Located in the centre of the United States, the State of Illinois offers unparalleled access to the North American market. In fact, 42 per cent of North America’s consumers are less than a two day drive from Illinois.

The commercial and financial centre of Illinois is the City of Chicago. Rising 1451 feet above Chicago’s central business district is Willis Tower, (formerly Sears Tower) the mid-west regional headquarters for the London-based Willis Group.

Chicago ranked 7th in The 2014 Global Cities Index, an index that ranks eighty-four cities around the world based on the key factors of:

• Overall business activity
• Access to human capital
• Information exchange
• Cultural diversity
• Engagement of its elected officials

Being centrally located has made Illinois the hub for rail, truck and air transportation in North America. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is the second busiest airport in the USA with United Airlines having their largest US hub at O’Hare and American Airlines, their second largest. With over 1.5 million tons of cargo and approximately 67 million travellers passing through each year, and an arrival or departure every minute, it is obvious that travellers have maximum scheduling flexibility in Illinois. Daily non-stop flights are available to 150 national and 50 international business centres. A second airport, situated about 10 miles from the Chicago loop, operates as a major commuter hub for low cost airline, Southwest Airlines.

The state is a leader in short-shipping, with more than 1000 miles of waterways that offer direct links to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is the only state where all six Class-One railroads interchange traffic, has more than 2000 miles of interstate highway and benefits from state-of-the-art intermodal facilities. Major logistic centres can be found in Will County, East Moline, Marion, Belleville and Rockford, which is home to UPS’s second largest air cargo facility in the US.

Illinois is aware of the contribution foreign-owned firms make to its economy, and it greatly welcomes foreign companies into the state. Here are the top 10 reasons why Illinois offers your business a premier location within the United States and why so many companies have chosen Illinois for their US operation.

• Strategically positioned for access to markets and customers
• Unparalleled infrastructure and global connectivity
• Highly educated and productive workforce
• World renowned universities and third level colleges
• An economic powerhouse
• International centre for American and European global companies
• Warehousing and distribution centre of the US
• Large resources of industrial land, buildings and R&D parks
• Competitive financial incentives for foreign investors
• A great place live and work

Illinois ranks number one in the mid-western US – and fourth in the nation. 2000 foreign companies have located their 5744 facilities in Illinois. This includes over 320 companies from the UK, ranking the UK as the number one foreign investor in Illinois with such household names as Dyson and Tate & Lyle.

The state offers a diverse, well-trained workforce – nearly half of its six million workers are professionals or skilled technicians. Illinois also ranks fourth in the nation and second in the Great Lakes region for value-added productivity in manufacturing. Foreign companies employ 288,700 Illinois workers.

Illinois is the sixth-largest exporting state in the US with direct exports totalling close to $66.1 billion in 2013, representing 7.7 per cent of Illinois’s Gross State Product (GSP). In that same year export trade supported over 632,800 jobs in Illinois.

Illinois has a diverse and vibrant business environment. Gross State product was $720 billion in 2013 making it the fifth largest in the United States. The economy is strong in manufacturing and services. Key manufacturing industries include industrial machinery, plastics, chemicals, food and food processing, computer and electronics and transportation equipment. Strong services sectors include financial services, technology, warehousing and distribution.

The following Fortune 500 Companies are located in Illinois:

• Boeing
• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
• Motorola
• Caterpillar
• Abbot Labs
• Sara Lee
• John Deere & Co
• Illinois Tool Works
• Baxter International
• Smurfi t-Stone Container
• Navistar International
• Kraft
• McDonalds

In fact the Chicago Metro area has the second highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the USA.

In 2014, Governor Pat Quinn joined President Barack Obama to formally announce that Illinois had won a new digital manufacturing hub, supported by funding from state and federal governments and corporate partners. The hub will have a far-reaching impact on jobs across many industries and benefit small businesses across the nation. The White House announced a $70 million Department of Defense award for the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation (DMDI) Institute, which UI Labs will operate in Chicago. The support from President Obama, coupled with $16 million from the Quinn Administration, gives the institute the necessary funds to build partnerships with manufacturers and strengthen Illinois’s economic comeback.

“Illinois is at the forefront of a high-tech manufacturing revolution that will make our state the centre of high-tech job creation”, Governor Quinn said. “This first-of-its-kind digital hub will make companies more competitive and stronger by providing them with the most cutting edge tools and technologies. It will be the birthplace for innovations that will change the world in which we live, work and play”.

Illinois has 9 public universities on 12 campuses, which include 700 baccalaureate degree programmes, 550 masters degree programmes, nearly 200 doctoral programmes, and professional degrees in medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry and law. It is ranked 5th in the nation in the number of institutions of higher education. Many Illinois institutions have world-class reputations such as the University of Chicago, University of Illinois and Northwestern University.

You will find a thriving British presence in Chicago. The British School of Chicago is considered among the top schools in the city. You will also find the British Consulate’s Trade Commission and the British-American Business Council for the Midwest. Both organisations assist British companies wanting to find potential partners, agents or distributors.

Chicago has a significant number of international consulates, and trade & investment offices. In fact, with 83 consulates and consuls general, the city is one of the fastest-growing consular hubs in the nation. There are more than 90 foreign-based trade and investment organisations and over 40 international/ethnic Chambers of Commerce in addition to the Consulates, including the British American Business Council, Chicago and the British Consul General which houses the office of UKTI Chicago.

To learn more about market opportunities in Illinois, we would encourage you to contact the Illinois European office in Brussels. Illinois established this office in 1968 to serve Europe, Middle East and Africa. There is a team in place with over 50 years combined international trade experience, and the services offered are confidential and of no cost to British companies.