Stockholm in the lead as investment region in Europe
Stockholm, Paris and London attract most investments in Europe and Stockholm is in the lead as an investment region in the areas of Financial Services, Business Services and Electronics.
Stockholm steps up to a leading position as one of Europe’s most attractive investment regions within three knowledge intense business sectors, Financial Services, Business Services and Electronics. Last year shows an extremely strong growth for foreign investments in Europe, reports the 9th Ernst & Young European Investment Monitor (EIM).
Expectations for the future are high, foreign investments for 2006 – 2010 are calculated to amount 1,800 billion US dollars, according to a report presented by Columbia University and The Economist Intelligence Unit. The report states that Sweden is expected to attract 22,4 billion USD, which makes Sweden the twelfth most attractive investment country in the world.
Within the area of Financial Services the Stockholm region is in shared second place with an equal number of investment projects as Paris. Not surprisingly London is in first place. Madrid and Moscow is further behind.
- This is an impressive upswing for the Stockholm region. Since previous years the investments has grown with 100 percent, says Anders Bergström, Vice President Investment Promotion Stockholm Business Region. This reflects the strength of Stockholm as the leading business centre in Scandinavia. We have accomplished what we aimed for, both in regards of marketing but most important to create a healthy environment for investments.
The EIM report also shows that there has been an explosive growth (+300 percent) in the Business Services investment since 1997. The number of projects generated by the sector has grown faster than any other between 1997 and 2005. The investment projects in this sector have doubled in Stockholm during last year and this puts Stockholm in third place after Ile-de-France/Paris and London.
- I think the reason for the strong development in this sector is partly explained by our position as home to several of the largest Scandinavian companies, such as Ericsson, Electrolux and OMX. Successful cooperation between the regional and national investment promoters has been another key factor, says Anders Bergström.
According to EIM report Stockholm share the third place with Rhone-Alpes for foreign direct investments in the Electronics sector. At first place is Ile-de-France/Paris, which attracts most projects. The Greater London region is second with only one investment project more than Stockholm. Stockholm is traditionally strong in this area as being one of the leading ICT centres in the world. The investments in this sector are for the most part made in R&D, such as the French company Dibcom’s last year investment in developing a new mobile phone TV receiver in Stockholm. The financial magazine Business Week made a close up analysis of Stockholm in August and named the town: ”a global Mecca for talent in key technologies”.
In total the foreign direct investments for all business sectors puts Stockholm as the sixth most attractive investment region in Europe. This states Stockholm’s position as a natural hot spot for investments.
- I consider the business climate better than ever before thanks to considerable work with the branding in parallel with a strong growth of the knowledge-based businesses in Stockholm. It’s easy to set up a business here, a new company can be fully functional within a few days, concludes Anders Bergström.
For more information:
The European Investment monitor (EIM) report
http://www.eyeim.com/pdf
