Translated using ChatGPT service.
From September 18 to 21, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs and Minister of Economy Viktors Valainis, accompanied by a business delegation, visited San Francisco, where they met with U.S. officials and companies such as Microsoft, NASA, Google, OpenAI, Meta, Groq, and Apollo.ai. The goal of the visit was to enhance the presence of Latvian technology companies in the U.S. and attract new U.S. investments.
“We began our visit to San Francisco with a visit to Microsoft, where we presented Latvia’s vision and our companies' achievements in artificial intelligence (AI). We also discussed opportunities to strengthen our collaboration and the idea of establishing a regional AI excellence center in Latvia. I am pleased that Microsoft not only listened to the presentations of Latvian companies with interest but also expressed a willingness to participate in the creation of an AI excellence center,” emphasized V. Valainis.
During the meeting, Microsoft executives introduced the Latvian delegation to their plans in AI development and the integration of AI services into their products. In turn, Latvian technology company representatives, Elgars Goba (LMT) and Ēvalds Urtāns (Latvian AI Association, Asya), presented the Latvian AI ecosystem and their developments in the field.
After the meeting, Andris Liepiņš, product and business development manager at Apply, a company specializing in AI solutions, highlighted that Latvia is already globally competitive in certain AI niches. “Moreover, we have a key advantage—we can implement our ideas much faster and more flexibly than large corporations,” said A. Liepiņš. One of Apply’s latest projects is Sinapse, developed in collaboration with radiologists. This solution will help healthcare professionals diagnose strokes faster using computer vision.
In parallel, on September 18, several more meetings were held. Startups at the Techchill event met with venture capital representatives, seeking investments to develop their projects. Entrepreneurs also had the opportunity to meet with members of the Latvian diaspora in San Francisco, who expressed their commitment to help establish contacts and secure initial contracts in the U.S. market.
Latvia’s trade balance with the U.S. stands at just under one billion euros, with around 50% of this consisting of service exports, which contrasts with Latvia’s overall export portfolio, where about 70% comes from goods exports. In this trade mission to the U.S., 80% of participants are service exporters, representing industries such as data storage, IT services, financial technology, logistics, AI solutions, and more.
Accompanying President Rinkēvičs and Minister Valainis in San Francisco were companies and organizations such as SIA Handwave, AS RIX Technologies, SIA PrintyMed, SIA TestDevLab, Codnity Dev SIA, SIA Fokker Next Gen Latvia, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, AS SAF TEHNIKA, SIA Helve, SIA Tet, SIA AJ Power Holding, SIA Latvijas Mobilais Telefons, SIA Delta Green Line EU, SIA BATWATEX, SIA SWH SETS, SIA Moon Inc, SIA Rīgas Krēslu Fabrika, SIA Orbit8, SIA Ax Group, SIA Asya, AS GRINDEKS, SIA AD VERBUM, SIA Goldingen G.B., AS Siltumelektroprojekts, SIA Hyper, Latgale Planning Region, SIA KBZ, SIA Abillio, SIA Sehaci, AS Latvenergo, SIA Risk Focus LV, AS Rīgas Siltums, Slokenbergs PLLC, SIA UPCODE, AS Latvian State Radio and Television Center, SIA APPLYIT, SIA JEFF, and SIA Pelegrin.
The participation in these high-level visits abroad, organized by LIAA, is supported by the European Union co-financed Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Program, funded by the European Regional Development Fund and state resources.