John Donnelly, Chief Executive, Marketing Edinburgh
Measure it against any key indicator, from visitor numbers and international investment to employment rates and entrepreneurial start-ups, Edinburgh’s performance is strong. It is a city that consistently punches above its weight as one of the best places in the world to live, work, invest, study and visit.
From finance and life sciences to the creative industries and tech hubs, Edinburgh is a unique, authentic and high performing city, established as a resilient and successful city for business. A bustling hub of innovation, Edinburgh not only attracts talent and investment from the UK and abroad, it’s home to an engaged industry that nurtures and recruits from the city’s diverse and talented student population. The result being a highly skilled workforce where over 55 per cent of its residents are educated to a degree level or above.
That Edinburgh ranked high in PWC report on key elements such as work-life balance, is also no surprise. This is a city where 94 per cent of its residents rated the Capital as a good place to stay in its Edinburgh People Survey. Unquestionably beautiful, easily walkable, offering more green spaces per head than any other city in the UK, this is a safe, multi-cultural environment, steeped in history and heritage. From its festivals and award-winning restaurants, to the ease of access it offers to the rest of Scotland and over 130 global destinations from Edinburgh Airport, this is an exciting and connected city that constantly inspires the people who live and work here.
Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement. In global terms, Edinburgh is a relatively small city, but that is changing. On track to be Scotland’s largest city by 2025, with an expanding population and rising visitor numbers, we need to take new approaches and develop the right infrastructure to ensure that growth is managed and sustainable.
For Edinburgh to continue to succeed, building and maintaining an open and engaged dialogue with residents and businesses about what they would like to change and improve in their city is vital. It is the core objective of the ongoing 2050 Edinburgh City Vision consultation, which is giving people the opportunity to genuinely shape the future Edinburgh that will emerge over the next 30 years. I’d encourage everyone to get involved with the 2050 City Vision and make their opinion really count.
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