COPENHAGEN AWARDED BEST REGION BY FINANCIAL TIMES

According to Financial Times, the Capital Region of Copenhagen is the best of Europe's smaller regions and Copenhagen Capacity has the best strategy on how to promote the capital in the future. The awards are awarded based on the extensive analysis "European Cities and Regions of the Future" conducted by Financial Times and prizes have just been handed out to cities and regions at the MIPIM Exhibition in Cannes, a world leading trade fair on investments in cities, regions and real estate.

223 cities from 142 regions of Europe were included in the analysis, each of which was measured on the parameters: economic potential, business friendliness, level of costs, investment promotion strategy, quality of life and infrastructure. Besides the two above mentioned awards, Copenhagen was also given top-five rankings in the categories quality of life and business friendliness. 99 cities also participated in the separate competition on best strategy.

- It is obviously a big credit to both the Capital Region and Copenhagen Capacity that we, as a region and a city, in competition with the rest of Europe, is viewed to have great future prospects. The awards signal that we, so far, have prioritised correctly and that our strategies have worked well, but we must also be very aware that there is room for improvement, and that the competition for foreign firms, investments and talent is fierce, Managing Director of Copenhagen Capacity, Steen Donner explains.

- These years, the region is characterised by a number of exciting projects, all of which help to raise our expectations for the future, including the subway construction, the Fehmern connection,  ESS in Lund (and Copenhagen), the North Habour project, the continued expansion of Ørestaden and many more projects, all of which give evidence to a developing region. In addition, the sectors of Cleantech, ICT and Life Science are predicted to show great potential for growth in the future, says Steen Donner

- Our strategy for the region over the next years, as the Financial Times gave us an award for, is thus highly focused on facilitation and promotion of the region's three most powerful economic clusters in close collaboration with both municipalities and the industry. Furthermore, we will broaden our international network considerably, and the goal is a significant increase in the number of jobs created in the region, Steen Donner explains.

Last year, The World Bank named Copenhagen Capacity the world's best regional investment promotion organisation. To stay ahead, as well as develop both the organisation and learn from others, Copenhagen Capacity has established the European City Promotion Council, ECPC. Here, 11 of Europe's largest cities have joined forces in a network to exchange experiences and share knowledge.

- We lacked a smaller forum for regional investment promotion organisations, in which were more able to discuss trends, common issues, opportunities for development and learn from each other. In the battle for businesses and investments, we are competitors, but we are also colleagues. We all face the same challenges, such as attracting talent for example, and we can all benefit from knowledge sharing, best practice models and common benchmark tests, Steen Donner says about the initiative.

The network's first meeting will be held in Copenhagen in June and apart from Copenhagen Capacity, organisations from Stockholm, London, Manchester, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon, Zurich and Madrid will also participate.