Work on satellite projects progresses in this clean room at Austrian Aerospace. The subsidiary of Saab Ericsson Space of Sweden is developing a navigation signal generator unit for the European Space Agency.

Austria is promoting itself as a nexus of space exploration innovation in hopes of attracting foreign investment from high-tech firms. Led by Austrian subsidiaries of multinational firms such as Magna, Siemens and Saab Ericsson as well as a cross section of local companies, the Austrian industry is making significant contributions to a number of international projects. These include NASA's Lisa mission and the Rosetta and Galileo projects sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA), which has awarded Austria with contracts valued at several hundred million euros.
        Austrian Aerospace, the largest national provider of satellite equipment that is owned by Saab Ericsson Space of Sweden, is developing a navigation signal generator unit. It is one of several Austrian technologies in use in ESA's Galileo project, which will launch up to 30 satellites to establish a GPS system for global navigation by 2008.

Availability of qualified staff has become the single most important factor for companies deciding where to locate, according to European Cities Monitor, an annual survey by international real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker.
        Overall, the survey indicates London is the "best city to locate a business today," followed by Paris and Frankfurt. Milan moves into the top 10 for the first time, with Prague and Dusseldorf each moving up four spots. Manchester fell five spots.
        "Once again, Europe's top companies have nominated London as the best city in which to locate a business," says David Hutchings, head of the firm's European Research Group. "But our survey clearly shows London's position will be harmed in the medium term if the U.K. fails to drop the pound and switch to the euro." Hutchings adds that Central Europe is the key target of future expansion of European companies.
        The survey is based on interviews with senior managers or board directors with responsibility for location of 506 top European companies. Its results correspond closely with those found in the 2002 Ernst & Young European Investment Monitor, analyzed in the November 2002 issue of Site Selection.

Bridgestone plans to spend US$136 billion to build a plant in Chonburi, Thailand, to produce radial tires for trucks and buses. The new plant will begin operation during the second half of 2004 and will have a daily production capacity of 2,500 tires. It will export to the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and other Southeast Asian countries.
        Bridgestone already operates tire plants in Thailand's Rangsit and Nong Khae districts. The company says advantages of placing a plant in Thailand include readily available raw materials and labor.

Ireland and its largest city, Dublin, rank at the top or near the top of several recent lists and surveys.
        Ireland heads the list of the 2003 A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine Globalization Index for the second consecutive year. The index cites "the strength of Ireland's portfolio capital flows" and its continued investment in high-tech industries. Switzerland ranks second, also for the second year in a row.

Associated Packaging Technologies, a supplier of plastic food trays to the frozen food industry, is expanding its plant in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland to 95,000 sq. ft. (8,800 sq. m.). The plant employs 50 and may grow to 90 in the future.

        Jones Lang LaSalle and its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, peg Dublin as a "World Winning City" over the past decade, along with Dubai and Las Vegas. The study examined 100 major metro areas worldwide and applied measures of economic growth, dynamic real estate activity and strong real estate performance. The three have common features which promote growth, the study says, including:
        • All are smaller metros of less than 2 million people.
        • Attractive business environments, light regulation and favorable tax environments for business.
        • Strong inward migration and a successful record of attracting skilled and educated labor.
        Also of note in Ireland is that the government has designated Dundal, Sligo, Letterkenny, Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar as new urban areas or "gateways" to be developed to attract jobs, infrastructure and population.

China's furniture industry, growing steadily for more than 20 years, recently surpassed Italy as the world's largest furniture exporter with more than 16 percent of the global market, according to Furniture Today.
        The country exported an estimated US$10.23 billion in furniture between 1994 and 2001, with the U.S. and Canada being the largest importers of Chinese-made furniture.
        The China National Furniture Association reports that China's furniture industry was worth $16.9 billion in 2001. Varying estimates place the number of furniture manufacturers in China at 30,000 to 50,000 with as many as 5 million workers. Between January and June 2002, furniture exports were up 58 percent in value versus the same period in 2001.
        Hoping to build on expectations of the industry's continued growth, Shenzhen, China, is constructing a 19.4-million-sq. ft. (1.8-million-sq.-m. ) industrial and research park dedicated to the furniture industry. To be built in two stages, the park's eventual employment could peak at more than 20,000.
        The value of furniture exported from Shenzhen alone was $800 million in 2000, accounting for one fourth of China's total furniture export value. As of May 2002, there were more than 1,200 furniture enterprises there, employing some 150,000 workers. The wood furniture industry in particular was helped early in 2002 by an influx of timber from Russia.
        The China Economic Information Network reports the nature of the country's furniture industry is changing, with an emphasis on developing name brands and strengthening management.

OpTIC Technium is just one arm of the Welsh regional incubator strategy. Others focus on the media, biotech, digital and automotive sectors.

The Welsh Development Agency (WDA) plans to develop a national business incubation and research facility dedicated to the growth of the opto-electronics industry. OpTIC Technium (Optronics Technology & Incubation Centre) is an 82,000-sq.-ft. (7,600-sq.-m.), US$21 million facility that will include 24 incubator units, a state-of-the-art clean room and a technology center where researchers from industry and academia can coordinate efforts to develop new products and processes. The facility will be in the center of an existing cluster of opto-electronics companies in St. Asaph, North Wales, and will be operational by this fall.