Saudi-Austrian relations are heading toward a new phase that transcends political and diplomatic cooperation into viable commercial and research partnerships, as well as executable digital projects. This shift places an increasing focus on artificial intelligence, digital government, secure and sovereign digital infrastructure, applied research, and industrial technology.
Austrian State Secretary at the Federal Chancellery for Digital Affairs, Constitution and Public Service Alexander Pröll, LL.M., told Asharq Al-Awsat that his country was seeking “to help translate the political relationship into concrete business and research partnerships”.
Pröll is in Saudi Arabia to take in the LEAP 2026 conference in Riyadh.
“Meeting directly with Saudi ministers gives us the chance to talk frankly about where our two digital agendas overlap and where we can genuinely work together,” he added.
He hoped that the relationships built this week turn into real projects over the coming months.
Saudi-Austrian relations
Pröll said: “Saudi Arabia and Austria have a long-standing and friendly relationship, and I see real momentum building specifically in the digital and technology space.”
“Both our countries are pursuing ambitious, government-led digital transformation agendas - Vision 2030 on the Saudi side, and on ours a clear push toward digital sovereignty, from our Public AI Initiative and our Chatbot ‘ida’ for the federal administration, GovGPT, to our digital identity system, ID Austria,” he went on to say.
“That gives us a genuinely shared language: both countries understand digitalization not just as a technology question, but as a question of capability, resilience and sovereignty.”
The delegation at LEAP 2026 “brings together such a broad Austrian delegation - our national research institution, our federal infrastructure and telecom regulatory bodies, and leading companies in cloud infrastructure and engineering technology - is itself a sign of how seriously we take this partnership,” he noted.
LEAP: From dialogue to projects
Commenting on LEAP, Pröll said: “It is one of the very few platforms where you can have serious conversations with governments, researchers and industry from across the world in the space of a few days.”
“My first objective is to present Austria's approach to digital sovereignty and responsible AI to an international audience - what we have built with GovGPT, our Public AI initiatives, and our push for a European approach to digital infrastructure - and to learn from what Saudi Arabia has achieved at a pace and scale that few countries can match,” he stressed.
“We have brought the heads of our national research institution, our federal real estate and infrastructure company, our telecoms and media regulator, and companies active in cloud and data infrastructure and in engineering and mobility technology. My objective is to open doors for them - to introduce them to the right Saudi counterparts, in government and in industry, and to help translate the political relationship into concrete business and research partnerships,” he said.
AI’s ‘immediate potential’
Pröll said AI is probably the area where he sees the most “immediate potential”.
“Digital government is a good example: we have built GovGPT as a tool to make our public administration more efficient and more accessible, and Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in digitizing government services at scale - there is a lot we can learn from each other on implementation, on user adoption, on what actually works,” he stated.
“On data infrastructure, Austria is investing significantly in expanding our own sovereign compute capacity, and Saudi Arabia is building some of the most ambitious digital infrastructure projects in the world. That is an area where I would like to explore how Austrian expertise - in engineering, in energy-efficient and secure infrastructure - can be part of that story,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
AI governance
Pröll raised the question of responsible and trustworthy AI. “I've argued, including at the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance, for a binding international framework for AI governance,” he said.
“I don't see that as a brake on innovation. I see trust as a precondition for AI to be adopted at scale, by citizens and by businesses,” he continued.
“I would like Saudi Arabia and Austria to be part of that conversation together, alongside our work on AI research through institutions, like our Austrian Institute of Technology,” he stressed.
Partnerships and investment
Pröll said that opportunities for Saudi and Austrian companies are not limited to exchanging expertise, but extend to joint research and development, projects, and direct investments.
“Each of the organizations travelling with me brings something specific to the table. Our national research institution works on applied AI, data infrastructure and technology research, and is a natural partner for joint R&D with Saudi research institutions and universities,” he went on to say.
“Our federal real estate company manages public infrastructure at national scale and has real expertise to offer on developing the physical infrastructure that digital and data projects need. Our telecoms and broadcasting regulator can offer a regulatory dialogue on everything from spectrum to platform governance, which becomes more important as both our digital sectors grow,” he noted.”
“We have a company specializing in cloud and data center infrastructure that is actively looking at international markets, and a global engineering technology company with deep expertise in powertrain, mobility and simulation technology that is highly relevant to Saudi Arabia's industrial diversification and mobility ambitions,” he added.
Pröll said: “My hope is that this visit is the start - that these meetings lead to concrete pilot projects, business partnerships, and where it makes sense, direct investment in both directions.”
“I see Austrian companies as reliable, high-quality partners for the technology ambitions of Vision 2030, and I hope Saudi partners will see the same potential we do.”
Beyond AI
Pröll added that technological cooperation between Austria and Saudi Arabia does not stop at artificial intelligence, pointing to significant potential in quantum technologies and quantum communications.
“Austria has a strong research base in quantum computing and quantum communication, and this is a field where early cooperation between countries can shape the next decade of technological competitiveness,” he explained.
Cybersecurity is another: as our societies digitize, protecting that infrastructure becomes as important as building it, and it's an area where regulatory and technical cooperation go hand in hand,” he revealed.
He also pointed to mobility and engineering technology, “where Austrian companies are global leaders in powertrain development, simulation and testing - directly relevant to Saudi Arabia's ambitions in advanced manufacturing and future mobility.”
Beyond LEAP
Pröll stressed that the most critical step following the Riyadh visit is to ensure that the momentum does not stall once the conference concludes.
“I would like to see this visit translate into a structured, ongoing dialogue - regular contact between our ministries and agencies, and a clear framework for cooperation that the companies and institutions in this delegation can build on,” he said.
“Concretely, I would welcome the chance to follow up with a Saudi delegation visiting Austria, so our partners can see firsthand what we have built and continue these conversations on our home ground,” he remarked.
“What matters most to me is that the relationships built this week don't stay at the level of good intentions, but turn into real projects - in research, in infrastructure, in AI governance - over the coming months,” he added.
