European Union Office in San Francisco
Established on September 1, 2022, the European Union Office in San Francisco works to support the EU’s cooperation with the United States, namely regarding West Coast stakeholders, digital regulation, and innovation policies. View the SF Office archive, including event recaps, by clicking here. View event livestreams by clicking here.
Ode to Joy: First European Film Festival in San Francisco
On the weekend of 7–9 November 2025, the EU Office in San Francisco, together with EU Member States Consulates, Cultural Institutes, and associations, proudly presented the city’s first European Film Festival, Ode to Joy. Over 1,000 guests joined us at INNOVIT – Italian Cultural Institute, Alliance Française, and the Delancey Street Screening Room to celebrate the richness and diversity of European cinema. Nine EU Member States participated, showcasing films from France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Ireland, and Finland. The strong audience turnout and enthusiastic engagement throughout the festival highlighted the growing interest in European storytelling in the Bay Area.
Thank you to all partners, filmmakers, and contributors who made this first edition possible. We look forward to welcoming audiences again next year and continuing to strengthen the presence of European cinema in San Francisco. Learn more.
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Brussels to the Bay: Why Europe is the Next VC Frontier
On October 16, the EU Office in San Francisco hosted a vibrant Brussels to the Bay session with a stellar panel: Techleap’s Prince Constantijn van Oranje, Forgepoint Capital’s Alberto Yepez, Structure Capital’s Jilian Manus, and Drumbeat Capital’s Steven Jacobs.
The session brought together investors and policymakers to discuss transatlantic opportunities, funding gaps, and the European Innovation Council’s role in turning bold ideas into global market leaders. The weighted European Union’s strengths anchored in world-class science, strong industrial sectors, deep tech expertise, a large single market, stable and predictable legal framework, against challenges related to funding of innovation, risk-taking, regulatory fragmentation and perception of being too complex to explore and invest in. While massive public-private investments in infrastructure, AI, defense, and digital sovereignty promise to unlock new opportunities for a sustainable growth, the EU is looking for stronger transatlantic ties to build and expand its innovation ecosystem. U.S. investors are increasingly recognizing Europe as a prime region to explore, opening doors for collaboration. Learn more.
Brussels to the Bay: Building and Governing the AI Frontier
This Brussels to the Bay session organized by the EU Office in San Francisco brought together Yoshua Bengio (Mila), Rishi Bommasani (Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence), Paula Goldman (Salesforce), Pushkar Apte (SEMI), and Lauro Langosco (European Commission AI Office) to discuss how to build and govern the AI Frontier.
As AI enters a new era of explosive growth, two major forces shape its trajectory: the massive investments in infrastructure and innovation needed to build long-term technological leadership, and the governance frameworks designed to ensure safety, trust, and accountability. Both the European Union and the U.S. are making enormous investments to build up an AI infrastructure backbone and empowering start-ups, researchers, and applied innovation. Simultaneously, whether and how frontier AI models should be governed is at the forefront of today’s policy debates. Thus, this Brussels to the Bay new edition brought together perspectives from industry, policymakers, and investors to explore the opportunities and challenges of building and governing AI at scale. Learn more.
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Europe in the Park: Celebrating European Film, Culture, and Cuisine
The Golden Gate Park transformed into a European village for a day, on September 20, 2025. Thousands of visitors enjoyed an immersive outdoor experience featuring 20 countries including 18 EU Member States plus Norway and Ukraine. Willing to share and celebrate Europe’s diverse culture with the Bay Area, the festival allowed each country to highlight its cultural heritage through hands-on activities, culinary specialties, and informational displays. Among other initiatives, 11 live performances showcased European dance and music. This year newly added Europe for Science booth highlighted the remarkable education and research opportunities Europe has to offer.
