1、CONTENTSINTRODUCTION04Investment into Europe has dipped year-on-year,but remains attractive to a range of internationalinvestors,with sectors like renewables,batteries and data centres standing out for FDI activity.CITIESWINNERS06London maintains its lead,while Amsterdam and Dublin impress.UKLEPsWIN

2、NERS22LEPs are winding down,but their economic development legacy lives on.FDISTRATEGY:CITIES26Spanish cities win,but their British and Irish peers make a strong showing.REGIONSWINNERS30The Paris Region seems secure in its leading position.FDISTRATEGY:REGIONS38The Paris Region and Northern Ireland c

3、ontinued to impress the judges.PublishedbyTheFinancialTimesLtd,Bracken House,1 Friday Street,London EC4M 9BT,UK Tel:+44(0)20 7873 3000.Editorial fax:+44(0)1858 461873.Staff members can be contacted bydialing+44(0)20 7775 followed bytheir extension numberEditorJacopo Dettoni SeniorEditorDanielle MGlo

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10、offDi magazine articles telephone 0207 873 4871.Alternatively,for both servicese-mail 3February/March 2024www.fDiI4As central banks raced to tameinflation by increasing interestrates last year,cross-borderinvestmentgloballyremainedresilient.This was backed,notably,by a contin-ued appetite for mega p

11、rojects in criti-cal and future-looking sectors such asrenewableenergyandsemiconductors.Yetgreenfieldforeigndirectinvest-ment(FDI)into Europe fell during2023,totalling5482projects,accordingto fDi Markets a 24%drop on 2022.Overall,Europes share of the globalFDI pie shrank in 2023,accounting forroughl

12、y 29%of the total projectsannounced in 2023 down fromroughly36%in2022.Early on in 2023,both Europeanbusinesses and policymakers alikeraised concerns over a future imbal-ance between the US and Europesgreen industrialisation due to the$369bn in subsidies offered by the USsInflationReductionAct.TheEU,

13、whichhas a mandate to avoid market distor-tions across the 27-member bloc,isunabletomatchthis.Still,severaltrendsremainunchanged for Europe:mega projectsandrenewableenergycontinuetodrawinvestment,while an ever-diversifyinggroup of global investors double downon their battery and data centreswww.fDiI

14、February/March 2024INVESTMENT HAS DIPPED YEAR-ON-YEAR,BUT REMAINS ATTRACTIVE TO A RANGE OFINTERNATIONAL INVESTORS IN BATTERIES AND DATA CENTRES,SETH OFARRELL REPORTSEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024IntroductionINTRODUCTIONEUROPEAN CITIES AND REGIONS OF THE FUTURE 2024pledgesonthecontinen

15、t.Albeit less than in 2022,the num-ber of projects worth more than$1bnremainedrelativelyhighat43recordedprojects up from a 2010s average of11.In addition,the average capitalexpenditure(capex)of all projectsjumpedfrom$50.7min2022to$61.9min 2023 the second-highest annualaverage on record.Total estimat

16、edcapex for inbound projects in Europein 2023 stood at roughly$339.5bn,while the 2022 figures stood at$382.9bn.RENEWABLESSTILLTAKETHELIONSSHAREOFEUROPEANFDISECTOR BREAKDOWN OF ANNOUNCED GREENFIELD FOREIGN DIRECTINVESTMENT PROJECTS IN THE REGION IN 2023Source:fDi MarketsRecord solar yearThe lions sha

17、re of inbound EuropeanFDI remained in the renewable energysector,at$114bn or roughly 34%of thetotalestimatedcapextracked.Indeed,the biggest greenfield pro-jectrecordedinEuropein2023wasUKenergy company BPs plans to investroughly6.8bninoffshorewindenergyprojects in Germany(TSMCs 10bninvestment in Germ

