This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Scotland scoops prestigious business award
31/10/2004
Scotland is one of the best places to do business in
Europe, according to a competition run by the Financial
Times group.
The 'European Region of the Future' accolade from fDi
(foreign direct investment) magazine highlights Scottish
strengths across a range of areas, including investment
promotion, higher education, transport, and support for
technology and innovation.
In the category awards, Scotland also picked up the
regional 'Best FDI Promotion Strategy' and Dundee won the
equivalent award for a city.
Deputy First Minister and Enterprise Minister Jim
Wallace said:
"This is a great achievement for Scotland. As I have
been saying to companies in the US over the last week, this
is a great place to work, to live and to do business.
"We have an excellent business environment and a support
framework which works for Scottish firms and for inward
investors.
"Our workforce is skilled and well-educated, higher
education participation is at a rate other countries envy,
and major investments have been made in the transport and
electronic infrastructure.
"And in sectors like life sciences, microelectronics,
energy, financial services and the creative industries,
Scotland is simply world-class.
"There is never a question of us resting on our laurels,
but these awards recognise that we are getting a lot of
things right. I want to offer particular thanks to Scottish
Development International for their work at home and abroad
- they played a big part in this success."
Speaking about the award to Dundee, Mr Wallace said:
"I congratulate Dundee City Council and the Locate
Dundee team. Earlier this week in Seattle I was playing my
part in promoting the many benefits of Dundee during
discussions with the senior management of Microsoft and
they were very interested.
"The city has moved a long way from 'jute, jam and
journalism' and is now more associated with cutting-edge
cancer research and computer games technology. The award
shows that Dundee's work to put itself on the global
investment map is paying off."
This year's European Cities and Regions of the Future
awards were in three rounds, with around 140 entries judged
against 33 individual criteria.
Scotland first had to compete against other UK regions,
then in the Northern Europe competition.
In the final round, Scotland was up against Hungary,
Saxony, the Canary Islands, and Krasnodar Krai (Russia).
Barcelona won the European City of the Future award.
fDi magazine, part of the Financial Times group, is
published on a bi-monthly basis to a global audience of
over 45,000 corporate investors and their location
advisors.