As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) study group. The city is also the cultural capital of the Netherlands.[16] Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the world's 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city.[17] In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city in which to live by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)[18] and 12th globally on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer .[19] The city was previously ranked 3rd in innovation by 2thinknow in the Innovation Cities Index 2009.[20]