Lyon ranked in 8th place in the innovative cities index
The ‘Innovation Cities Top 100 Index 2011’, performed by the Australian agency 2thinknow, ranked Lyon in 8th place in the innovative cities index out of 331 cities in 2011.
Lyon climbed up one place compared with the 2010 results to confirm its designation as an area of dynamic growth and innovation.
In terms of innovation, Lyon comes out well and ranks among the top 10 innovative cities such as Boston, Paris, Amsterdam and San Francisco.
The index is based on 162 different ‘indicators of innovation’, among them: property prices, mobility (public transport), cultural exchange and scientific research.
We asked Blandine Thenet, Director of the ONLYLYON Tourism and Congress promotional tour, four questions.
Blandine Thenet, is manager of the ONLYLYON ON TOUR project and has travelled with the tour through each of the 10 stops. We take a look back over the tour which culminated in London on 8 July.
What is the concept of ONLYLYON ON TOUR ?
From 6 May to 8 July, a bus sporting the ONLYLYON colours travelled to 10 European cities to promote the city of Lyon to the general public. This unprecedented event was organised by ONLYLYON Tourism and Congress, and was joined by ONLYLYON and its partners.
Students, entrepreneurs and potential tourists were all welcome to discover the diverse entertainment and activities on offer at the ONLYLYON ON TOUR village, such as the performance by the Lyon-based hip-hop dance world champions, Pokemon Crew. The goal was to promote the city through entertainment and events. We wanted visitors to discover the quality of life and advantages our city has to offer in a festive environment.
ONLYLYON ON TOUR in London with Gérard Collomb
How did the public react?
Throughout the journey, the feedback was very positive. The people we met really appreciated our unique approach. Aside from being original, the fact that our the event employed local people really helped to create ties with the local people.
The mayors of the cities we visited were informed of our arrival by our own mayor, Gérard Collomb. Some host cities were particularly open to our approach: Marseille, Milan, Barcelona, Brussels, Frankfurt, Lille, Paris, Amsterdam…
Each stop also offered a great opportunity to meet ONLYLYON Ambassadors. In Brussels we brought together some twenty ambassadors and a few former EM Lyon students.
Did the people you met already know Lyon? What ideas did they have about the city?
The bus travelled to cities that can be reached from Lyon within 3 hours. Most people had heard of Lyon, but they didn’t have any specific ideas about the city’s activities. People from northern cities, for example, know of Lyon simply because they travel through it on their way to the south in the summer. Our information point, attended by professionals, was therefore of great interest to the general public and helped them to discover the city’s many aspects.
We also offered the public a promotional card that offers reduced-price accommodation as well as the Lyon City Card.
Tell us a little bit about London, the final destination of ONLYLYON ON TOUR.
The bus made its final stop in London on 8 July though still offering all the same entertainment. At the same time, ADERLY invited British and foreign CEOs to participate in a conference attended by Gérard Collomb. The aim of this conference entitled: “Doing business in Lyon” was to promote Lyon’s economic advantages to potential foreign investors: find out more about ‘Operation Séduction à Londres’ at the onlylyon.org website.
See more pictures of the event +
How is Lyon perceived abroad ?
Quality of life, culture and heritage, gastronomy, a dynamic economy…how is Lyon perceived abroad? Let’s take a look at Lyon’s reputation in the foreign press and the see how the city is perceived outside of metropolitan France.
Several of Lyon’s events attract a number of tourists every year. The Festival of Lights is, of course, one of the events that offers Lyon an international platform and is often the subject of articles in the foreign press. This year, the Dailymail and the Telegraph devoted an article and a video to this “extraordinary festival of lights”.
International tourists discovering Lyon are often very attracted to its gastronomic cuisine. The city is crowned the Capital of Gastronomy. Moreover, British newspaper The Dailymail published a significant article devoted to gastronomic cuisine in Lyon, namely its traditional Lyon cuisine and ‘Bouchons’, but also contemporary cuisine that, according to the British paper, has nothing on Paris, London or New York. Let us also note that the association ‘Les toques blanches lyonnaises’ includes a hundred or so chefs from Lyon and the Rhône Alpes region and makes it its duty to promote both Lyon and France’s culinary reputation abroad.
Business men and women love Lyon too. Last month, the Wall Street Journal devoted an article to this subject and highlighted all of the best places to stay, dine and be entertained after work hours for business tourists in Lyon. As the second most economically influential city after Paris, Lyon is also a great destination from which to travel to other European destinations. Ideally located 2hrs from Paris, Lyon is perceived as a dynamic city that is less stressful than the capital city and more accessible when it comes to organising business meetings, cultural tours or even shopping trips!
Our foreign friends naturally remember all of the key tourist attractions (Fourvière, Parc de la Tête d’Or, Vieux Lyon…) but they also retain the atmosphere of the city, which has the reputation of being “romantic” and a great place to live.
