weiss Austrian Ambassador to the United States of America Website

Christian Zeller Managing Partner, Maney | Gordon | Zeller, P.A. Linkedin | Website

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SPONSORS – AUSTRIA CONNECT NORTH AMERICA 2020

WE THANK OUR SPONSORS FOR THEIR CONTINUOUS SUPPORT

Last edit: 30.11.2020