18、any was firsttrackedattheendof2022).InJuly,thecompany was awarded the rights todevelop two offshore wind projects inthe country totalling four gigawatts(GW),located in the North Sea.BPmade an initial payment of 678m,equivalentto10%ofthebidamount.Meanwhile,foreign investmentinto solar soared to a rec

19、ord 181 pro-jects between January and Novemberlastyearmorethandoublethenum-ber in onshore and offshore wind com-bined.As a result,solar investmentalso oustripped wind investment interms of capex for the first time since2014,scoring a record$47.5bn.Theincreaseinprojectswashelpednotablyby US tech gian

20、t Amazons move inNovember to establish 17 solar plantsacross Spain,which comes as part of abroader plan by Amazon to set up 24renewable energy projects in Spaintotallingmorethan2.3GW.Besides solar,two other subsectorssecured record FDI in 2023:batteriesand data centres.Last year,FDI intobatteries ju

21、mped to$28.7bn,eclipsingthe 2022 figure of$18.8bn,while FDIinto data processing,hosting andrelated services rose to$19.5bn 9%higher than what was tracked over thecourseof2022.Riseofdata centresAccording to real estate services com-pany JLL,the core data centre marketsof Frankfurt,London,Amsterdam,Pa

22、risandDublinwereexpectedtogrowby a record 17%in 2023,with tier-twomarkets such as Berlin and Madridcomingtothefore.While London,Frankfurt andAmsterdam are still the top-three des-tinationsfordatacentreinvestmentsin2023,according to fDi Markets,theirnumbers are far from their peak of2015 when each ci

23、ty tracked a recordnumberofprojects.Butwhilethenum-berofprojectsaredown,newdatacen-treinvestmentshavebeenmorecapitalintensive.INTRODUCTIONEUROPEAN CITIES AND REGIONS OF THE FUTURE 20245February/March 2024www.fDiI0005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20112012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 202

24、0 2021 2022 2023FDI INTO EUROPEAN SOLAR HITS RECORD IN 2023ANNOUNCED GREENFIELD PROJECTS IN SOLARThe biggest investment wasLondon-based Virtus Data Centress3bn investment in a 300-megawattproject in Brandenburg,Germany.Meanwhile,US tech giant Microsoftannounced in September that it willbegin constru

25、ction on a 1bn data cen-tre in North Acton,west London.Fourof the data centre investmentsrecorded in 2023 were worth morethan$1bn.Asian investors catch upwith US investorsEuropeaninvestorshavelongbeenbig-ger sources of investment into Europethan investors from any other region,and 2023 was no except

26、ion.BetweenJanuary and November,Europeaninvestorsaccountedforroughly62%ofthetotalFDIintothecontinent.However,whathasstoodoutinthedatathisyearisthatthecompositionofextra-Europe investment has beenchanging.In absolute terms,Asianinvestors have been increasing theircapital investments into Europe since

27、2020,totalling a record$62bn in 2022and$58.2bn in 2023.Meanwhile,for-eign investment from North Americahas consistently fallen over the pastthreeyearsto$60bn.Notably,two big-ticket Asianinvestmentswereinbatteries.OnewasTaiwanese battery manufacturingcompany ProLogiums plans to invest5.2bn in a new b

28、attery factory andresearch and development centre inDunkirk,in northern France.Theother is Indian conglomerate TataGroups 40GW battery cell gigafactoryin the UK,worth around 4bn andslated to create around 4000 jobs.It issettobecomeoneofthelargestbatterycellmanufacturingsitesinEurope.Source:fDi Marke

29、ts$bnThis is not to say that NorthAmerican investors have given up onEurope:big players such as chipmakerIntel,pharmaceutical company EliLilly and tech behemoths includingApple and Microsoft are still makingbillion-dollarinvestmentsonEuropeansoil.Two sectors that saw a significantincrease were in mi

30、nerals and metals.Chinese battery supplier ShanghaiPutailaiNewEnergyTechnology,whichproduces lithium-ion battery anodematerials,announced plans to invest$1.3bn in a new factory in Sweden.Meanwhile,Netherlands-basedTrafiguras mining arm announcedplans to invest 300m to expand itsAguasTenidasmineinSpa

