Brexit Generates Business Opportunities for Amsterdam

The win of the bid for the EMA headquarter is a tremendous conquest for the Netherlands and its economy given that the agency employs 900 staff and hosts around 30,000 overseas visitors each year. As the EMA is responsible for the scientific supervision, evaluation and safety monitoring of medicines in the European Union, the arrival of its headquarter will surely draw more business in the field of medicine, life sciences and other related area towards Amsterdam since these companies would prefer having the proximity to such an important European institution.

Apart from EMA, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Mizuho and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group have also chosen to relocate their headquarters to Amsterdam as a result of Brexit.

Why Amsterdam?  

Thanks to its geographical location, Amsterdam is easily accessible. Within a 10-minute train ride from the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Schiphol), visitors can arrive at the heart of the business center. Schiphol is one of the most well connected airports in Europe offering “high frequency direct flight connections” to major international business cities, according to the ACI Europe Airport Industry Connectivity Report 2017.

The Netherlands is also a lucrative place to settle considering the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) is the world’s largest data traffic hub. Due to its function as a data hub, Amsterdam is popular amongst financial market platforms. Edwin Prinsen, Managing Director of Cisco Netherlands once shared with Invest in Holland reasons behind choosing the Netherlands as the location of its campus, “Not only is [the Netherlands] the gateway to Europe, but thanks to the country’s excellent technical infrastructure and the fact that the AMS-IX Internet hub is located here, it’s also becoming the IT Delta of Europe.”

In addition to tech, the country is also seeing the thriving of other industries, such as agri-food, chemicals, high-tech systems, creative industries, life sciences and health. Indeed, the Netherlands was ranked second in the world in 2017 when it came to attracting foreign investments according to the IBM’s Global Location Trends report.

Having a competitive fiscal climate, being Europe’s safest city according to the Economist’s Safe Cities Index 2017, together with the English proficiency of the Dutch, make Amsterdam a great location for doing businesses.