Copenhagen Business Hub (Erhvervshus Hovedstaden)
Denmark
Erhvervshus Hovedstaden is one of six regional business houses in Denmark. At Erhvervshus Hovedstaden, they help more than 5,000 companies …
Good practice
Imported
★ 95
★ 91
★ 91
★ 91
ONLYLYON Invest — Economic Development Agency for International Business Establishment in Lyon
France · Lyon · See the France profile
Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 42% 71/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
Lyon's dedicated FDI and business-establishment agency, jointly run by Lyon Métropole and the Chamber of Commerce, supports ~60 investment projects per year (40% foreign-owned) across health, digital, energy and agri-food — placing Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes among Europe's top FDI regi
60 projects/year
Investment projects supported per year
40 %
Share of projects with foreign capital
146
FDI projects in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (2023)
48
FDI projects registered by Lyon Métropole (2023)
871
Jobs created via Lyon Métropole FDI projects (2023)
1,300+
Companies established with ONLYLYON Invest support since founding (1974-present)
60 %+
Share of established companies with foreign capital (1974-present)
100
Member organisations in governance structure
Details
- Maturity
- Established
- Promoter
- ONLYLYON & CO (formerly Aderly) — co-chaired by Lyon Métropole and Lyon Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie
- Period
- 1974–present
- Region (NUTS)
FRK26- Keywords
- Economic development / FDI attraction
Context
ONLYLYON Invest (operating under the ONLYLYON & CO umbrella, formerly Aderly) is Lyon's official agency for attracting and supporting foreign direct investment and business establishment, founded in 1974 and co-chaired by Lyon Métropole and the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with 100 member organisations in its governance structure.
Activities
The agency provides a full project-lifecycle service — market analysis, real estate solutions, HR and mobility support, legal and tax guidance, and introductions to sector clusters — across Lyon's five pillars of excellence (health/biopharma, digital/AI, energy/cleantech, chemicals, and agri-food), accompanying an average of 60 investment projects per year, 40% of which involve foreign capital.
Results
The wider Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region received 146 FDI projects in 2023, ranking among the 15 most attractive European regions in the EY France Attractiveness Survey 2024, while Lyon Métropole itself directly registered 48 FDI projects and 871 jobs created that year. Since the agency's founding in 1974, over 1,300 companies have been established with its support, more than 60% of them with foreign capital.
Conclusions
Fifty years of institutional continuity and genuine co-governance between the city authority and the local business community underpin a structured impact-screening framework covering environmental, societal, cooperative, productive and regional criteria.
Implementation
- Indicative cost
- Medium (€50k–€500k) — Cost is not itemized in the source; running a full project-lifecycle service (market analysis, real estate, HR/mobility, legal/tax support) across five sector pillars for a metropolitan area implies a medium ongoing operating budget rather than major capital investment.
- Time to results
- Long (> 3 years) — Operating continuously since 1974, with fifty years of accumulated investment-support activity through 2023.
- Staffing & skills
- ONLYLYON & CO agency staff (formerly Aderly), Co-governance by Lyon Métropole and the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 100 member organisations in the governance structure
Conditions for success
- Fifty-year institutional continuity since founding in 1974.
- Genuine co-governance between the city authority (Lyon Métropole) and the local business community (Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
- A structured impact-screening framework applying environmental, societal, cooperative, productive and regional criteria to investment projects.
Where it fits
- Governance type
- joint public-private economic development agency
- Scale
- metropolitan/regional (Lyon Métropole / Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
- Income level
- high-income
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes Own resources / municipal budget
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
- C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-19
- ONLYLYON & CO (formerly Aderly) — co-chaired by Lyon Métropole and Lyon Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie — accessed 2026-06-19
- ONLYLYON Invest — Who We Are — accessed 2026-06-19
- EY France Attractiveness Survey 2024 — regional ranking — accessed 2026-06-19
Attachments
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