Lille: France’s best entrepreneurial address

The 25^th edition of Entreprise magazine’s “Palmarès des Villes” was published this month, this year focusing on “the best towns for innovation”. This year and for the second year running, the capital of the Nord region came first for its entrepreneurial openness, selected from French cities of over 500,000 people. Lille set itself apart with its ability to create sites dedicated to industries with great future potential, where innovative new businesses benefit from infrastructures adapted to their requirements, personalised support and networking with other professionals. The methodology behind this study: 133 cities of over 70,000 people were ranked according to 19 criteria in three areas: innovation, training and economic/entrepreneurial fabric. Lille came in first in agglomerations of over 500,000 people in both the training and the economic categories.

L’Entreprise - October 2011