President Edgars Rinkevics and Minister of Economics Viktors Valainis, accompanied by a business delegation, are visiting San Francisco from September 18 to 21. They will meet with US officials and organizations like Microsoft, NASA, Google, OpenAI, Meta, Groq, Apollo.ai, and others. The visit aims to expand the presence of Latvian technology companies in the US and attract new investment.
"We began our visit to San Francisco with a meeting at Microsoft, where we presented Latvia's vision and our companies' achievements in AI. We also discussed opportunities to strengthen our collaboration and establish an AI Center of Excellence in Latvia. I am pleased that Microsoft not only listened with interest to the presentations from Latvian companies but also expressed a strong interest in participating in creating the AI center of excellence," emphasized V. Valainis.
During the meeting, Microsoft executives introduced the Latvian delegation to their plans for AI development and integration of these services into their products. In turn, representatives of Latvian technology companies, Elgars Goba, Services Systems Department Director at LMT, and Evalds Urtans, founder of Asya and AI researcher, showcased Latvia's AI ecosystem, highlighting the progress and innovations in this field.
After the meeting with Microsoft representatives, Andis Liepins, Product and Business Development Manager at Apply, a company specializing in AI solutions, emphasized that Latvia is already globally competitive in specific AI niches. "Moreover, we have a significant advantage – we can implement our ideas much faster and more flexibly than large corporations,' said Liepins.
One of Apply's latest projects is 'Synapse,' developed in collaboration with radiologists. This solution uses computer vision to assist healthcare professionals in hospitals with faster stroke diagnosis.
On September 18, several other meetings took place simultaneously. Startups participated in an event organized by TechChill, where they met with venture capital representatives seeking investments to advance their projects. Additionally, entrepreneurs had the chance to meet members of the Latvian diaspora in San Francisco, who expressed their commitment to helping establish contacts and secure initial contracts in the US market.
Latvia's current export trade balance with the US is under €1 billion, with services comprising approximately 50 percent of the total. This contrasts significantly with Latvia's overall export structure, where goods account for around 70 percent of exports. In this trade mission, 80 percent of the participating companies are service exporters, representing data storage, IT services, financial technology, logistics, AI solutions, etc.
During the visit to San Francisco, President Edgars Rinkevics and Minister of Economics Viktors Valainis are accompanied by companies and organizations such as: Handwave; RIX Technologies AS; PrintyMed; TestDevLab; Codnity Dev; Fokker Next Gen Latvia; Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; SAF TEHNIKA; Helve; Tet; AJ Power Holding; LMT; Delta Green Line EU; BATWATEX; SWH SETS; Moon Inc; Riga Chair Factory; Orbit8; Ax Group; Asya; GRINDEKS; AD VERBUM; Goldingen G.B.; Siltumelektroprojekts; Hyper; Latgale Planning Region; KBZ; Abillio; Sehaci; Latvenergo; Risk Focus LV; RĪGAS SILTUMS; Slokenbergs PLLC; UPCODE; Latvian State Radio and Television Center; APPLYIT; JEFF; Pelegrin.
LIAA organizes the participation of high-ranking government officials in international visits within the framework of the Innovative Business Development Programme for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), co-financed by the European Union with support from the European Regional Development Fund and national funding.