ABB 2006/7 | State Profiles | Mid West region | Illinois | DCEO Director

When it comes to doing business in the US, you can’t do better than the state of Illinois. Our success to date and our future success revolve around our ability to innovate in a constantly changing global economy. Here at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), we are prepared to go the extra mile to make your venture in Illinois a success as well.

Foreign Direct Investment is a major contributor to the economic vitality of the state. Illinois ranks number one in the Midwest as a destination for foreign investment. This is not surprising, since Illinois offers companies unrivalled strategic location and transportation infrastructure – as well as a diversified, technologically advanced economy, a highly skilled workforce and a world-class cultural environment.

Through DCEO and its nine international offices, your company can access a wide variety of programmes that can help you build your business and train your employees. From tax benefit and capital incentive programmes to innovative employee training investment opportunities, in Illinois, you will have access to resources unrivalled anywhere else in the US. We encourage you to contact our West European office in Brussels today, which will be your “one-stop shop” for information about how you can successfully plant your flag in the American market. Rod R Blagojevich Governor “Welcome to the city of the future” On behalf of the people of Illinois and more than 4,800 foreign-owned establishments that call our state home, congratulations to UK Trade and Investment and BritishAmericanBusiness for another successful year of cultivating UK-US business relations.

We are proud of the trade and investment synergy created between the UK and the state of Illinois, and we will continue our relationship through the membership of BritishAmerican Business Inc to attract investors whose ultimate returns can be measured not only in dollar signs, but in long-term stability and growth in the global marketplace. Thanks to strong and sustained investments from companies in the UK and throughout the world, Chicago, Illinois, was recently named by FDI magazine as the overall “US City of the Future”– a distinction we worked hard to achieve and will work even harder to maintain.

When foreign companies and investors come to Illinois, they do so because their growth depends on access to key North American markets. They demand access to a highly-skilled workforce, minimal transportation and distribution costs, cutting-edge technology, flexible research and development support and abundant and reliable energy sources. And that’s exactly what Illinois delivers.

The Illinois economy is the most diversified in North America. Yet companies and investors choose Illinois not because of its economic stature, but because it is truly a centre of global commerce and a gateway to opportunity.

Jack Lavin
Director, Illinois Department of
Commerce and Economic Opportunity

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