In 2015 Copenhagen will be northern Europe's...

The Capital Region intends to focus on creative trades as it takes up the fight with other northern European cities to attract investment

The Capital Region's Growth Forum has a vision: in 2015 Copenhagen will be northern Europe's most attractive metropolis in which to live, study, do business and visit.

No small ambition, but luring interest away from cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Stockholm requires big plans. Yesterday, the Growth Forum, a regional council body set up to drive development in the capital area, presented its strategy for achieving them.

Initially, the region will work on general themes, such as 'strengthening co-operation between education and business' and 'relying on knowledge as a parameter for competition'.

Jørgen Christiansen, Growth Forum president, recognised the competition was 'tough', and admitted that many cities have similar ambitions and more resources. But he said that the co-ordinated effort would allow the region to take advantage of its strengths: creative trades such as filmmaking, fashion and design, as well as other elements of the experience economy.

The Copenhagen area is already one of the world's ten most attractive regions for foreign investment and travellers. It generates 40 percent of the nation's GDP and attracts 85 percent of foreign investment in Denmark. And, according to Leif Beck Fallesen, editor-in-chief of business daily Børsen, its relatively high number of entrepreneurs make it a crucible for growth.

The business and economy minister, Bent Bendtsen, agreed that it would take the efforts of the region's entrepreneurs to convert goals on paper into growth.

'We need to create good conditions for entrepreneurs,' Bendtsen said.

The Copenhagen Post, 2 March 2007, Reprinted with permission.