200 people found new jobs in State Street's new branch in Gdansk, and another several hundred may find till the end of 2016. Jay Hooley, CEO of State Street, even described Poland as a "new rock star". It is nice to hear that, but let's try to get a little bit further and consider why international companies choose Gdansk?
At the main street of Gdansk. Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 3.0
State Street managers put it straight: attractiveness of the city matters. When one considers establishing company's operations in a new city, not only local job market is analyzed. Of course, availability of highly qualified specialists or skillful graduates is important and Gdansk, with its great universities, provides that. No less important is the ability to absorb new investments and new employers - the part of that is the availability of modern office space and good transport connections.
But there is something else, something what is not always easy to precisely describe: the attractiveness of the city - the things that make people want to live in the city.
Selecting the new location, State Street, a worldwide financial services company, was looking for cities, where experts, for example from Canada or the Netherlands, will be eager to relocate. Gdansk fulfilled these criteria.
The levels of satisfaction is quite high among residents of Gdansk. As it was checked during the renowned "Social diagnosis 2015" survey, Gdansk, along with its neighboring Gdynia, are the cities with the highest numbers of satisfied residents - 79,2% and 87,2% respectively. In case of Gdansk, this factor grew from 65,7% in 2011 to 79,2% in 2015.
Why the number are so high? I think that the reason for the attractiveness is a very unique spirit of Gdansk - a city located between dense forests and a seacoast, with great recreational facilities and with the old town, which witnessed dramatic historical events, but now is attracting thousands of tourists and residents. Gdansk has been attracting new residents for years, therefore people here are very open-minded, ready to cooperate with others, flexible. What's also very important - many foreign students arrive to Gdansk for education at our universities. Not to mention a great amount of cultural events in our city and the region.
Generik Vapeur street theatre performing in Gdansk. Photo: J. Pinkas
This special mix of economic factors and the high quality of life, helps investors make their decisions - decisions that are good for them and for our city.