Kent - Region of the future
Kent has been named as one of the top 25 European Regions of the Future 2008/9 in a bi-annual shortlist compiled by fDi magazine, published by the Financial Times.
The county was ranked fourth in the 25 top regions, and is the top English location to be recognised. As well as achieving fourth place out of all regions overall when taking all of the criteria into account, Kent was credited for coming 10th out of all 250 cities and regions in the ‘most business friendly' category.
fDi magazine sent questionnaires to more than 1,000 European cities and regions during the summer of 2007. The county's entry, submitted by Kent and Medway's investment promotion agency Locate in Kent, was marked by a panel of independent judges against seven different criteria; best economic potential, most business friendly, quality of life, human resources, cost effectiveness, infrastructure and most attractive for foreign direct investment.
Cllr Alex King, Deputy Leader of Kent County Council is due to accept the award on behalf of the county at a gala event on 12 March at the world's premier real estate summit, MIPIM in Cannes.
Paul Wookey, Chief Executive of Locate in Kent said: "Kent's proposition for overseas businesses really speaks for itself - we have assisted companies from the US, Germany, France, The Netherlands, South Africa and Ireland create in excess of 1,000 new jobs in the county just this year - a considerable increase on last year."
Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council said: "Kent is perfectly positioned between the markets of London and Paris - the locations awarded first and second place in the award category ‘top 50 best European cities', but benefits from lower property and operating costs. It now has two international train stations, and coupled with the fact that journeys to Lille take only 1h10, Paris is just over two hours away and with journeys to London set to take only 17 minutes from 2009, Kent is firmly fixed on the European business map."
For more information about European Cities & Regions of the Future 2008/9, visit http://www.fdimagazine.com/
