EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - European Cities and Regions of the Future 2008/2009

European Cities and Regions of the Future 2008/2009

Introduction

Every year fDi (Foreign Direct Investment) publishes the results of their special benchmark for European regions and cities. Cities and regions were evaluated on the basis of 75 indicators of locations’ attractiveness for investment and potential for economic development. In this year's Cities & Regions of the Future Report, London is the top city, followed by Paris and Berlin. Scotland is the leading region, followed by Flanders and Northern Ireland.

Description

The cities and regions researched for the 2008 report were judged on their performance in the following fields:

human resources;
economic potential;
business friendliness;
quality of life;
infrastructure;
foreign direct investment.

The United Kingdom seems to be the most successful, with London being the top European city and Scotland the top European region.

Methodology

During the summer of 2007, fDi magazine sent questionnaires to more than 1000 cities and regions across Europe. They were asked to tell fDi about inward investment and plans for economic development. Cities and regions provided information in five main areas. They were asked to describe their economic potential, including recent GDP growth, government economic initiatives and priorities. They also provided information on inward investment, including the volume and number of inward investments made in the past two years, the most significant investments made in 2007 (including the level of investment and number of jobs created) and the most significant investments of 2006.

Respondents also told fDi about their promotional strategy for attracting inward investment, including recent initiatives, incentives and regulatory changes introduced in the past two years. Cities and regions were asked to give details of current and recently completed major infrastructure and urban planning projects, including projected costs.
They were also asked to complete a tie-breaker question in which they outlined their unique selling point for investors. Answers to all these questions were put before a panel of independent judges.

On the basis of the judgement of this panel, a top 50 of European cities and a top 25 of European regions were formed.

Conclusions

Top 10 European cities:

1. London
2. Paris
3. Berlin
4. Copenhagen
5. Amsterdam
6. Edinburgh
7. Cardiff
8. Frankfurt am Main
9. Brussels
10. Manchester

Top 10 European regions:

1. Scotland, United Kingdom
2. Flanders, Belgium
3. Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
4. Kent, United Kingdom
5. Wallonia, Belgium
6. Isle of Man, United Kingdom
7. Southern Poland, Poland
8. Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands
9. East-Netherlands, The Netherlands
10. Western France, France

Contact info

fDi (Foreign Direct Investment)
London
Brian Caplen (Editor-in-chief), tel. +44 (0) 20 7775 6364

Publication date

/03/2008

Researcher

fDi, Foreign Direct Investment

Links

For more information, please visit the fDi website

Download the executive summary of the fDi benchmark results (PDF, Eng, 545 kB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment

Keywords

Urban economy