Lyon is burdened with the - perhaps unfair - assumption that it suffers from an inferiority complex vis-a-vis Paris.
But the city's international credentials have been given a boost after Emirates Airline selected the city as a new European destination. Lyon fought off competition from Marseille and Toulouse in France, as well as other European cities, and from December 5 flights will run five times a week.
Stéphane Geffroy, a sales and marketing director at Aéroports de Lyon, expects that 80 per cent to 85 per cent of passengers will come from and continue on beyond Dubai, opening up the region to Asia.
OnlyLyon, the organisation that markets Lyon internationally, is seeking to demonstrate that for business and leisure, the city provides the best France has to offer.
It is a little known fact that Lyon attracts the most foreign direct investment in Europe after London and Paris. It is home to 150 international companies and has carved out a niche for itself in the biotech and clean sciences sector. Sanofi Pasteur and Merial, the vaccine and animal health arms of Sanofi-Aventis, are headquartered in Lyon, while the French Institute of Petroleum also has a presence there.
Lyon is strong in three other sectors: trucks, functional textiles and digital imaging and entertainment.
"We want to attract investors and companies especially in these sectors," said Lionel Flasseur, the manager of OnlyLyon.
A selection of the world's best architects are also working on what is the greatest urban development project in Europe in terms of size. Currently, company headquarters account for 1 million square metres of space in the city, but developers want to double that. But rather than create a high-rise business ghetto such as La Défense in Paris, Lyon's planners have opted to keep a mix between work and life.
"We didn't want to create a quarter like in Paris. La Defense is only for business and after 8 o'clock there is nobody," said Mr Flasseur.