A look back at the two days of discussions in Valencia, Spain, on brand management and the attractiveness of cities
For the past two months, I have been in charge of the web marketing strategy of the onlylyon.org and aderly.com websites, as well as of the social networks that we have set up to promote and heighten the visibility of our beautiful city of Lyon, through ONLYLYON. On a regular basis, the ONLYLYON team and I will be posting articles on the ONLYLYON strategy, feedback about our travels, our latest favorites, etc. So it was to represent the ONLYLYON team that I went to Eurocities in mid-September for two days of discussions about brand management and the attractiveness of cities, in Valencia, Spain (which was quite pleasant, if I may say so myself!).
Eurocities is a European network that groups together about 100 cities with over 250,000 inhabitants. The network brings these cities together in order to work, reflect, promote and cooperate on all the issues surrounding economic development, mobility, local area marketing, culture, the environment and more. This network provides opportunities for encounters and exchanges between cities, regarding good practices associated with these topics.
But now let’s get back to the two days of discussions. First of all, the city presentations were very interesting and relevant, regarding local area marketing strategies set up to develop cities and change their images, of course, but also to help them weather a difficult economic period. No, local area marketing is not just about communications – it’s also a real tool for the economic development and vitality of a local area! For many of the attending cities, local marketing has revealed new possibilities for their economic development, and brought about a genuine renewal that involved the city and all its residents. These two days of discussions on the attractiveness of cities also focused attention on the importance of the past in building a city of the future and highlighting its riches. Should we focus more on our history and our roots and draw out the essence, to find what will make our city more attractive? The answer is yes.
Let’s take the example of Genoa in Italy which is especially interesting. The transformation undertaken by the city to emerge from the industrial crisis of the 80’s perfectly illustrates this ability to look to the past to find the strengths of the present. The city reoriented itself towards the sea and the harbor, which was completely redesigned by Renzo Piano. Genoa rediscovered and drew attention back to its historic center and its famous ancestors (Christopher Columbus and Paganini). It also developed tourism, making it a leading sector and thereby enabling the city to experience an economic revival (which still keeps it going today).
The city got a second wind and a new logo to illustrate it (redone by Renzo Piano as well) with a new baseline: Genoa, Urban Lab. The city presents itself this way because it is now in motion and undergoing change with its new, totally remodeled harbor and the arrival of high-tech companies, etc. And famous figures such as Christopher Columbus reminded the city that it had adventurous, pioneering and enterprising ancestors. As a result, the city has become daring, turning to development in innovative business sectors to further its own economic development. In this strategy of local marketing, utmost importance has been given to the citizens, so as to make them part of this new transformation of the city. Even though it is difficult at times in the beginning, it is crucial to make people part of the process of promoting and enhancing cities, because they are the city’s best ambassadors.
Valencia was another real surprise due to its size and quality and the rapid development of this city on the Mediterranean coast. It is characterized by a rich past and recent development, illustrated by very modern and design-oriented urban planning, as shown by the city of arts and sciences.Valencia, with the slogan “incredible but true” is chock full of advantages that make it a great city to discover! My favorite way of discovering it is through a film promoting Valencia in the form of a movie trailer worthy of the biggest Hollywood productions! Watch the English version.
The Eurocities meeting also included the example of Gent in Belgium, which launched a local area marketing strategy a few years ago to promote its advantages and enhance the attractiveness of the city compared with Bruges, a very well known neighboring city. Gent also focused heavily on its heritage and the richness of the past to make the city a tourist destination. This city also wants to get the citizens and companies talking about Gent when they travel.
There is no ready-made recipe to succeed in promoting a city effectively. A customized solution has to be found for each city, by delving into its past and its roots to find its advantages, and especially what makes it special, in order to discover renewal, development and growth.
Everyone at the Eurocities forum fell for the city of Karlstad in Sweden, which has an atypical positioning, but appealed to the audience. The city has not changed its logo in 20 years. It’s a logo that was drawn by children. Karlstad sees itself as the city of the sun, and everything revolves around this symbol (quality of life, sun, well being): in a way, it’s northern Europe’s little ray of sunshine!
[Branding] Eurocities launches a working group on City Branding and Attractiveness in Lyon
![eurocities lyon [Branding] Eurocities launches a working group on City Branding and Attractiveness in Lyon](http://ilsontchoisilyon.com/blog_version_francaise/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/eurocities-lyon.jpg "[Branding] Eurocities launches a working group on City Branding and Attractiveness in Lyon")
Yesterday, Lyon hosted a meeting of representatives from 38 European cities, convened by EUROCITIES, the network of major European cities. The purpose of this meeting was to launch a working group that is to focus on Brand Management and Attractiveness in the major cities of Europe.
The participants addressed topics such as urban marketing, the creation of a brand for a city (such as the ONLYLYON brand), economic governance models and the difficulty of changing the image of a city. Around the table were representatives from cities such as Manchester, Tampere, Lublin, Katowice, Nantes and Gothenburg.
This working group will be followed by other groups of the same kind throughout 2010. Read more about it +