To the surprise of many Reading has recently been named the fifth best ‘European City of the Future’ in a 2012/13 report by fDi Intelligence (a division of the Financial Times).
This is of course despite Reading still not currently being recognised as a City, though that could potentially change in the near future.
It puts Reading behind London, Paris, Vienna and Moscow – natural peers.
The ranking is based on a collection of FDI (“foreign direct investment”) benchmarks set under seven broader categories:
- Economic Potential;
- Cost Effectiveness;
- Human Resources;
- Quality of Life;
- Infrastructure;
- Business Friendliness; and
- FDI Promotion Strategy.
The report picked up on Reading’s success in:
- Quality of Life;
- Business Friendliness;
- Infrastructure; and
- FDI strategy.
I moved to Reading just over six years ago following a job offer. At the time I was amazed by the number of top technology companies that choose to base their EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) headquarters here.
I’ve no doubt this has been a key driver in creating a thriving economy where smaller firms start up to provide services to the local behemoths like Microsoft, Oracle and Verizon. It all works to create a virtuous circle.
I expect car drivers are a bit miffed by the infrastructure claims but the rail links with London are excellent (albeit ‘popular’) and surely can only get better with the current renovations train station renovations going on.
You can read the full report here.