31、in.The semiconductor and biotech-nology sectors,meanwhile,sank dur-ing 2023.Having brought in a record$40.6bn in 2021,FDI into semiconduc-torsinEuropehasbeendroppingsince,falling to$30.5bn in 2022 and$11.5bnin 2023.Meanwhile,bolstered by apost-pandemic appetite for directinvestments in bio-engineeri

32、ng,green-field FDI into European biotechnologyhit a record estimated sum of$7bn in2022yetfellby76%in2023to$1.7bn.FDI INTOBATTERIESJUMPED TO$28.7BN IN 2023LONDON MAINTAINS ITS LEAD,WHILE AMSTERDAM AND DUBLIN IMPRESSEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners Major citiesCITIESWINNERSEUROPEAN

33、CITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024tothePortofAmsterdamsprowessasalogistics hub.One eye-catching projectin 2023 was a signed memorandum ofunderstandingbetweenAustralia-basedElectriq Global and US-based ZenithEnergytobuildaplanttoproducegreenhydrogenattheport.In terms of FDI attracted in 2023,Amsterdam r

34、anks behind London andDublin.Duringthefirst11monthsoflastyear,the city tracked 81 projects,downfrom144overthecourseofthewholeof2022.Dublin,IrelandThe Irish capital maintains third placein this years ranking.Famous for fundmanagement,data centres and anincreasing number of global tech com-panies,Dubl

35、in has held onto its reputa-tion as a key player among Europeancitiesinattractingmultinationals.Dublinhasemergedasapreeminentchoice for global tech companies look-ing at Europe,thanks to its highly edu-cated workforce,established businessenvironment,as well as Irelands lowcorporatetaxrateandEUmember

36、ship.In September,US tech giant Alphabetopened a new engineering hub for itssubsidiaryGoogleinadevelopmentsitein Dublins docklands,where it willmove1000staff.Last year,Dublin tracked 112 pro-jects the third-highest in Europe afterLondonandMadrid.6London,UKThe UK capital keeps its leadership infDis E

37、uropean City of the Future rank-ing in the major cities category.DespiteBrexit and the political turmoil of thepastfewyears,Londonhasseenoffcom-petitionfromthecontinentoncemore.The major cities category includescities with an immediate population ofmore than 750,000 plus a larger urbanzone of more t

38、han two million,or alargerurbanzoneofmorethanfourmil-lion.Londoncomesoutontopinthreeofthe sub-categories:Economic Potential,Human Capital and Lifestyle,andBusiness Friendliness.In last yearsranking,it secured first position inConnectivity,but was displaced thisyearbyAmsterdam.In line with data centr

39、es across theregion,US tech giant Microsofts 1bninvestment in a data centre in Acton inwest London,announced in September,was the citys biggest investment lastyear,accordingtofDiMarkets.Amsterdam,NetherlandsThe capital maintains second place inthisyearsmajorcitiesranking.Hometodatacentres,abustlingt

40、echsceneandahighlyeducatedworkforce,theNorthernEuropean powerhouse continues toattractinvestmentsinkeysectors.AmsterdamhasupstagedLondoninfDis Connectivity sub-category,thanksDUBLIN HASEMERGED ASA PREEMINENTCHOICE FORGLOBAL TECHCOMPANIESLOOKING ATEUROPEwww.fDiIFebruary/March 2024The absolute regiona

41、l leader in attracting foreign directinvestment and one of the most desired investmentdestinations in the worldImproving the investment climate andattracting direct investment have been thegovernments top priorities since 2012,resulting in Serbia becoming a leadinginvestmentdestinationworldwide.With

