The US-A-Biz Awards, or “WirtschaftsOskars,” are awarded every year to recognize outstanding achievements by Austrian companies in the highly competitive U.S. market. This year’s winners, picked by a jury together with the Austrian Trade Commission in Los Angeles are Mostly AI, Wintersteiger, Miba, KTM, Pankl Racing and arx anima.
Group photo with all the winners, nominees and presenters of the 2020 US-A-Biz Awards on February 7, 2020, in Los Angeles
The 10th US-A-Biz Awards ceremony was held on February 7, 2020, at the Red Bull Headquarters in Santa Monica, CA. Twenty-six innovative companies competed in six categories over the reputable business trophy. Many representatives of the Austrian companies flew in for the ceremony from Austria or from their U.S. offices.
The category Startup was won by Mostly AI Solutions MP GmbH, Vienna - this company has been recognized as the "Most Innovative Start-up" in the "Enterprise 2.0" program of the world's largest accelerators, Plug and Play. Mostly AI masters the challenges of big data, artificial intelligence and privacy protection. The data they obtain are strictly anonymized yet remain valuable at the same time. This Austrian knowhow is particularly useful for banks, insurance companies and health organizations and is being used by Microsoft as well.
From left: Walter Koren (Austrian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles), Tobias Hahn (COO, Mostly AI), Gerhard Apfelthaler (Dean of the School of Management at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks)
The category Investment was won by Miba Aktiengesellschaft, Laakirchen, Upper Austria - The U.S. is the reason for the incredible growth surge of the Upper Austrian car supplier Miba AG. In 2019, three production plants in Texas, Nebraska and Wisconsin - acquired from the John Crane Group - were successfully integrated into the Miba Group and Miba now has eight locations in the U.S. Austrian Know-How, Made in USA.
From left: Walter Koren Walter Koren (Austrian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles),
Wolfgang Litzlbauer (Deputy CEO of Miba AG), Finmeccanica Professor Fritz Prinz (School of Engineering at Stanford University)
The category Market Footprint was won by Wintersteiger AG, Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria - This full service equipment supplier for winter sports rentals and service shops based in Ried / Innkreis is the world market leader and also a top name in the United States with a market share of over 60 percent. Leading ski resorts in North America such as Aspen, Vail, Park City, Whistler Mountain, and Heavenly Valley increasingly swear by the Wintersteiger service. Wintersteiger also prepared the racing skis for Lindsey Vonn or Mikaela Shiffrin, as well as for the entire U.S. ski team and always got them perfectly ready for the racing season.
From left: Werner Wynn (Managing Director, Amag USA), Walter Koren (Austrian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles), Fritz Hoeckner (President, Wintersteiger USA), Austrian businessman and former professional alpine skier Klaus Heidegger, Daniel Pokerschnig (Jerich USA Terminal Manager), Andreas Furthmayr (VP Program & Sales FACC), Kathleen McLaughlin (VP Marketing & Product Management, Novomatic)
The category Innovation was won by KTM AG, Mattighofen, Upper Austria - Europe's largest motorcycle manufacturer has just launched two groundbreaking innovative products - the first of their kind in these sports - on the U.S. market. The first is the next generation freeride electric motorcycle, which is equipped with industry-leading technology. The second is a mini electric bike, which will drastically reduce the hurdles for starting motorcycle racing. This is simply a game changer.
From left: Walter Koren (Austrian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles), John Hintz (CEO, KTM Group North America), American street freestyler and stunt riding champion Aaron Colton
The category Trendsetter was won by Pankl Racing Systems AG, Kapfenberg, Styria - The world market leader Pankl in the field of engine and drive components in racing is strongly represented in Formula 1, Formula E, as well as in NASCAR and IRL. The recently founded Additive Manufacturing Competence Center has now reached a new level. Thanks to the 58 percent lighter and flow-optimized titanium exhaust system, a Porsche set a speed record of 365 km/h. A high-tech Pankl intake allows Porsche 991 turbos to reach 1200 HP (horsepower).
From left: Walter Koren (Austrian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles), Stefan Seidel (CTO, Pankl Racing Systems AG), Sonya Zierhut (Business Development, Pankl Racing Systems AG)
The category Spectacular was won by arx anima animation studio GmbH, Vienna - arx anima produced the series Talking Tom and Friends, which became a No. 1 hit in the U.S. Talking Tom is now very popular on YouTube Kids and is the number one series for the target group of 6-11 year olds with almost 10.4 million subscribers. The protagonist, tomcat "Tom" gets his voice from Colin Hanks, while the clumsy dog "Hank" is voiced by Tom Kenny. Netflix also streams the Talking Tom series and now offers it in several languages. An Austrian eagle in the Hollywood lion’s den.
From left: Kris Staber (CEO, Arx Anima), Sonja Fink (PR manager, JK Design), Austrian-American attorney Patrick Knapp Schwarzenegger
And in the very special category Majestic was won by Red Bull North America, also picked up an award. For over 30 years Red Bull has been giving wings to customers in 170 countries worldwide and sold 2.7 billion cans in 2019 alone. Also, Red Bull Media House in Santa Monica inspires more and more enthusiastic fans every day with extraordinary and fascinating stories from sports, culture and lifestyle. Red Bull is Austria's top exporter to the U.S.
From left: Walter Koren (Austrian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles), Marc Rosenmayr (CFO Red Bull America), Angelika Ahrens (Austrian reporter and host of the 2020 US-A-Biz Awards)
All photos by David Auner (c) AussenwirtschaftsCenter Los Angeles (Advantage Austria)
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