Bradford has been awarded a major accolade after being ranked 6th best small European city for inward investment in the official listings of European Cities and Regions of the Future by the Financial Times group.
It was also ranked 40th in the top 50 ‘European Cities of the Future’ alongside world-class cities such as London, Barcelona, Madrid, Belfast, Hamburg, Dublin and Lille as well as cities and regions in some of "new" Europe’s hottest locations such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary and Turkey.
The double victory comes after a panel of investment and location experts from across Europe assessed the offering Bradford has for business and investors.
Over 1,000 cities and regions across Europe applied to gain a ranking in the official development index by FDi magazine and the Financial Times designed to identify locations with the best potential for economic growth and investment.
Bradford was placed 6th for having the best foreign direct investment offering in the ‘Small European Cities’ category being topped only by Edinburgh, Cardiff, Tallinn, Dundee and Cambridge.
The competing cities and regions were rated according to their economic potential, including recent GDP growth, government economic initiatives and priorities. The panel of judges from top companies across Europe also took into account 75 indicators of locations’ attractiveness for investment and potential for economic development.
Head of the Bradford district's regeneration, Coun Andrew Mallinson, said: "To be ranked the sixth best small city in Europe for inward investment is a great achievement and reflects the confidence external businesses have in the district.
"Bradford has all the right qualities for creating success - a huge amount of talent, a quality of life that attracts people from all over the world alongside an exciting £3bn regeneration programme.
"This ranking by investment experts supports the hard work underway by many people and groups in the city who are restoring confidence among the development, investment and business communities."
The final listings were compiled from regional data on economic performance, location costs, quality of life, transport, IT infrastructure, business regulation, tax and human resources to benchmark cities and regions across Europe.
Cities were rated 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.
The judges also assessed each entrants promotional strategy for attracting inward investment, including recent initiatives, incentives and regulatory changes introduced in the past two years.
fDi magazine will announce its inward investment hot lists at a special event during the 2008 MIPIM conference in Cannes in March.
Ends
The full results are:
TOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN CITIES
1 Edinburgh, UK
2 Cardiff, UK
3 Tallinn, Estonia
4 Dundee, UK
5 Cambridge, UK
6 Bradford, UK
7 Tilburg, Netherlands
8 Antwerp, Belgium
9 Oxford, UK
10 Plymouth, UK