And Here are the Winners…

A new concept for 2010, the New European Economy Awards was created to identify and celebrate the leading service providers across the continent.  The awards have been born out of excellence to inspire confidence and command progress. 

Rather than the usual sequence of back-slapping, the NEE Awards have a more salient objective – to celebrate good service, spread the word and eradicate the humdrum obstacles of cross-border business and grease the wheels of worldwide commerce. 

The awards are an independent programme designed to recognise and promote excellence, best practice and innovation in the European business community and beyond, across the member states, emerging markets, and worldwide business hubs.

The ultimate aim of the NEE Awards is to make business a pleasure.  After all, there’s nothing more disappointing than paying through the nose for bad service in a place you know nothing about.

Bad news travels fast – so the cliché goes – but good reputations develop more slowly.  We believe that it’s important to build confidence within our network and create trust more readily between users and providers.  Your votes are helping to smooth out the creases and bring the New European business community closer together.

The awards are an independent programme designed to recognise and promote excellence, best practice and innovation in the European business community and beyond, across the member states, emerging markets, and worldwide business hubs.

The nominees list was an undoubtedly crowded field of best-in class companies which reflected the pinnacle of their respective industries.  More importantly, they illustrated the pin-sharp standards our readers expect. 

However, there can only be one winner – so without further ado, here is a rundown of this year’s victors…

NEE Business Awards Winners

Best Business Destination – Frankfurt

Conferences are the natural habitat of opportunity and over the past five years we have seen fantastic new destinations explode onto the international conferencing scene.  Unfortunately, none of them have quite what it takes to trump Frankfurt’s natural prowess in this category.  Frankfurt is commerce – it lives and breathes business.  It’s infrastructure is built around commerce and operates with the exacting precision of a Swiss timepiece.  Berlin was the closest competitor, but Frankfurt’s status as a world airline hub gave the city the edge over the capital.  In these trying times maintaining your client base and developing your global business profile is still the highest priority.  And Frankfurt is fulfilling those needs more than most.

2nd – Berlin
3rd – Barcelona

Best Congress Centre – Frankfurt Congress Centre

It had to happen, really.  Frankfurt has the third-largest exhibition site in the world, that’s why 50,000 exhibitors and close to two million visitors choose to meet here every year and keep on returning.  Europe’s most important trade fairs are held at Congress Frankfurt – and with bookings secured beyond 2020, this monumental facility is highly unlikely to be eclipsed.  A special mention must go out to our runner-up, Congress Centre -Sofia, the National Palace of Culture.  A veritable David compared with Frankfurt’s Goliath, the Bulgarian Nation palace of Culture is quite simply the most impressive multifunctional complex in South-Eastern Europe.

2nd – Congress Centre-Sofia, National Palace of Culture
3rd – Ferry Porsche

Best Hotel For Meetings – Rixos Sungate Hotel
Just 45 km away from Antalya Airport, the lavishly equipped Rixos Sungate Hotel is located on the dramatic coast of southern Turkey.  Boasting nearly 1,000 exquisitely designed rooms and housed in dazzling a complex of 250,000 square meters, the Rixos Sungate is quite simply the best place to host meetings.  Sited close to the border between Europe and Asia, the hotel is eminently accessible for gatherings with clients from east and west – from Moscow to Mumbai, or Cairo to Cologne, or London to Lagos.

2nd – Hilton Barcelona
3rd – Radisson BLU  Resort Croatia

Best Business Airlines- Czech Airlines

Airlines have had a tough couple of years, and service has suffered as operators have sought to cut costs.  However, Czech Airlines have bucked that trend and gone from strength to strength in the process.  Since their inception in 1923, the carrier now operates scheduled services to 69 destinations in 41 countries, including most major European cities and to transit points in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.  Unlike many airlines we could mention, we have yet to hear a bad word said about Czech Airlines.

Runner-up – Air Malta

Most Innovative Investment Agency – NRW Invest

The people on the frontline of FDI know what they’re up against – huge competition for every last investment penny across the entire continent.  That’s why NRW Invest have scooped our prestigious award for innovation and services to investors.  North Rhine Westphalia is the industrial heartland of Germany and the nation’s leading economic region.  However, NRW Invest aren’t the sort of bureau to rest on their laurels.  The organisation bend over backwards and go well beyond the call of duty when it comes to securing new business for their dynamic region.

Runner-up – Invest in Castilla La Mancha

Best Business Continuity Company – Unisys Deutschland

When it comes to the crucial matter of solving business-critical challenges, Unisys Deutschland are head and shoulders above the competition.  The company is better equipped than any other for security, data centre transformation and outsourcing, end user support, and application modernisation.  Servicing many of the world’s biggest companies where there is no room for error, Unysis are quite simply the best in their class.

Runner-up – Crisis Solutions

Best Bank – Commerzbank

Admittedly, the field wasn’t quite as full as it would have been a few years ago, but Commerzbank have met the challenges head on and dealt with them with precision, professionalism, and aplomb.  The bank – Germany’s second largest – is unreservedly committed to customer satisfaction.  A fact that is borne out by the sheer number of votes we received for this excellent German institution.
Runner-up – Swedbank

Forex Award – InstaForex

Since strating up two years ago, InstaForex has established itself as one of the world’s leading Forex brokers.  The company effectively democratised currency trading at a time when the stock markets lurched, providing amateur and professional traders alike a trading alternative.  InstaForex’s versatile operating system with its 107 currency instruments is devilishly user friendly and now boasts 20,000 individuals and corporate customers as InstaForex clients.

Runner-up – FxPro.com

Sustainable Travel Award- Eurail/InterRail

Environmental issues are now big business selling points but rail travel remains one of the most convenient, affordable and sustainable ways to move across Europe, often taking passengers door to door more quickly and with less hassle than flying. By eliminating the need to trek to out of town airports and stand in long lines hours before departure, passengers save money and are free to take in sights, sounds, and tastes of Europe at their own pace .We here at NEE firmly believe in rail over air travel, and why not have that meeting on the go, with this in mind we have to tip our caps to Eurail/InterRail for their effort and commitment to this cause, well done.

Accountancy Firm of The Year – PricewaterhouseCooper INDIA (Transfer Pricing)

PWC India were also the runaway winners for the best accountancy firm, (Transfer Pricing)  As the keystone to any business, accountants must be unwaveringly dependable, and the practice’s confident focused approach is what makes it number one.  PwC audits 40 per cent of companies in the FTSE 100 Index [31] and 45 per cent of the Fortune 1000 energy companies.  Of course, India now boasts one of the world’s most dynamic economies and its companies are fighting companies that straddle borders, and as more big Indian firms become multinational companies, invariably it’s PWC’s expertise that they turn to. 

2nd – Grant Thornton India (Transfer Pricing)

Congratulations go out to the winners, heartened cheers to the runners up, and a huge thank you to all readers who participated.  Judging by the huge response to our foundational awards, there’s every suggestion that the standards will be just as high next year, and the ceremony will be just as successful.