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With great economic potential and business friendliness, Stockholm has been ranked as Europe's best region in terms of its prospects for attracting inward investment and achieving economic development and business expansion.

The Greater Stockholm region overtook the South East UK to become the top region in the Financial Times' biennual European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/2013 report, conducted by its fDi Intelligence Unit.

"This is great news and proves that the Stockholm region is seen as strong and competitive", said the Mayor of Stockholm, Sten Nordin, who received a prize at the award ceremony at the property trade show MIPIM in Cannes in early March.

The region was considered to have among the best strategies for attracting foreign direct investments and placed second in the sub-category of business friendliness and third in economic potential. It was also overall winner for quality of life

The city of Stockholm came in at number ten in the overall city rankings, scoring high in most sub-categories; infrastructure, economic potential, human recourses and business friendliness.

London has maintained its title as fDi’s European City of the Future, having claimed the top spot in the previous two rankings. The UK capital was followed by Paris in second place and Vienna in third.

In a more competitive climate than ever, total foreign direct investment in Europe fell by more than 7 percent in 2011, the report said.

European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/2013 report took into account information on 253 European cities and 110 European regions.

Top 10 European regions of the future

1. Greater Stockholm
2.South-East UK
3. Copenhagen
4.Ile de France
5. Scotland

6. Prague
7. Nordrhein-Westfalen
8. Noord-Holland
9. Greater Dublin
10. Thames Valley

Source: European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/2013, fDi Intelligence Unit

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This article was published in collaboration with Stockholm Business Region.

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