Richardson Contact: Colby Walton
972-580-0662 x23
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Richardson Ranks Third in the Americas for Attractiveness for
Inbound Foreign Investment
fDi Magazine’s “American Cities of the Future” Ranking Validates City’s
Focus on International Business; Richardson Ranks Third Among Cities its Size
and is Only North Texas City in Top 10 in Any Size Category
RICHARDSON, Texas – April 15, 2013 – The City of Richardson was recently ranked third overall in the
Americas, in its size category, in fDi
Magazine’s bi-annual “American Cities of the Future” list, which evaluates
cities for their attractiveness for inbound foreign direct investment (FDI).
Richardson’s overall ranking in the “micro city” classification, population
100,000 or less, puts it behind only Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and
Greenville, South Carolina, among cities in North, Central and South America.
Richardson was the only Texas city making the top 10 in its size category and
was the only North Texas city making the top 10 in any category.
In addition to its
high overall ranking, Richardson also finished in the top 10 among micro cities
in four related FDI subcategories: fifth for Human Resources, ninth in Economic
Potential, ninth in FDI Strategy and 10th in Infrastructure.
“Richardson
is proud to have earned this distinguished honor, in recognition of our
impressive achievements in creating a favorable climate for international
business investment,” said Richardson Mayor Bob Townsend. “We have already
strategically attracted globally recognized corporations to Richardson by
focusing on our access and infrastructure, talented workforce, strong
educational offerings, and the many synergies created by our long-standing
leadership in international business and technological innovation. We salute
our many community leaders whose continued efforts have contributed to this
well-earned recognition.”
Richardson’s
international business history goes back at least to the 1980’s, when U.S.
telecom markets were deregulated, and the world beat a path to Richardson’s
Telecom Corridor® area: Nortel came from Canada, Ericsson from Sweden and
Alcatel from France. Later, Japan’s Fujitsu established its telecom arm in
Richardson, as did Samsung from Korea and ZTE from China. Most recently,
Japan’s Hitachi moved a telecom unit to the city. In the IT space, Israel’s
Amdocs has a major Richardson presence due to its business relationship with
Richardson’s largest employer, AT&T. Richardson’s roster of international
companies also includes entries from Finland, the Netherlands and the United
Kingdom that are engaged in a wide array of technology businesses from
semiconductors to nanotechnology to battery technology and even air flow
systems.
Within the last
two years alone, the North American headquarters for Benning Power Electronics,
whose parent company is based in Germany, celebrated its grand opening in
Richardson, and Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, opened
a key facility in Richardson. France-based EADS is a global leader in
aerospace, defense and related services.
In 2011, the Texas
House of Representatives adopted a resolution declaring Richardson the
International Business Capital of North Texas. To further enhance its
reputation as a truly global business destination and community, in 2011 the
City of Richardson established the Mayor’s Office of International Business,
which is responsible for planning and coordinating the city’s ambitious
international business development effort. It is designed to accomplish three
key objectives: (1) attracting direct, inbound investment in Richardson by
international businesses; (2) supporting Richardson-based businesses’
international commerce activities; and (3) opening new international markets
and opportunities for Richardson businesses and innovators.
“We have consistently told the world that
Richardson is a great place to do business and live, and that we have valuable
intellectual capital to share with entrepreneurs and established businesses
from across the globe,” said Michael Skelton, vice president for international
business development for the Richardson Economic Development Partnership, and
director of the Mayor’s Office of International Business. “This honor is a
great validation of Richardson’s attractiveness for foreign business activity,
both in technology and in other vital industry sectors.”
To create the
shortlist for fDi’s American Cities of the Future 2013/14, fDi’s research team
collected data using the specialist online FDI tools fDi Benchmark and fDi
Markets, as well as other sources. Data was collected for 422 cities under five
categories: Economic Potential, Human Resources, Cost Effectiveness,
Infrastructure and Business Friendliness. A sixth category was also added this
year: FDI Strategy. In this category, 127 cities submitted details about their
current strategy for FDI promotion and this was scored by fDi’s judging panel.
Cities scored up to a maximum of 10 points under each datapoint, which was
weighted by importance to the FDI decision-making process in order to compile
both the subcategory rankings as well as the overall American Cities of the
Future 2013/14 ranking.
About the Richardson Economic Development Partnership
The Richardson
Economic Development Partnership (REDP) is a joint effort of the City of
Richardson and the Richardson Chamber of Commerce, dedicated to building a
vibrant and thriving local economy by attracting new investment and jobs
through marketing, recruitment and working with existing employers. The REDP
offers numerous services to companies considering expansion or relocation to
the Telecom Corridor® area, including broker and real estate referrals, cost of
business analyses, incentives, partner and executive introductions, relocation
assistance, site selection, tours and city information. For more information,
visit www.telecomcorridor.com.
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