In 2000 the Lisbon Agenda was adopted as the political core programme of the European Union. The central objective is the "creation of the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy of the world, with the capability of realising sustained economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social solidarity". This objective is to be achieved by 2010. In 2001, the European Council of Göteborg emphasised the sustainability as an additional important quality.
At the European Union level, there is agreement that metropolitan regions represent important centres of growth and can solidify the competitiveness of Europe and sustain this growth over the long term (see also the METREX position regarding the importance of metropolitan regions for the Lisbon Agenda at the XIX. METREX Meeting in Nuremberg on 15 to 18 June, 2005).
The map below measures the regionally different growth dynamics on the basis of so-called "Lisbon indicators". The Nuremberg metropolitan region is very well positioned, in the leading group.