Saxony’s cost advantage helped it push ahead of the pack. Judges were also impressed by its economic potential, infrastructure projects and recent FDI deals. The region registered 77 investment projects from German and foreign companies in 2003, creating more than 3800 jobs with an investment sum of about €850m.

Some examples are Japan’s Hitachi Automotive Products Europe, Canada’s Linamar Corp and Italy’s Magnetto Automotive Deutschland. These projects include HafenCity, a €6bn-€7bn new inner-city quarter on a former port site; a €1.3bn extension to the Airbus site; the €400m extension of Hamburg Airport; the €640m Altenwerder Container Terminal; and Europapassage, a €430m shopping mall.