42、 around 7 million inhabitants and aGDP of slightly more than 60.4 billion EUR in2022,overthelastdecadeSerbiaattracted34billion EUR of FDI.With the exception in thepandemic year,since 2012 Serbia has seen anincreaseinFDIattractioneveryyear,reachinganationalrecordin2022of4.4billionEUR-4times more than

43、 exactly 10 years ago.Thesetrends led to the Financial Times(fDiIntelligence in 2019)and IBM(Global locationtrends for multiple years)ranking Serbia asthegloballeaderinattractingFDI.HOME TO GLOBAL LEADERS FROMDIFFERENT INDUSTRIES ENJOYINGSERBIAS FLOURISHING INVESTMENTCLIMATE AND FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

44、S,WHICH REACH 2.6 BILLION CONSUMERSRenownedcompaniesfromallovertheworld,such as Stellantis,NIDEC,Continental,ZFGroup,Rivian,MTU Aeroengines,BarryCallebautandothershavealreadyinvestedinSerbia.All of these companies recognizedSerbiasuniqueadvantages:exceptionaltalentand available qualified workforce,s

45、trategiclocation at the crossroad between East andWest enabling investors to reach the majorityofmajorEuropeancitieswithin24hours,com-petitive operating costs,strong governmentsupportininvestmentimplementation,attrac-tive financial and non-financial incentives aswell as a unique set of free trade ag

46、reementsenabling customs free export to markets withmorethan2.6billionconsumers.The dedicated effort to improve theinvestment climate is constantly presentacross all sectors of Serbias economy.Themost prominent examples are:e-Govern-ment Services(electronic permitting system,which positioned Serbia

47、among the top 10countries globally in this area);continuousstrategicinvestmentsinpublicinfrastructure(with the Belgrade-Budapest fast speed rail-way being one of the largest infrastructureprojectsinthispartofEurope)andindustrialzones;improvement and alignment of lawswith EU standards;educational inf

48、rastruc-ture development including 4 Science&Technology Parks across the country;DualEducation system focusing on the privatesector becoming part of the curriculumthrough mandatory internships,which is abest practice from Germany,etc.Adding tothis list of successes,the latest accomplish-ment is the

49、capital city of Belgrades selec-tion as host of a specialized internationalexhibition-EXPO 2027-which is expectedto lead the overall development of the coun-tryoverthenext3years.ADVANCED INDUSTRIES&ICT AS ANOTICEABLE TREND IN FDI INVESTMENTATTRACTIONRecentinvestmentsreflectSerbiasstrategyinFDI attra

50、ction,which is focused on leveragingglobal investment trends by aiming to attracta high level of added value,knowledge gen-eration,and knowledge transfer to Serbia.Industries and sectors which are part of thisfocus are:e-Mobility,ICT,Electric andElectronics,Robotics and Machines,Advanced Food-Proces

51、sing,Net-ZeroIndustries,etc.Theresultsarealreadyobvious-SerbiaisproducingenginesforEVs,Siemenstrams,new electric vehicle from Stellantis,anAI driving platform for Rivian vehicles,etc.These activities are followed by R&D and IPcreation as a result of the high capabilities ofSerbian talent and strong

52、educational systemand infrastructure.Alongside R&D centers ofdistinguished global players such asSchneider Electric,Continental,Brose,andmore,Business Process Outsourcing CentersfromNCR,Avnet,andClarivateaswellassoft-ware development centers from global ICTpowerhousessuchasMicrosoft,T2Interactive,Ep

53、icGames,GoDaddy,Ubisoft,andBlackRockare the main driver of Serbias ICT exports,whichhastripledinjust3years.AI AND BIOTECH LEADING SERBIA TOTHE FUTURESerbiaisthefirstcountryinSoutheastEuropetoadoptaNationalAIStrategyandestablishapublicAIinstituteofferingpartnershipoppor-tunitieswiththeprivatesectorin

54、advancedAIresearch and development.Serbia was alsothe first country in Southeast Europe tolaunch a National AI Supercomputing plat-form and is one of 11 countries that has AI inK-12 curriculum.Recognizing global trendsand the importance of biotech,Serbia hascommenced the building of the very first b

