SelectUSA
Your first stop when considering U.S. investment, SelectUSA facilitates business investment into the United States.

• List of State Economic Development Offices and contacts
• Brief Industry overviews
• Online Reports

Department of Commerce – cost assessment tool
Assess Costs Everywhere (ACE) helps businesses assess total costs more accurately and enable informed decision-making.

U.S. Cluster mapping
This site provides useful information on industry clusters and regional business environments in the U.S. to promote economic growth and national competitiveness.

U.S. Commercial Service
The U.S. Commercial Service assists enterprises find U.S. products and services, travel to U.S. trade shows, and learn about new U.S. products.

Business USA
BusinessUSA is the U.S. government portal to strengthen America’s competitiveness in the global economy.

U.S. Economic Development Administration
EDA grants and economic development directory.

The Council of American States in Europe (C.A.S.E.)
C.A.S.E. is a great resource for European companies wanting to establish or expand business in the United States

United States Patent and Trademark Office
Agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.

Federal Interagency Investment Working Group
FIIWC coordinates activities across the many agencies that promote business investment.

BuyUSA.gov – Business Opportunities for Czech companies
Business Opportunities for Czech companies  .

Export.gov
Brings together resources from across the U.S. Government to assist American businesses in planning their international sales strategies and succeed in today’s global marketplace.  Export.gov also hosts information on the National Export Initiative.

Export Import Bank of the United States:
This is the official export credit agency of the United States.

Franchising Opportunities for Czech companies
U.S. Commercial Services (BuyUSA.gov).

National IPR Center
The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) stands at the forefront of the U.S. government’s response to global intellectual property (IP) theft.

Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)
Responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy, and overseeing negotiations with other countries.

Overseas Private Investment Corporation
The U.S. Government’s development finance institution.

U.S. Commercial Service Liaison Office for the European Union
For specific information relating to meet the EU’s 27-member market (Export.gov)

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provides support to U.S. small businesses and small –business owners across the nation through capital (loans), access to federal contracts, and counseling.

U.S. Trade and Development Agency
An independent U.S. Government foreign assistance agency that is funded by the U.S. Congress.

Once a company makes the decision to invest in the U.S., the location search progresses much like any other site selection project. International companies must identify the most important location factors for their particular businesses, and industries must analyze the differences in land prices, utility rates, tax rates, workforce, and business incentives among different U.S. locations.

Connect with economic developers across the United States
Explore the assistance offered by state and territorial economic development organizations directly at the source.

State International Development Organizations, Inc. (SIDO)
The SIDO network supports state international trade agencies – the only national organization focused exclusively on state international trade development. SIDO also provides a directory of contacts within each state’s trade or commerce office.

State Business Incentives Database
The State Business Incentives Database is a national database created in 1999 by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). With almost 2,000 programs from all U.S. states and territories, the Database gives economic developers, business development finance professionals, and economic researchers a one-stop resource for searching and comparing state incentive programs.  State-level economic development agencies pursue a variety of strategies to attract FDI, including targeted marketing and business development campaigns, generous business incentives, and old-fashioned relationship-building through trade missions, operation of permanent offices abroad, and intense networking through their existing international business communities. Following are some examples: 

South Carolina
South Carolina aggressively pursues foreign investment, and has successfully recruited many companies from overseas. The state has permanent foreign offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Munich, and representatives from the Governor’s office regularly meet with Asian and European investors.

Virginia
Virginia touts the state’s founding over 500 years ago as the very first example of FDI on the continent. According to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, “The Commonwealth of Virginia was founded as a global business venture in 1607 when English colonists landed in Jamestown, Virginia — the first permanent English settlement in North America.” Today there are more than 700 internationally owned companies located in Virginia, including Canon and Rolls-Royce. Virginia’s top five sources of FDI are Germany, France, the UK, Japan, and Canada, while the Commonwealth is making a strong play for Chinese investment.

Florida
Florida attracts international business through its seven state trade offices, and 15 international offices in 13 countries. The state also attends and exhibits at niche events, such as MEDICA and Arab Health.

Tennessee
According to the “Global Trends Report” from the IBM Institute for Business Value released in November 2014, Tennessee was ranked the number-one state for FDI job commitments in 2013. The state’s top-10 countries for FDI include Japan, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and Belgium. Tennessee touts its infrastructure and logistics base as a strong selling point for overseas companies. Tennessee operates offices in Japan and Canada to promote the state and build relationships.

California
As the world’s ninth-largest global economy, California is a magnet for foreign investment. Despite higher business costs and a lack of strong discretionary incentives programs, California offers numerous advantages for foreign investors. International business leaders seek California locations for their large consumer markets, workforce, financial and technology resources, ports, and Pacific location. According to GO-Biz, the state’s economic development agency, California is the most popular U.S. location for international companies and attracts more foreign direct investment than any other state. Top investing countries are Japan, the United Kingdom, China, and the Netherlands. Foreign affiliate employment accounts for over 700,000 jobs in California.

Ohio
The automotive industry is the top segment for FDI employment in Ohio, where Honda employs 14,000 workers. The largest numbers of jobs created by foreign companies come from Japan, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Switzerland. JobsOhio focuses its recruiting efforts on automotive, aerospace, and advanced materials, playing to the state’s historic strengths in manufacturing, as well as its strategic location within a one-day drive of 60 percent of the U.S. and Canadian populations.

American Chamber of Commerce in Czech Republic
A member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AMCHAM works to improve the business environment in the Czech Republic.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce
World’s largest business organization representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses. The Chamber is also a resource for companies to  find U.S. products and services.

World Bank Doing Business Report (USA Report)  The Doing Business project provides objective measures of  business regulations for local firms in the U.S. economy and an additional 189 world economies.

Czech Invest
Investment and Business Development agency in Czech Republic. CzechInvest also has two offices in the United States – in California and New York.

Association for Foreign Investment
A non-profit organization based in Prague, focused on support for foreign direct investment and assisting with export of investments and investment services.

The Aspen Institute Central Europe
A partner of the Aspen global network, serving as a platform for politicians and representatives of business can meet and interact.  Headquarters are in Washington DC. The Institute in Central Europe operates primarily in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C.   The commercial section helps Czech companies establish a relationships with US companies and facilitate Czech export.

• U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• SelectUSA  Events
• American Chamber of Commerce Czech Republic
• American Center Prague, Czech Republic 

For information to determine which Visa category might be appropriate for your purpose of travel to the United States, please visit https://travel.state.gov/.  Information regarding the local Visa process, can be found here.

Czech citizens and citizens of certain other countries seeking to visit the U.S. for short-term business travel may be eligible for the Visa Waiver Program/ESTA. To review the eligibility requirements, click here: (https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/).