Martin Kardos

USA to me means opportunity. You can be what you want to be, as Holly Johnson used to sing. All you need is some courage and persistence and the country and its people will help you achieve goals that in the beginning you can only dream of.

Our company was founded in the USA, so it’s our birthplace. CSI’s story is also an epitome of the opportunity described above. Our founders didn’t even imagine how successful we would become internationally. They had strong will and desire to succeed and thanks to the success in the USA were able to expand globally and very recently into Austria as well.

USA is top 3 export market for Austria, so economically good relations are very important, however, even more important are the values that both countries represent and export to the world. It’s democracy, rule of law and individual freedoms. The stronger relations between such nations the better off for the whole world.

I am a big fan of Business-Academic cooperation. This is always important locally, however, we could think how to improve this across the borders. We could have Austrian Universities connect with American Businesses and vice versa, and Amcham could play a significant role facilitating such exchanges.

You need the right leaders to take ownership, both political as well as business leaders. And you need to explain over and over why you are doing it and what it will bring to the people.

Engineering is really top level in Austria and the design and manufacturing of products can compete with anyone in the world.

Giving second chances. Failure is part of the process and if you haven’t failed you haven’t succeeded.

Austria could be more inviting to break the rules. Not to break the law, but to break the rules, so something new can be created. USA could consider the little guy somewhat better. People that have not been able to succeed, but not due to a fault of their own.

We are a fairly new member, so we have so far attended only a few events, however, the welcome and warmth of all members has been truly remarkable. It’s like a community of its own.