Dear Readers,

A recent study commissioned by the Austrian Trade Commission reveals current trends toward building ‘green’ in the U.S., providing interesting opportunities for Austrian companies. We are pleased to present an interview with the author of the study, Nabih Tahan, who describes some of the concepts and advantages of green building, and the differences in the industry between Austria and the U.S.

Seefried Industrial Properties, founded by Austrian Ferdinand Seefried, has gained recognition as one of the leading industrial warehouse development companies in the United States. In an interview with Austrian Information Ferdinand Seefried explains the development and growth of his company and the development of Austrian businesses in Georgia and the Southeast. 

For the first time Austria hosted the World Diversity Leadership Summit with more than 230 experts who exchanged views on future strategies to promote a positive interaction within Europe’s diverse cultural population. The initiator and organizer of this year’s Summit in Vienna, Beatrice Achaleke, is the founding president of the Black European Women’s Council and has been working for years to promote ethnic diversity in Europe. 

Austrian fashion designer Emil Gampe, creator of the exclusive collection, “EMILcouture,” won the inaugural season of Bravo’s reality competition series on the American TV show, “Launch My Line.” In an interview he highlights experiences regarding the fashion industry in Austria and the U.S. 

Other topics of this issue include Austrian Christoph Waltz’s Oscar Award for Best Supporting Actor in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” and an obituary of Austrian architect Raimund Abraham, who is best known for having designed the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. 

Yours sincerely, 
Wolfgang Renezeder
Editor-in-Chief

Austrian Businesses in Georgia

As the capital and as an international city with a prime location in the Southeastern United States, Atlanta remains an attractive site for Austrian firms wishing to establish their business headquarters or subsidiaries in North America. Because of its strength in the number of Austrian businesses represented, the Austrian Trade Commission selected Atlanta as one of its major locations, assisting Austrian investors with entry into the U.S. market.

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Seefried Industrial Properties

Austrian Industrial Warehouse Developer in the Southeastern United States

Since the mid-twentieth century, major industries have been relocating to industrial parks located on once open farmlands far from the urban core. To accommodate the needs of these industries, large-scale warehouse facilities have been designed and built to serve as storage-, logistic- or distribution centers of manufactured products.

Founded in 1984 by native Austrian Ferdinand Seefried, Seefried Industrial Properties, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia, has gained recognition as one of the leading industrial warehouse development companies in the United States.  Seefried Properties enjoys significant development and operational relationships with several of the largest Industrial Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT’s) in the United States.

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Austrian Company ANDRITZ to Build North America's Largest Wood Pelleting Plant

The international technology group ANDRITZ, an Austrian company headquartered in Graz (Styria), will build a bio-energy production plant in Waycross, Georgia funded by the German RWE Innogy Group. The wood pellets will be used in European power plants as a low pollution substitute for coal. The wood pelleting plant will become the largest of its kind in North America.

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Austrian Technology in Building Energy Efficient Homes in the U.S.

Opportunities for Austrian Companies
An Interview with Nabih Tahan

A recent study commissioned by the Austrian Trade Commission reveals current trends toward building ‘green’ in the U.S. These trends provide interesting opportunities for Austrian companies to offer their expertise and services and build partnerships with U.S. companies.

The author of the study, California architect Nabih Tahan, has spent many years in Austria learning the ‘science’ behind producing ‘green’ buildings and is an advocate of using European technology in constructing energy efficient homes in the U.S. Since the early 1990s environmentally-friendly construction has been a topic of interest in the U.S.

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Austrian Fashion Designer Emil Gampe Wins TV Reality Competition

Austrian fashion designer Emil Gampe, creator of the exclusive collection, “EMILcouture,” is the winning design expert of the inaugural season of Bravo’s reality competition series on the American TV show, “Launch My Line,” on February 3, 2010.

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First World Diversity Leadership Summit in Vienna

Viennese Woman Fighting for Empowering  Black Women in Europe

Austria hosted the World Diversity Leadership Summit in March for the first time. Under the auspices of Austrian Vice Chancellor Josef Pröll, it was held in the Ministry of Finance with more than 230 experts from the economic and political sectors as well as think tanks and academic institutions attending.

Two thirds of the experts came from abroad and exchanged views on future strategies to promote a positive interaction within Europe’s diverse cultural, demographically changing population. Some 76 leading international speakers participated, including summit founder Douglas C. Freeman, Minister for Social Affairs Rudolf Hundstorfer, U.S. Ambassador to Austria William C. Eacho, as well as the CEOs of prominent Austrian companies. 

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Oscar for Austrian Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor

Christoph WaltzThe accolades for Austrian cinema culminated in Christoph Waltz’s Oscar selection as Best Supporting Actor at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010. Mr. Waltz joined the ranks of Austrians trained as professional stage actors and actresses who played some of Hollywood’s finest film roles, from Maximillian Schell (“Judgment at Nuremberg”) to Luise Reiner (“The Great Ziegfield,” “The Good Earth”) among others.

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Raimund Abraham (1933 – 2010)

Native born Austrian architect Raimund Abraham, who designed the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, acclaimed as one of the most notable New York buildings in decades, died on March 4, 2010.

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Susi Schneider (1943 – 2009)

Susi Schneider, foreign correspondent and blogger covering news in the U.S. for the Austrian daily newspaper, Der Standard, passed away on November 06, 2009 in Salzburg at the age of sixty-six. She was a native of Vienna but went on to live forty years in the U.S., observing the political landscape of eight presidents – from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush. Claiming herself to be a „political junkie,"
she worked twenty of the forty years as a journalist, initially for the Arbeiter- Zeitung (AZ) and then as a correspondent for the newspaper, Der Standard.

In the late 1980s she traveled through the United States along with an exhibition entitled, „The Jewish Vienna," revealing to Americans a very different aspect of life in Austria. She joined the ranks of bloggers in May of 2007, increasingly attracting internet visitors to her blogs until shortly before the time of her death.