55、io-tech hub in Southeast Europe known as theBIO4Campus,covering4differentpillars:bio-technology,bioinformatics,biomedicine andbiodiversity.BIO4 has already signed memo-randumswithPfizer,MSD,Takeda,Rocheandother global players to set up their state-of-the-art laboratories and research centers inthe C

56、ampus,which is worth hundreds of mil-lions of EUR and positions Belgrade as thefocalpointofSoutheastEuropeanscience.InvestinSerbia,ensuresuccess!Sponsored bySERBIASPOTLIGHTONSERBIAPARTNERCONTENTSERBIAAPRIMEINVESTMENTDESTINATIONhttps:/ras.gov.rs/enPhoto:Marko Edge8CITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGION

57、SOFTHEFUTURE2024RANK CITYCOUNTRY1LondonUK2AmsterdamNetherlands3DublinIreland4WarsawPoland5ParisFrance6MunichGermany7MadridSpain8BerlinGermany9StockholmSweden10BarcelonaSpainTOP 10 MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK CITYCOUNTRY1LondonUK2OsloNorway3MadridSpain4AmsterdamNetherlands5War

58、sawPoland6BerlinGermany7PragueCzech Republic8DublinIreland9ParisFrance10BarcelonaSpainTOP 10 MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 HUMAN CAPITAL ANDLIFESTYLERANK CITYCOUNTRY1AmsterdamNetherlands2LondonUK3BrusselsBelgium4CopenhagenDenmark5BerlinGermany6StockholmSweden7OsloNorway8ParisFrance9MadridS

59、pain10MilanItalyTOP 10 MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 CONNECTIVITYRANK CITYCOUNTRY1LondonUK2DublinIreland3ParisFrance4AmsterdamNetherlands5MunichGermany6WarsawPoland7StockholmSweden8MadridSpain9BerlinGermany10BarcelonaSpainTOP 10 MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 ECONOMIC POTENTIALRAN

60、K CITYCOUNTRY1AnkaraTurkey2SofiyaBulgaria3BucharestRomania4KyivUkraine5IstanbulTurkey6TbilisiGeorgia7WarsawPoland8BudapestHungary9PragueCzech Republic10ZagrebCroatiaTOP 10 MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1LondonUK2WarsawPoland3AmsterdamNetherlands4DublinIrel

61、and5MadridSpain6BerlinGermany7ParisFrance8OsloNorway9MunichGermany10BucharestRomaniaTOP 10 MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESSMajorEuropeancitieswww.fDiIFebruary/March 2024“LONDONS FUNDAMENTALS OF TALENT,CAPITAL,AND CUSTOMERS CONTINUETO BE A GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE”LAURA CITRO

62、N,CEO,LONDON&PARTNERSFrankfurtamMain,GermanyGermany has outperformed its peersin fDis European City of the Futureranking in the Large cities category.Its finance centre,Frankfurt,wascrowned the winner,followed by twoother German cities,Hamburg andDsseldorf.This category covers cities with animmediat

63、e population of more than500,000 plus a larger urban zone ofmore than one million people(or alargeurbanzoneofmorethantwomil-lion people).Frankfurt placed first forEconomic Potential,second forConnectivity and third for BusinessFriendliness.As Germanys leading data centremarket,Frankfurt has maintain

64、ed itslead in this category.Several of its topinvestments in 2023 were in data cen-tres,suchasUS-basedCyrusOnewhichannounced plans to invest in a newdata centre in the former DeutscheBankEuropark.Hamburg,GermanyGermanys Hamburg is runner up inthisyearsLargecitiescategory,comingsecond to Frankfurt in

65、 the EconomicPotentialcategory.Home to multiple chipmakers,theheadquarters of Dutch semiconductorGERMANY HAS TAKEN ALL THREE TOP SPOTSAMONG LARGE CITIES IN THE RANKINGEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners Large citiesCITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024designerNXPSemic

