Benchmarking. Paris, the second most attractive business city in Europe

London and Paris remain the most attractive business cities, according to the 20th edition of the European Cities Monitor, published by international commercial real estate brokers and consultants Cushman & Wakefield. Paris continues to be attractive, but the economic crisis has allowed London to retain its edge.In the eyes of international investors, Paris is in second place when judged on the four main location factors: market accessibility, qualified staff, quality of telecommunications and external transport links.

"Quality of life for employees" remains a major advantage for Paris, which is in 7th place, well ahead of London and Frankfurt, ranked 11th and 24th respectively.The survey revealed that Paris is considered by senior managers to be the top destination for potential expansion into Western Europe and is ranked 4th after Moscow and Bucharest if they are interested in all of Europe. Paris has edged closer to London in terms of easy access to markets and transport infrastructure quality.

Survey method: European Cities Monitor analyses the opinion of senior managers of the 500 largest European corporations regarding the attractiveness of the major European cities and factors relating to their choice of future business location. The study compares 34 major European cities and analyses 12 key factors in choice of location.

©Philippe Guignard

European Cities Monitor 2009

Find more information about Paris Region attractiveness on Econovista, the free economic map of Paris Region

Business. Orly International, a unique concept in France

Orly International is a unique concept in France.
Located in the middle of Orly Airport, this hosting centre, which opened in December 2006, is a joint initiative of Paris Airports, the General Councils of Essonne and Val-de-Marne, and Paris Region.

At the heart of the French market, at the crossroads of economic activity, Orly International brings together efficiency and flexibility, offering international and local businesses an operational work base that responds perfectly to current and future customer needs:

- ready-to-use business areas,
- a team of experts to assist you,
- dynamic support services,
- support from major players in economic development,
- a burgeoning network of businesses,
- direct connections to Paris,
- the services of a major international airport.


Orly International offers businesses a fully equipped office, meeting rooms, telephone answering service and personal assistance for €1,500 per month.


Visit the Orly International website

Discover Orly International on Econovista.com, the Paris Region economic map

Higher Education. Seven prestigious graduate schools around Saclay (Essonne)

The Plateau de Saclay is set to become a sort of French Silicon Valley with the highest concentration of researchers in France (soon to reach 20% versus 10% today).

From 2012, 670 registered students and lecture attendees at the engineering school ENSTA ParisTech will move to a 20,000 m² campus.
This will be followed by the Paris Graduate School of Economics, Statistics and Finance (ENSAE ParisTech) at the start of the 2013 school year, and École Centrale, Institut Télécom, AgroParisTech and École Normale Supérieure de Cachan by 2015. Part of the University of Orsay ("Paris Sud 11") should also be moving in over the next 10 to 15 years. HEC-INRA, CEA-CEN, CNRS, Supelec and Polytechnique are already established on the campus.


Discover more about higher education in Paris Region on Econovista interactive map

Discover more about Saclay on Econovista.com

Tourism / Hostels. Paris increases its hotel capacity

Paris City Council has pledged to increase the number of available hotel rooms by 7,000 between now and 2020. To this end, it brought together some 20 heads of hotel groups (Accor, Louvre Hôtels, Best Western, etc.) to show them city-owned land that could be used to build new hotels. Although the city currently has 1,500 hotels (75,000 rooms), there is a need for budget hotels and two or three hotels with conference facilities.
In addition, since January France has been allowed to award the new “Five Star” label to some of its hotels in order to compete internationally in a market greatly affected by the current economic crisis. Paris now has eight hotels with a five-star rating: Fouquet's Barrière, Hyatt Regency Paris Madeleine, Le Square, Renaissance Paris Vendôme, Le Meurice, Ritz Paris, Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme and Marriott Champs-Elysées.

Visit Paris Region on Econovista's, interactive map of Paris Region's economy

Innovation. Paris Region supports innovation

Paris Region stakeholders have set up two organisations to help develop innovation in the region:
- The Paris Region Centre for Innovation (Centre Francilien de l'Innovation) was established at the end of 2008 by Paris Region, the French government and the French Agency for Innovation (OSEO Innovation). Its goal is to encourage, promote, develop and support technologically innovative projects from local SMEs, research laboratories and, in some cases, individuals.
- Paris Region Innovation Laboratory (Laboratoire Paris Région Innovation) was founded by the City of Paris and Paris Region as part of a policy to support innovative businesses. The goal of this association is to "help Paris Region businesses and laboratories gain access to public facilities to test their innovations under real-life conditions."
The Laboratory seeks to make the Paris region available for trying out innovative products and to promote the image of Paris as an innovative city. It will be organising events such as the City of Paris Innovation Awards (Grands Prix de l'Innovation).

Find more information on Econovista, the free economic map of Paris Region

Fortune 500 companies - Paris Region is one of the world’s leading economic centres

Paris Region (or Ile de France) is one of the world’s leading economic centres. Many companies across an extremely wide range of sectors locate their global or European head offices here.
Paris Region is Europe’s no.1 location of choice – and the world’s no.2, after Tokyo – for the 500 leading global businesses: ahead of London, New York and Chicago (source: Fortune magazine). The Fortune 500 is a list of the top 500 global businesses ranked by their revenues, published annually by Fortune magazine.

Visit Econovista for a database of Fortune 500 companies present in Paris Region.

©Philippe Guignard

How to use Econovista Paris Region map? The new Econovista user guide is available now!

Econovista^® is an interactive economic map to help you discover the wealth of opportunities Paris Region (or Ile de France) has to offer. It is available free of charge on the internet.

Econovista^®offers a host of functions to help you pinpoint key information on Paris Region’s economy and potential locations for your business.Econovista.com includes 11 themed maps, allowing you to explore Paris Region’s rich potential. Each map displays a different aspect of the region – from transport infrastructures to sectors of excellence, and including leisure facilities and the region’s competitiveness clusters (Cap Digital Paris Region / Digital content; ASTech Paris Region / Aeronautics, Space & Defence, etc.).

How to use Econovista Paris Region map? The new updated version of the Econovista user guide is available now, providing an overview of the map’s key functions and instructions to help you get to grips with this interactive resource or refine your use of it. The guide has been re-worked and streamlined, showing you how to identify valuable information on the map, share your map, export data, etc.
You can consult the new Econovista user guide online

Or obtain a hard copy/PDF version by contacting :

Econovista@paris-region.com

Explore selected aspects of the region’s economy on Econovista, the interactive economic map of Paris Region

Paris Region Innovation Tour. A day to boost clusters

The Paris Region Innovation Tour – PRIT 2009 – coming up on 30 November 2009 at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris, is a day to boost Clusters in Europe, to share R&D projects, to discover the innovations underway by participating Paris area and international clusters.

The Innovation Factory will showcase the technological excellence of the Paris area with many illustrations of what collaborative R&D can achieve.

The seven clusters organizing the event will be highlighting their joint research projects in four major fields : the City and Sustainable Environment, Mobility & Transport, NICT and the Digital City, and Healthcare. Tangible results from collaborative R&D projects that will change the way we live tomorrow

Find more information about Paris Region clusters on Econovista, the economic map of Paris Region