In this year's ranking "European Cities and Regions of the Future 2018" conducted by fDi Magazine, a subsidiary of the British business paper Financial Times, in a Europe-wide comparison of the large regions with more than four million inhabitants, NRW occupies first place in the category "Human Capital and Lifestyle" ahead of the regions South East England and Paris, as well as second places in the categories "Large Regions of the Future", "Western European Regions of the Future" and "Best For FDI Strategy".
"The excellent ranking of North Rhine-Westphalia in numerous categories once again underscores our leading role as an attractive location for foreign investors not only in Germany but also internationally. In particular, our science landscape and extremely well-trained specialists are a key factor for the economic performance of a company and create optimal conditions for successful and sustainable investments," says Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Economic Affairs Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.
One of the decisive criteria for NRW's top ranking is the density of universities, colleges and other research institutes in the state. For example, eight of the local universities are among the top 500 in Shanghai Ranking Consultancy's "Academic Ranking of World Universities". North Rhine-Westphalia also scores well with its large number of students, around 92,000 of whom come from abroad. As the most important industrial location in Germany and Europe's No. 1 energy location, NRW attracts know-how and specialists from all over the world.
In addition to its leading position in "Human Capital and Lifestyle", NRW also performs very well in other areas. In the categories "Large Regions of the Future" and "Western European Regions of the Future" NRW occupies second place behind the Paris Region. The evaluation criteria here include the number of investment projects implemented, as well as international connections and logistics. In the category "Best for FDI Strategy", North Rhine-Westphalia also came second among the large regions behind Catalonia.
"We are delighted about NRW's renewed high ranking at European level. Second place for the best FDI strategy is an excellent affirmation of the work we have done for many years," emphasizes Petra Wassner, CEO of NRW.INVEST, who will accept the award at MIPIM in Cannes. With our one-stop service for investors and our 15 foreign offices, we were again able to support a large number of successful investment and settlement projects in NRW last year."
The London-based foreign direct investment magazine, fDi Magazine, publishes annual rankings of Europe's most attractive regions and cities which were evaluated by a jury of business experts and leading editors of fDi Magazine based on quantitative and qualitative indicators. In addition to indicators in the areas of economic potential, human capital and quality of life, cost efficiency, infrastructure and business climate, the marketing and FDI acquisition strategy as well as infrastructure regional planning projects also play a role here.
About fDi Magazine
fDi Magazine is a subsidiary of Financial Times Limited, London. The bimonthly specialist magazine describes itself as a premium publication for the global economy. The aim of the magazine is to provide corporate decision-makers with up-to-the-minute data on the development of foreign direct investments worldwide. With FDi markets, the company developed the world's only real-time database for foreign direct "green field" investments. The magazine has a circulation of 15,000 copies.