Strasbourg is a European city of considerable international stature. It owes this status to its geographical location and its history, but also to its scientific and cultural influence. These assets have attracted numerous overseas companies. Today, Strasbourg is a city which takes on a full role in the movement towards the internationalisation of exchanges.

Its geographical location
Located on the Rhine – the confluence of the Germanic and Roman cultures – and a border city, Strasbourg enjoys a privileged geographical position :

• 75 % of the buying power of the European Union concentrated in a radius of 700 km.

Its history
Strasbourg also owes its international stature to the decision by European governments to make to the city the headquarters for a number of major European institutions: the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, the European Parliament, the European Ombudsman.

A city which symbolised the reconciliation and peace which followed the Second World War, Strasbourg today forms the framework for considerable political and diplomatic activity : 46 embassies, more than 30 consulates, a hundred internationally active NGOs

Major international bodies working in the field of scientific cooperation have chosen to base their headquarters in Strasbourg :

• the European Science Foundation
• the International Space University (ISU)
• the European Pharmacopoeia
• the international Human Frontier Science programme

These bodies support the international audience acquired by the universities of Strasbourg (20 % of the 50,000 students are from overseas and more than 100 nationalities are represented) and the research activities of the major laboratories, whether public (ISIS: Institut de Science et d'Ingéniérie Supramoléculaires; IGBMC: Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire) or private (Roche, Synthélabo Biomoléculaire, Transgène, General Motors).

The award of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1987 to Professor Jean-Marie Lehn came as a confirmation of the international reputation of the teams working in Strasbourg. Half of the research units working at the universities of Strasbourg are affiliated to a national research body (CNRS, INSERM, INRA).

Strasbourg is also influential in cultural matters. The quality and variety of its output make it a city recognised on the international stage :

• Festival MUSICA
• International contemporary art fair START
• Philharmonic orchestra
• Opéra National du Rhin
• Théâtre National de Strasbourg
• Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

The presence in Strasbourg of renowned European audiovisual organisations and companies illustrates and reinforces the city's international dimension:

• the Franco-German television company ARTE
• the European Audiovisual Observatory
• the Council of Europe's EURIMAGES programme

An internationalised economy

Attracted by the city's European status, several major international groups have chosen Strasbourg as the base for their headquarters or a subsidiary :

• General Motors
• Lilly
• Upm-Kymmene
• Bayer
• Transgène
• Synthelabo
• Octapharma
• Heineken
• Johnson Controls

Alsace is home to almost 1,000 subsidiaries of overseas companies, 53 % of which are of German origin.

Alsace is amongst the leading export regions in France in terms of value per inhabitant. Its trade balance surplus of 1.5 billion euro grows on a regular basis and doubled between 1998 and 2002.

Alsace is blessed with efficient tools in the service of internationalisation :

• its World Trade Center (first in France, created in 1979)

• Alsace International, which identifies and oversees foreign investment projects, assists Alsatian entrepreneurs in international development and promotes Alsace and its expertise worldwide . Its influence is backed up by a network of representative offices worldwide. Projected start-ups by foreign companies are managed in tandem with the local development agencies, ADIRA and CAHR.  

The presence of NICT operators and the passage through Strasbourg of major European information highways, which connect France with Germany and central Europe, make the city extremely attractive to this sector. This attractiveness is confirmed by the place Strasbourg occupies amongst cities that host international conferences : second place in France and twentieth in the world, ahead of Madrid and behind New York (source : Union of International Associations).

Strasbourg is an active member of three major networks of cities :

United Cities and Local Governments
Council of European Municipalities and Regions
Eurocities

Strasbourg maintains a voluntarist policy of relations with 37 cities in the new member states of the European Union, as well as Romania Bulgaria and Croatie, through the "Club de Strasbourg".

Strasbourg has developed twinning agreements with five cities :

• Boston (United States) since 1960
• Leicester (United Kingdom) since 1960
• Stuttgart (Germany) since 1962
• Dresden (Germany) since 1990
• Ramat Gan (Israel) since 1991

Strasbourg maintains a policy of cooperation with three African and Caribbean cities :

• Fes (Morocco)
• Douala (Cameroon)
• Jacmel (Haiti)