In its 14^th year, the Texas-Europe Business Summit is the premier event for Texas businesses, entrepreneurs and economic development professionals seeking to expand their footprint in Europe. The summit provides Texas businesses, entrepreneurs, policymakers and target businesses with an overview of trade and expansion business opportunities in Europe as well as information and connections to make the most of those opportunities.

14th Annual Texas-Europe Business Summit

March 31, 2026

8:30am-4:30pm CDT

San Jacinto Residence and Events Hall

309 E 21st St., Austin, TX 78705

Registration is open for the 14^th Texas-European Union Business Summit. The summit is the Lone Star State’s premier forum for connecting Texas business, entrepreneurs, and economic development agencies with trade representatives and business partners from the nations of Europe. Europe offers Texas a market of over 740 million people with a combined economy of more than $25 trillion. The continent’s many nations encompass a wide range of markets, economic structures, and comparative advantages, making Europe as a whole one of the most dynamic and diverse commercial partners for Texas businesses.

The Texas-Europe Business Summit is not only for large businesses or those already doing business with Europe. Small and medium-sized enterprises play a critical role in Texas’ export economy. In 2023, SMEs generated 40.9% of Texas’s total exports of goods, and 92% of the more than 40,000 companies exporting from Texas were small and medium-sized businesses.

Participants for the March 31^st event will be briefed by knowledgeable experts on the business climate and opportunities within key European markets and sectors as well as hearing informative success stories from those who made them happen. Participants will also have the opportunity to interact and make connections with European trade representatives and European enterprises. Look for detailed profiles of summit sessions in this and future newsletters and check https://conferences.la.utexas.edu/texaseusummit/ for regular updates and to register for the event. 

Since the Texas-Europe Business Summit’s inception, the Center for European Studies (CES) at the University of Texas at Austin has been a key organizer, sponsor, and driving force behind the event. Appointed Director of CES in August 2024, Dr. Michael Mosser (pictured left). brings an experienced hand to both CES and the Summit. Dr. Mosser was kind enough to sit down and do a Q&A with newsletter staff.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your background: how did you come to be involved with Europe and the Center for European Studies? What do you teach?

A: I have been interested in Europe since my first study abroad experience in high school, when I spent part of a summer in Spain as part of a cultural exchange. I continued to study Europe in college and graduate school, and have been involved with Centers for European Studies at each of the institutions where I have either studied or been employed: the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Kansas, and UT-Austin.  My spouse, who is a faculty member of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, came to UT in January 2009. I taught here for a semester and then was a visiting professor for three years at Southwestern University in Georgetown, where I taught European politics and international relations. I came back to UT in the summer of 2012, as part of the expanded International Relations and Global Studies (IRG) program. I’ve been teaching European security, European environmental politics, and various government and international relations capstone courses.

Q: Tell us about your previous involvement with the Texas-Europe Business Summit. 

A: I have been involved with the Texas-Europe Business Summit from the beginning, on both the planning and public-facing sides of the event. I have had the pleasure of working with some of Texas’ most innovative thinkers in managing the practical aspects of the trans-Atlantic relationship, and consider participating in the Texas-Europe Business Summit to be one of the highlights of my year. 

Q: The Summit has been rebranded this year as the “Texas-Europe Business Summit”. Can you tell us about that? What advantages do you see stemming from expanding the Summit to include the entire European continent?

A: In reality, the rebranding is just the recognition that one of the largest economies in Europe is no longer part of the European Union, and that other countries in Europe have also been similarly excluded by something as simple as a naming convention. By changing the name of the Summit to reflect the notion that all​ of Europe is within its purview, we believe that Texas businesses can take advantage of the networking and other business opportunities presented by the entire continent, and not just those from within Member States of the European Union.

Q: Tell us about some of the accomplishments you and the Center for European Studies have achieved in the past year.

A: Despite some significant challenges, the Center for European Studies has not just persisted, but in many ways thrived in the past year. We have bolstered our programmatic collaborations with on-campus partners such as our fellow Area Studies Centers, and have continued to fund students and faculty via scholarship, fellowships, and professional development opportunities. In addition, we have continued to deepen our relationship with external partners across Texas, nationally, and internationally via campus visits, new programs that are soon to be announced, as well as student exchange opportunities. We’re galvanized by the challenges ahead of us, and look forward to making the most of our extensive network of relationships to make CES programming in 2026 and beyond even better than it has been.

Q Is there anything you are particularly excited about regarding this year’s summit, its agenda, or its guests?

A: Honestly, the entire event is worth getting excited about! Every year, the Texas-Europe Business Summit is filled with extraordinary panels and opportunities to network with some of the most forward-thinking business leaders in the state, and this year’s Summit is no exception. Crafting an agenda with trends and innovations in business practice, but not being captive to those trends, is one of our biggest but most exciting challenges, and I’m proud of the work CES and our institutional partners at the World Affairs Council have done to make this year’s Summit one of the best in years. Come see for yourself!

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games:

Friendship, Partnership, Healthy Competition

Recently, the world’s top winter athletes gathered in northern Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted across Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Competitors from more than 90 nations took part in the Games, celebrating excellence, resilience, and the spirit of international competition on snow and ice.

When the Games concluded, European countries once again dominated the medal table. The overall leader was Norway with 18 gold, 12 silver, and 11 bronze medals (41 total). The United States also finished among the world’s top performers with 12 gold, 12 silver, and 9 bronze medals (33 total). Several other European nations ranked among the world’s best as well, including Italy (10 gold, 6 silver, 14 bronze – 30 total), Netherlands (10 gold, 7 silver, 3 bronze – 20 total), Germany (8 gold, 10 silver, 8 bronze – 26 total), and France (8 gold, 9 silver, 6 bronze – 23 total).

So, in the spirit of fun, the Texas-Europe Business Summit thought we would see how the USA and top 6 medal-winning European countries stacked up against each other.

Have further questions? Please contact the Texas EU Business Summit organizers at ces@austin.utexas.edu.