The frontier between high-technology and the real world is abolished. Try to analyze the exposure, and you’ll notice that it has penetrated your experience almost completely. Most likely, you start and end the day with a smartphone. Your gadget is cloud-based and internet-dependent, linking you to the high-tech universe. This artificial universe was built in the famous dusty startup “garages” of Silicon Valley. As the story goes, Apple, Google, and Amazon were founded in such suburban garages, located somewhere in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Frederick Terman, a Stanford University Professor, was the one who had the idea to create a region of innovation, encouraging his students to establish their own electronics companies. The myth of the garage serves as a symbol of brilliance and passion. “Stay hungry, stay foolish”...remember Steve Job’s advice? However, in the last decades, the humble dusty place has evolved into an organism with immense power. The specifics of tech-power is yet difficult to determine because it’s escaping the traditional frame of nation-states. No one can estimate the potential of these companies. Though, if we are to estimate it financially, the revenue of Google for 2020 is (!) 146.9 billion US dollars.
For comparison, state budget revenues for 2021 of Moldova (3.37 billion), Romania (90 billion), and Ukraine (47.66 billion) make, in total, 141.03 billion US dollars. Therefore, it might be rational and prudent to think of a way of speaking to these companies on a high level. Actually, it already happens. Have you ever heard of tech diplomacy? Neither have I (until recently). Thus, I’m glad to present Mr. Martin Rauchbauer, the first Austrian tech ambassador in Silicon Valley!
Dear Martin, thank you for accepting to reveal more about tech-diplomacy to our public. First of all, let’s define the terms. So, what is tech diplomacy?
As you already pointed out, new technologies are pervading all areas of our lives. This often-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ comprises the impact of artificial intelligence and automation on the future of jobs, big data on the protection of personal information, and social media on democratic institutions and elections. These changes have a significant impact on geopolitics, human rights, and much more. Tech diplomacy is, hereby, the attempt of having a dialogue between nation-states and tech companies that includes stakeholders from civil society, academia, and the arts, refocusing the conversation on ‘citizens’ rather than ‘consumers’.
Before tech-diplomacy, you were a Deputy Director of the Business Support Service and Head of the UNESCO unit at the Austrian Foreign Ministry in Vienna.
Therefore, you can compare traditional diplomacy with tech diplomacy. Which are the principal differences?
The core purposes of diplomacy, including representation, information, communication, and negotiation, have remained more or less the same over the course of history. Diplomacy is an instrument of nation-states that look after the interests of their citizens in the global arena. What has changed is that new players have emerged. Tech-diplomacy recognizes the increasing role global tech companies play in shaping our world which means that we need to engage with these entities in unprecedented ways.
Besides, what conditions led to the emergence of the institution of tech-diplomacy?
Generally speaking, the digital transformation you described earlier has accelerated the development towards a world in which geographic borders of nation-states no longer limit the public and private lives of citizens. Tech companies’ global and pervasive scale of operation makes it difficult for legislators to confine and regulate tech to protect citizens. For individual national governments to attain a deeper understanding of and relationship with these companies, a new form of diplomacy is needed for this conversation to take place.
Most likely, high-tech businesses perceive tech-diplomacy as an abusive tool of state intervention, designed to expand its control. How would you address this skepticism and what does tech-diplomacy bring for high-tech businesses?
From my experience, this has not been the case. As tech diplomats, we often find a very welcoming and open reception among companies. Most entrepreneurs appreciate the opportunity to have an open discussion on new legislative processes and policies. Global companies have always strived for this kind of direct interaction with nation-states, and love to partake in the brainstorming and decision-making process of policymaking.
Austria is a developed country that quickly realized the need of facing the future with new strategies. Are there other countries that have already adopted tech-diplomacy? And what would you recommend to the external affairs department of developing countries? Is there any chance or use for them to join such a community?
As the first country to do so, Denmark appointed a tech ambassador in 2017, with Austria following only shortly thereafter. Other countries like the UK, France, and others have appointed tech diplomats as well, although sometimes under different brands. So, even though we are among the very first to have an official tech ambassador, other countries are jumping on board. I believe that developing countries need to interact with tech companies even more than developed countries, as new technologies hold the keys for them to develop and bridge the digital gap. So we would welcome to closely work together with tech diplomats from developing countries, in particular on global issues such as technological solutions for climate change or global pandemics, cyber security, or the international protection of digital human rights.
It seems that this new institution signals deep social changes. You are in the epicenter of technological development, so it’s really interesting to know how you see the future organization of political affairs.
One of the things that I have become aware of in Silicon Valley is the deep connection of some of the big digital platforms with the future, or I might even suggest, the survival of our democracy. Social media are crucial in ensuring fundamental human rights such as freedom of speech, but also the freedom from harassment, discrimination, and hate, particularly for marginalized groups and minorities. Ultimately we need to ensure that technology helps us to unite and rally behind important political projects, rather than divide and polarize us. We also need to ensure that rogue actors, or even authoritarian governments, do not endanger the integrity of our democratic elections. At the moment we are debating in many countries how to shape the framework for digital platforms so that harms and risks are taken care of. In terms of how to better organize our political affairs, I would argue in favor of putting a lot of resources into our governments to equip them better for the ongoing digital transformation. Otherwise, they will be even less prepared for the changes to come.
Could you name the biggest challenge for you, as a tech ambassador, and for tech diplomacy in general?
For me personally, the fact that there are very few blueprints to rely on. Sometimes I have the feeling that my team and I have to invent tech diplomacy for my country on the go. On a more general note, it is not always easy to approach tech companies and their representatives. Tech executives are also not always sure how to approach us. In the long run, I believe that tech-diplomacy will not only become a normal reality, but also an immense opportunity for both governments and tech companies.
We, as humans, are highly scared of the unknown. Thus, I’d really appreciate it if you could give us a piece of advice on how to approach these changes. What is the proper attitude?
Be open - as a government, as an organization, as an individual. Be open to conversation, to collaboration, and to seeing things as not being so clear-cut as you might think. We are only at the very beginning of understanding how the areas of tech and policy overlap, but if we effectively want to do so and find collective ways of dealing with the implications of this digital era on foreign policy, we need to be able to break out of our silos and have an open conversation with others.
MAIB 
