Utrecht region is Europe's most competitive region
The European commission has designated Utrecht as the most competitive region of Europe. This according to the recently published Regional Competitiveness Index. The ranking has been published triennially since 2010. This means that Utrecht is the region with the greatest competitive strength. Researchers compared 234 European regions on nearly 70 indicators for the business climate, such as macroeconomic stability, infrastructure facilities, quality of education, innovation and labor market. Utrecht scored the highest on both education and innovation.
The index includes indicators based on eleven themes: Institutions, Macroeconomic Stability, Infrastructure, Health, Basic Education, Higher Education, Labor Market, Market Size, Technological Readiness, Business Sophistication and Innovation. Utrecht continues to score high on the level of highly educated people as part of its labor force, innovation and market size. The study further reveals that the labor market opportunities of young people in Utrecht are very high compared to other regions and that there is a very high labor market participation of women which is related to their high level of education in Utrecht.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte: "A strong economy, good cooperation between governments and business and an attractive climate for innovative entrepreneurs: all of it is important for the future of the Netherlands and for that of Europe. The Utrecht region has shown how successful their approach is. A great result for Utrecht and therefore for the whole of the Netherlands."
Hans Oosters, the King’s commissioner of Utrecht, notes: "As the province of Utrecht, we are of course enormously proud of this. The Utrecht region is a highly attractive area; students like to live and work here for a reason. This pleasant living environment is partly due to the good cooperation between governments and our partners in the region. Regional Minister Robert Strijk of the Province of Utrecht, for example, was in Brussels together with Lidewij de Haas of Arcadis to represent the region at the announcement."
Sharon Dijksma, chairperson of the Economic Board Utrecht, says: “Our region is brimming with innovation, talent and economic strength. It is therefore no surprise that out of more than 200 economic regions in Europe, Utrecht has been named number one in terms of competitiveness. Through intensive cooperation between business, knowledge institutions and governments within the Economic Board Utrecht, we are committed to remaining number one in the years to come."
In total, nearly one-fifth of all jobs in the Utrecht region come from the health sector and over two thousand companies and one hundred startups are active therein. Fifty percent of all national research and development in medical science takes place here and twenty percent of all Dutch researchers in health and biotechnology work here. Thus, with the Utrecht Science Park, the largest science park in The Netherlands, as the heart of the health economy, there is a strong foundation for the ambitions of the Utrecht region. Additionally, 25,000 engineers work worldwide on developing a healthy and sustainable living environment and Utrecht University ranks second worldwide as a knowledge center on geo- and climate sciences.
The number one position in the RCI is an endorsement of the regional efforts to bring companies, knowledge institutions and governments together for a healthy business climate and broad prosperity for our residents. Being named Europe's most competitive region is also an incentive to further publicize Utrecht's recently launched regional positioning as Heart of Health internationally.
Source: Provincie Utrecht
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