Wallonia and Ghent make Financial Times’ exclusive shortlist

Wallonia and Ghent have made the Financial Times’ European Cities and Regions of the Future 2014/2015 list, the paper’s biennial shortlist of cities and regions holding high prospects for investment in the coming years. The Walloon region was placed 16th among the top European regions, while Ghent was number 20 on the list of top European cities.

Leading the top 25 cities in Europe was London, followed by Helsinki and Eindhoven.  British cities generally dominated the top 25 with eight mentions. Ghent, meanwhile, was the only Belgian city on the list of 25 European Cities of the Future.

In the rankings for top European regions, Germany’s Nordhein-Westfalen was crowned number one, having moved up six places since the previous edition. Scotland and Copenhagen earned second and thirdplace, respectively.

In addition to the overall rankings, the Financial Times’ shortlist includes a series of side categories in which even more Belgian cities appear. Brussels faired extremely well, applauded as a top major European city in terms of economic potential (third), human capital and lifestyle (first), infrastructure (sixth) and business friendliness (eighth).

Among the mid-sized cities, Antwerp received high rankings for business friendliness (third) and infrastructure (seventh). In top smaller cities, Mechelen won recognition for infrastructure (third), economic potential and business friendliness (10th).

As for the regions, Flanders placed thirdamong major regions for infrastructure. The Brussels-Capital Region, meanwhile, got a nod for its economic potential (ninth), business friendliness (third) and human capital and lifestyle (eighth).

The shortlist was based on independently collected data concerning salaries, GDP, infrastructure, education, job creation and price inflation for 468 locations, both cities and regions.

Photo courtesy of Flickr/saigneurdeguerre & Tom Roeleveld