About the Amsterdam Area

According to the Economic Intelligence Unit’s Global Outlook Country Forecast Rankings the Netherlands is one of the best places to do business in Europe. The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, with Amsterdam as the capital of the Netherlands, is a prime location for business in Europe. Its central geographical location makes the Amsterdam Area an ideal gateway to European markets. It is strategically positioned with high-quality air, road, water, rail and telecommunications links to the rest of Europe and the world.

Participating creative cities of CreativeAmsterdam.nl: Amsterdam, Utrecht, Almere, Haarlem, Zaanstad, Amersfoort en Hilversum.

The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is stretching from the Amsterdam-Haarlemmermeer-Velsen-Zaanstad region, via Almere and the Gooi region, to Utrecht and Amersfoort. The characteristic features of the the Amsterdam Area are the metropolitan environment and the international attraction of Amsterdam for commerce and industry, as well as for tourism.

Given its strong position in the national employment market and its 30% share in the gross national product of the Netherlands, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is obviously a very important region for the country’s overall economy. The presence of Schiphol Airport, as a national Main Port and as an engine of the economy, also plays a crucial role in the region’s economic positioning. Utrecht, the centre of the national water, railway and road infrastructure, is also of essential importance to the economic functioning of the Netherlands.

The region, as a whole, also has strong innovation potential thanks to the available knowledge infrastructure (four universities, thirteen universities of professional education and an extensive number of knowledge institutes) and a highly educated working population. Some of the other strengths of the region include the presence of the high-quality cluster Media Park Hilversum, and an excellent ICT infrastructure.

International Competitive Position
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is characterized by its strong international orientation; the region is increasingly being confronted with international competition from other regions. The key competitive aspects concern business location issues such as the employment climate, the knowledge infrastructure, business locations, accessibility, the ICT infrastructure, and the home and living environment. The region’s international competitive position has come under significant pressure in recent years, whereby the most important challenge the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area will face in the coming period is the task of turning that tide.

Economic Diversity
The economy of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is expansive and rich in diversity. The rich diversity in economic activities comprises international financial service provision and head offices, transport, logistics and related knowledge-intensive services, industry, creative industry, ICT and multimedia, the life sciences and medical cluster, international tourism and the congress sector.

Quality of Life
The Netherlands is a country with an international outlook, where foreign visitors and expatriates quickly feel at home. For centuries, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area has been a ‘melting pot’, and its lively, international and cosmopolitan atmosphere explains its popularity with other nationalities; close to half the city’s residents have foreign or dual nationality.
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area caters for its large expatriate community with a variety of international schools, associations and social centres.

Three advantages of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area in detail
It is a combination of competitive advantages that makes the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area unique. Consider these:

• Amsterdam Airport Schiphol handles more than 40 million passengers and 1.4 million tonnes of cargo per year and is located only 15 minutes from the city centre. Schiphol has been favourite in the Business Traveller magazine’s annual survey for many years and has received plenty of other international accolades. Read more Schiphol and Iamsterdam.com

• The Port of Amsterdam complex handles more than 70 million tonnes of cargo per annum and houses business parks specifically for light-industrial processing, to add value before shipping products onward. Read more www.amsterdamports.nl

• AMS-IX with over 200 connected parties coming from all around the world, the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) is one of Europe’s largest independent ‘marketplaces’ for exchanging internet traffic. Read more AMS-IX and Iamsterdam.com