Limburg Development & Investment Co (LIOF)
Key Competitive Attractions
Business Maastricht
More than 500 international companies have located their operations in Limburg. The region's prime geographical location next to Germany, highly skilled and multilingual workforce, and excellent logistics infrastructure, all play a role in its success as a sought after business location.
Key competitive attractions
- Bordering Germany means easy access to the largest business and consumer centre in Europe, the German market.
- Excellent multimodal infrastructure and connections between main ports Rotterdam/Antwerp and logistics hubs in the hinterland
- Availability of skilled, highly-educated, multilingual workforce
- Powerful knowledge base of top technology and education institutes
- Limburg means quality of life: culture, nature, hospitality, international flair.
Key Sectors:
- Life Sciences
- Chemistry
- Automotive
- European Logistics and Transport, VAL / VAS
- Food and Drink
- Contact and Shared Service Centres
Infrastructure:
- International highway connections to Belgium, Germany and France.
- Maastricht Aachen Airport with flights to many European cities.
- 4 international airports close by: Düsseldorf, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt.
- Express integrator hubs of UPS, DHL, FedEx and TNT located within 1 or 2 hours drive.
- Links to the international high speed train networks: ICE, TGV, Eurostar, Thalys.
- 130 miles from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
- One hour's drive from Brussels Airport.
- One hour's drive from Dusseldorf Airport.
Assistance and Support For New Business Investors
The Limburg regional development and investment company, LIOF, focuses on four core activities:
- Attraction of foreign investors
- Participation in innovative and potentially viable projects through venture capital
- Organising and managing the development and restructuring of business parks
- Stimulating knowledge-driven and innovative projects among SMEs.
The Foreign Investment Department offers the following services:
- Providing up-to-date facts and figures about the investment climate
- Organising fact-finding and site selection tours
- Coordinating contacts with government bodies and tax authorities
- Answering questions about grants and subsidies, HR, legal aspects, etc.
- Support with calculation of your investments
- Support to current foreign investors in Limburg when expansion or relocation is considered.
Our extended network enables us to set up contacts for you with all kinds of representatives in the financial sector, professional service industry, scientific organisations and government bodies. We are also in close contact with the offices of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, which are located all over the world.
All our services are free of charge.
Existing Business Base
Limburg, the most southern province of the Netherlands, is strategically situated in the heart of Western Europe. With 1.12 million inhabitants, Limburg accounts for 7% of the total Dutch population. Major urban regions are Maastricht, the oldest city in the Netherlands, Heerlen, Sittard-Geleen and Venlo.
Limburg borders Germany for a distance of 212 kilometres and Belgium for a distance of 140 kilometres and is strategically located between the main metropolitan areas of NW-Europe:
- London; Randstad Holland with Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht; the Flemish Diamond of Brussels, Leuven, Antwerp and Ghent, to the west
- the German Rhine-Ruhr area with Düsseldorf, Cologne, Duisburg, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund and the Frankfurt Rhine Main area to the east
- Luxembourg, Paris and Geneva to the south.
The Limburg economy has always had an industrial profile; industrialization in the Netherlands started in Maastricht in the 19th century. The late 1990s showed a rapid change towards a service-oriented economy with commercial services and health care being the main drivers. However, Limburg's industry cluster is still an important sector for employment in the region.
Because of its location close to the main European consumer markets, Limburg is the right spot for European transport and logistics. Many foreign companies have their European or EMEA distribution centres in Limburg where value added logistics and services take place. This sector is one of the most prominent in the regional economy.
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