Paris is waking up
Paris, pôle d’attractivité

The city of lights is under the spotlights

Paris and its metropolis are third among the most attractive cities for foreign investments after London and Shanghai: this is the result of a report from the audit firm KPMG and the association Paris-Île de France Capitale économique. The City of Lights and its region are doing a fat come back in the leading trio: a year before, they were ranked 7^th. Since then, 170 new businesses settled in this territory: this is a 43% increase compared to last year!

The KPMG study gives additional insight on this momentum. A critical characteristic is the location: with 18% of all foreign companies setting up, the Hauts-de-Seine region and the La Défense business hub are the most attractive areas of the metropolis. Another major characteristic is the players. American companies play a major role in this momentum: projects from overseas have doubled in 2014. They represent over a third of all investments in the region. In general, projects are in the sector of new technologies and communication.

Keeping this rank will be challenging

Paris has many advantages for foreign investors. It is located in the heart of Western Europe, and the metropolis has a good transport network. Today, it is regarded as the biggest tertiary real estate market in Europe. Strategic functions are well represented: with five research centres settled, Paris is well ahead of London, which has only two.
And the Greater Paris project is a promise of boost for the region. So why not aim for a position of leader?

To maximise the chances, the Institut d’aménagement et d’urbanisme de la région Île-de-France (Paris Region Planning and Development Agency) has created Paris Region Map: the platform allows foreign companies to access localized information about know-how, technologies and skills.

Local authorities of the metropolis are also betting on a hosting policy.  For example, in the Val-d’Oise region, local authority has been maintaining a relationship with Japan for two decades, and a cultural offer has been specifically designed for Japanese immigrants.

A pact to attract foreign capital

The good news from this KPMG study exist in a global context of the return of international investors in France: "the perception of France has changed," said Laurent Fabius in an interview for Les Échos last March. The Minister of Foreign Affairs had just found out about the report from Business France agency, declaring that an 8% increase in foreign investment decisions was predicted for 2014. This implies the maintaining or creation of 25,000 jobs.

In an interview for the Huffington Post, economist Christopher Dembik stressed the role played by the responsibility pact announced in late 2013 in the boost of attractiveness for France. For foreign companies, the project was a strong symbol. Among the actions detailed, there is the Competitiveness and Employment Tax Credit (CICE, for Crédit d’impôt compétitivité emploi): deployed in 2014, it cuts charges for companies, for a total of 20 billion Euros.