66、onductorsGermany is in Hamburg.In 2023,theNetherlands-basedchipmakerNexperia and subsidiary of China-based Wingtech Technology expandedits cleanroom,a space where the levelsof airborne particles are controlled,atitsHamburgoperations.Elsewhere,Hamburg also placedsecond in the Human Capital andLifesty

67、le and Connectivity categories.The port of Hamburgs connectionshaveindeedmadethecityattractivetoseveral multinationals.European air-craft manufacturer Airbus,whoseHamburgplantisfocusedonassembly,is one of the biggest employers in theregion.Last year,it announced a newequipment installation hangar at

68、 itssiteinthecity.Dsseldorf,GermanyThe German city of Dsseldorf placedthird in this years Large cities cate-gory,thanks to continued investorinterestintheGermanbusinesscentre.The citys biggest investments in2023 were in real estate,software andITservices,financialservices,andelec-tronic components,a

69、ccording to fDiMarkets.Indeed,therewasanincreasein estimated capital expenditure ongreenfield projects in Dsseldorf in2023.Notably,Sweden-based realestatecompanyCatellaannouncedlastyearthatitisinvesting400minanewsustainable urban residential develop-mentinthecity.In fDis sub-categories,Dsseldorfplac

70、ed third for Economic PotentialandfourthforBusinessFriendliness.10Dsseldorf took third place among large citieswww.fDiIFebruary/March 202412CITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024Winners:LargeEuropeancitiesRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Frankfurt am MainGermany2HamburgGermany3DsseldorfGermany4KrakwPo

71、land5CologneGermany6RotterdamNetherlands7PoznaPoland8ManchesterUK9StuttgartGermany10AntwerpBelgiumTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK CITYCOUNTRY1KrakwPoland2HamburgGermany3PoznaPoland4GothenburgSweden5CologneGermany6LyonFrance7BelgradeSerbia8RotterdamNetherlands9StuttgartGerm

72、any10DresdenGermanyTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 HUMAN CAPITAL ANDLIFESTYLERANK CITYCOUNTRY1RotterdamNetherlands2Frankfurt am MainGermany3HamburgGermany4LiverpoolUK5GlasgowUK6DsseldorfGermany7AntwerpBelgium8CologneGermany9ManchesterUK10MarseilleFranceTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN CITIES OF

73、THEFUTURE 2024 CONNECTIVITYRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Frankfurt am MainGermany2HamburgGermany3DsseldorfGermany4CologneGermany5StuttgartGermany6KrakwPoland7ManchesterUK8AntwerpBelgium9RotterdamNetherlands10GothenburgSwedenTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 ECONOMIC POTENTIALRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Antalya

74、Turkey2KonyaTurkey3ManisaTurkey4OdessaUkraine5MersinTurkey6AdanaTurkey7IzmirTurkey8BursaTurkey9BelgradeSerbia10KatowicePolandTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1KrakwPoland2PoznaPoland3Frankfurt am MainGermany4DsseldorfGermany5ManchesterUK6HamburgGermany

75、7RotterdamNetherlands8BelgradeSerbia9CologneGermany10GlasgowUKTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESSwww.fDiIFebruary/March 2024“GLASGOWSINVESTMENTSTRATEGY AIMSTO DELIVERSUSTAINABLEECONOMICGROWTHTHAT BENEFITSEVERYONEIN THE CITY”SUSAN AITKEN,LEADEROF GLASGOW CITYCOUNCILWR

76、OCAW CELEBRATES A RECORD YEAR,WHILESTART-UP SUCCESS BRINGS LAURELS FOR ZRICH AND VILNIUSEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners Mid-sized citiesclaimed second place in this yearsranking,having placed first last year.Zrich is famed for its educated work-force and its concentration of med