Brussels to the Bay: Cybersecurity & Digital Trust
On April 30, at the margins of the RSA Conference that every year attracts over 40’000 cybersecurity experts and companies to San Francisco, the EU Office in San Francisco hosted a Brussels to the Bay panel on “Cybersecurity & Digital Trust: A European Perspective,” bringing together experts to examine how to build digital trust and enhance global cyber resilience. The discussion emphasized the importance of closer EU-U.S. cooperation, the central role of “security by design” in the European regulatory framework and the pursuit of harmonized approaches to cybersecurity across the Atlantic. The panel also addressed the complex role of AI which simultaneously amplifies the scale and sophistication of cyber threats while offering new capabilities for real-time detection and response. Learn more.
Brussels to the Bay: Protecting Minors Under the DSA
On July 22, at the margins of TrustCon that every year attracts thousands trust & safety practitioners to San Francisco, the EU Office in San Francisco in collaboration with Coimisiún na Meán (Ireland's Digital Services Act Digital Services Coordinator) organized a Brussels to the Bay’s session on “Protecting Minors under the DSA: Safety by Design, Empowerment by Default.” The discussion explored how digital design influences minors’ online engagement and safety under the EU Digital Services Act. The event highlighted both online risks and opportunities to foster minors’ protection through design features that promote privacy, security and empowerment to ensure a safer digital environment. Learn more.
About Us
The purpose of the San Francisco office:
- Explain EU policies and promote EU-U.S. understanding around technological concerns, policies, and actions
- Support transatlantic alignment and governance based on shared democratic values
- Collect inputs from local stakeholders to feed EU policymaking
The opening of the San Francisco office is a result of the 2021 EU-U.S. Summit's commitment to strengthening transatlantic technological cooperation. It is also a core part of the Conclusions on Digital Diplomacy, adopted by the EU Foreign Affairs Council in July 2021.
The San Francisco office seeks to promote EU standards and technologies, digital policies and regulations, and governance models. It also aims to strengthen cooperation with U.S. stakeholders, including advancing the work of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council. Read more about the office opening here.
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Activities
- Engage with policymakers, academia, civil society, and industry that are active in the digital and green sectors on the West Coast
- Report to EU institutions in Brussels about technological trends and policy insights developed and discussed in the United States, namely on the West Coast
- Organize and participate in outreach initiatives to clearly explain the EU's work to boost and regulate the digital economy (e.g. its "Brussels to the Bay" event series)
- Provide in-depth updates about the policymaking process of European tech regulation, as well as the vision, embedded-values, and problem statement behind them
- Facilitate the connection between EU and Bay Area stakeholders, especially regarding visits
Gerard de Graaf
Senior EU Envoy to the U.S. for Digital and Head of the EU Office in San Francisco
Senior EU Envoy for Digital and Head of the new EU Office in San Francisco, Gerard de Graaf has worked for more than 30 years in the European Commission across a wide range of policy areas. Until his recent appointment, he was director in DG CNECT, responsible for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts (DSA/DMA), two landmark pieces of legislation which have been recently adopted in the European Union to keep the Internet safe, protect fundamental rights and enhance competition in digital markets.
Previously, Gerard de Graaf was responsible, inter alia, for the EU’s telecommunications and audiovisual policy (including copyright), cyber security, ICT standardization, Startup Europe, ICT and green, and international relations. He has been co-chairing two of the Trade and Technology (TTC) Council Working Groups, on green tech, and on data governance and technology platforms. Read Gerard's full biography here.
Joanna Smolinska
Counsellor for Digital and Deputy Head of the EU Office in San Francisco
Joanna Smolinska is Counsellor for Digital and Deputy Head of the EU Office in San Francisco since September 1, 2022.
Joanna has worked for nearly 15 years in the European Commission across a wide range of policy areas. For the last six years she has worked in the Commission’s Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CONNECT) responsible for developing EU policy, research, and investments in digital technology and applications. Within CONNECT, Joanna has focused on digital and green transformation, digital services and copyright, regulation, tech standardization, digital skills, blockchain, and technology start-ups/scale-ups. She was actively involved in the development of two recent EU flagship legislative proposals the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. Previously, she worked on liberalization of regulation of professions, financial regulation, and impact assessment analysis. Read Joanna's full biography here.