Toledo, Ohio Named "2007 North American City of the Future"
by fDi Magazine - Foreign Direct Investment

" But the challenge we must embrace is to immediately get back to work to make sure that we live up to today's honor and commit ourselves to improving our standing as a North American City of the Future." James H. Hartung President & CEO (For Press Conference Slideshow Click Here)

How did Toledo, Ohio achieve this award?

The "City of the Future" competition is held every other year in regions around the world by fDi magazine, Foreign Direct Investment, which is published by the Financial Times group.  www.fdimagazine.com

The results of the competition are based on the views of an independent panel of judges and on more than 60 criteria covering everything from cost effectiveness to human resources and infrastructure. Investment promotion agencies, economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, and local governments across the United States, Canada and Mexico provided information about their cities.

There were a record 108 nominations from cities of all sizes across North America. This created a very competitive selection process in 2007. Nominee cities were categorized by size so that cities across North America could compete against each other on a level basis:

Major: population of over 2 million
Large: 500,000 - 2 million
Small: 100,000 - 500,000
Micro: under 100,000

All nominees were scored by an independent panel on over 60 facts in the following seven areas:

1. Best economic potential
2. Most cost effective
3. Best human resources
4. Best quality of life
5. Best infrastructure
6. Most business friendly
7. Best FDI promotion

The annual search does not take into account advertising dollars.

 

(For Press Conference Slideshow Click Here)

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Below is a summary of Top 10 Overall ranking, and Top 5 ranking for the weighted selection criteria that Toledo, Ohio ranked in.

Top Ten Large Cities           1 Juarez Chihuahua Mexico 2 El Paso Texas United States 3 Columbus Ohio United States 4 Edmonton Alberta Canada 5 Charlotte North Carolina United States 6 Santiago de Queretaro Queretaro Mexico 7 Austin Texas United States 8 Philadelphia City Pennsylvania United States 9 Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas Mexico 10 Toledo Ohio United States           fDi "City of the Future" criteria     1. Economic potential 2. Cost effectiveness 3. Human resources 4. Quality of life 5. Infrastructure 6. Business friendliness 7. Development and investment promotion         Large Cities - Most Business Friendly Category         1 Toledo Ohio United States 2 Austin Texas United States 3 Orlando Florida United States 4 Columbus Ohio United States 5 Nashville Tennessee United States           fDi "Most Business Friendly" criteria     1. Basic level of corporate taxation 2. Business-related taxes at the city level 3. Business-related taxes at the state/province level 4. Property transaction tax 5. Number of out-of-state companies in the city 6. Number of out-of-state companies in the state/province 7. Number of jobs created by out of state investment in the past year 8. Mandatory employer contributions, eg welfare taxes, healthcare benefits etc. "Yes, I do feel that Toledo is business friendly.  I feel this way due to the outstanding working relationship, and cooperation, between the UAW Local 12, Chrysler Management and the City of Toledo. This successful relationship has allowed, and even encouraged, 'out of the box' non traditional thinking with the goal of future growth and stability in mind.  This cooperation lead us down the path of our overwhelming successful Supplier Park concept which is the only one of it's kind in North America and is the envy of all manufacturers today.  Without this unique cooperation, the business model would never have been realized." - Cindy Sidoti, Plant Manager - Daimler Chrysler (May 2007)

(Source: Global Direct Investment Solutions and fDi Magazine)