Copenhagen – the best place in Europe to establish an e-business center
An international study conducted by the Brussels branch of PriceWaterhouse Coopers concludes that Copenhagen is the most favourable place in northern Europe to establish an e-business centre.
The study compared seven cities already viewed as prime locations for businesses such as web-based banking, procurement, logistics and service centre activities. The cities included were Amsterdam (NL), Berlin (D), Copenhagen (DK), Dublin (IRL), London (UK), Manchester (UK) and tockholm (S).
London and Copenhagen took joint first place when the scores for 35 qualitative measures such as staff availability and skills were totted up. But the Danish capital took a clear lead over London when the cost of labour and property were included. "No matter its high quality environment, London's competitive position is weakened due to its extremely high cost structures," the PwC study said.
Mogens Lykketoft, the Danish foreign minister, said to Financial Times that the report confirmed that Denmark was at the cutting edge of the IT revolution and well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities presented by this. "We have the strong skills including foreign languages and excellent labour flexibility. But I think the absolute most important factor is the educational quality of the workforce," he said.
One of the biggest surprises of the study was the fact that Dublin, which has attracted an extraordinarily high level of technology-related investment recently, registered the lowest score of all seven cities on quality criteria.
A breakdown of the results showed that while Dublin has advantages in terms of investment incentives, a benign corporate taxation regime and the existence of an established e-business cluster, the Irish capital’s attractiveness was reduced by poor infrastructure, work permit problems for overseas staff and inferior foreign language skills.
The main factors that contributed to Copenhagen's top rating were labour availability and flexibility, foreign language ability, easy international and regional accessibility, attractive expatriate regulations and the lowest office rental rates.
For further information, please contact Thomas Hedegaard, Invest in Denmark.
