When global businesses need to decide on where to place their northern European head office, the question is not whether to choose Copenhagen or Malmö, but if they should choose Greater Copenhagen, Amsterdam or a completely different metropolis.
This realisation is now uniting the regions and municipalities, from Lolland in the south to Örkeljunga in the north, to work together in a historical, business policy initiative: The Greater Copenhagen & Skåne Committee.
The Greater Copenhagen & Skåne Committee opens its doors on 1 January 2016.
Chairman of the Regional Council: A very special day
“It is a very special day for me as chairman of the Öresund Committee to be a part of taking this crucial step with regard to growth and job creation in our common region,” said chairman of the Regional Council of the Capital Region of Denmark and chairman of the Öresund Committee, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen (the Social Democratic Party). She continued:
“The Öresund Committee has paved the way for this collaboration, and we are now ready for a tiger leap, bringing Skåne, Copenhagen and Zealand closer together and bringing Greater Copenhagen to the top as the international metropolis of Northern Europe.”
We need each other
Chairman of the Regional Council Skåne, Henrik Fritzon added: “Skåne, Copenhagen and Zealand need each other to be able to handle the challenges we face with regard to growth and welfare,” he said and continued:
“It is encouraging that we agree on how the organisation should be constructed. Now it is important that we start the concrete collaboration in order to strengthen our common region in relation to the work on how to deal with border barriers, more jobs and growth.”
International echo
And precisely the concrete collaboration is already well on its way. Mayor of Albertslund Steen Christiansen is also chairman of the already existing Greater Copenhagen collaboration. He is looking forward to establishing common projects across the whole metropolitan region. He explained:
“We have always known that if we were to fulfil the vision of creating a metropolitan region which is acknowledged internationally, it is vital to have a wide support system in Skåne as well as in Copenhagen and Zealand."
Steen Christensen senses an impatience to get things going within the business community. He stated:
“We are ready to start now. Now we need to focus on making international investors and businesses aware that we are the world champions of green solutions, that we have one of the finest medico industries internationally, and that it is easy to operate a business in Greater Copenhagen. And we also need to boost our own businesses, because in that way we can conquer new global markets.”
Facts
The Greater Copenhagen & Skåne Committee:
- The new committee has the support of the two regions and 46 municipalities in Eastern Denmarkast Denmark as well as Region Skåne. In Skåne, 26 municipalities have given an advance commitment to participate in the new committee.
- Malmö and Lund are supportive of a strengthened business political collaboration across the Sound and have confirmed that they will participate in concrete projects. The two municipalities are at the moment considering whether or not to become an active part of the collaboration in the committee.
- The committee is run by a board of directors with members from each side of the Sound.
- If all municipalities and regions enter into the collaboration, Greater Copenhagen will comprise 3.9 million inhabitants.
Three examples of initiatives:
- Multiple initiatives have already been taken to establish Greater Copenhagen as a centre for global investments. For example:
- A common investor portal providing foreign investors with an overview of the possibilities of investing in large construction projects in Greater Copenhagen
- One Point Entry - a common entry point that will direct foreign business delegations to exactly those businesses that are relevant for them.
- The ESS and MaxIV facilities - to large research facilities based in Lund. Data processing is accomplished by for example the Niels Bohr Institute.