77、icaltechnology companies.In the Mid-sizedCitiescategory,itboaststhehigh-esteconomicpotential.Over the past five years,the citysattractiveness among foreign investorshas held strong,averaging roughly 33greenfield projects recorded per year,accordingtofDiMarkets.Zrich ranked in the top ten ofEU-Startu

78、pss2023rankingofthebig-gesthubsonthecontinent.Elsewhere,it also has the third-highest numberof AI engineers among European cit-ies,according to Sequoia Capital,trailing behind only London andParis.Vilnius,LithuaniaLithuanias capital Vilnius moved intothird spot overall,as it placed secondfor Human C

79、apital and Lifestyle,andthird for Economic Potential in fDisrankingforMid-sizedCities.Likeothersinthiscategory,Vilniusis a formidable innovation hubaccounting for more than 90%of thecombined value of start-ups headquar-tered in Lithuania,according to dataproviderDealroom.With more than 740 start-ups

80、and three unicorns,Lithuania is oneof the fastest-growing start-up ecosys-temsinCentralandEasternEurope since 2017 second onlytoCroatia.For the first time in 2023,Vilniusplaced 65th out of 141 cities in the IMDSmartCityIndex,whichisbasedonthetechnological advancement of citiesand their adaptation to

81、 the needs oftheircitizens.14CITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024Wrocaw,PolandThe Polish city of Wrocaw beat itspeers in fDis European City of theFuture Mid-sized Cities category thisyear,having come third in last yearsranking.This group is defined as onewith an immediate population

82、of morethan 200,000 and an urban area ofmorethan750,000people,oranimme-diate population of more than 350,000butfewerthantwomillion.It was a record year for greenfieldprojects in Wrocaw last year,accord-ing to fDi Markets,with an estimatedcapital expenditure of$5.3bn.The lat-ter figure was helped alo

83、ng mostly byUSchipgiantIntels$4.6bninvestmentin a semiconductor assembly and testfacilitynearthecity.Locatedinthesouth-westregionofLower Silesia,Wrocaw is also home totech and innovation.According to thePolish Startups report 2023 by StartupPoland,the region was home to thehighest number of start-up

84、s in thecountry,at roughly 28%of the coun-trystotallastyear.Zrich,SwitzerlandSwitzerlands most populous cityZRICH AVERAGESROUGHLY 33GREENFIELDPROJECTSRECORDED PERYEAR,ACCORDINGTO fDi MARKETSwww.fDiIFebruary/March 202416CITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024Winners:Mid-sizedEuropeanciti

85、esRANK CITYCOUNTRY1WrocawPoland2ZrichSwitzerland3VilniusLithuania4EdinburghUK5BelfastUK6BratislavaSlovakia7UtrechtNetherlands8BristolUK9GdaskPoland10TallinnEstoniaTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2023 OVERALLRANK CITYCOUNTRY1ZrichSwitzerland2EdinburghUK3VilniusLithuania4WrocawPoland5Bri

86、stolUK6BelfastUK7EindhovenNetherlands8UtrechtNetherlands9GdaskPoland10CoventryUKTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2023 ECONOMIC POTENTIALRANK CITYCOUNTRY1SkopjeNorth Macedonia2ChisinauMoldova3EskiehirTurkey4SakaryaTurkey5Dnipro(Dnipropetrovsk)Ukraine6IasiRomania7TiraneAlbania8LvivUkraine

87、9GebzeTurkey10BydgoszczPolandTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2023 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1WrocawPoland2dPoland3TallinnEstonia4BratislavaSlovakia5GdaskPoland6VilniusLithuania7ZrichSwitzerland8EdinburghUK9SzczecinPoland10BelfastUKTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2

88、023 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1WrocawPoland2VilniusLithuania3ZrichSwitzerland4RigaLatvia5EdinburghUK6BratislavaSlovakia7UtrechtNetherlands8Den Haag(The Hague)Netherlands9BristolUK10TallinnEstoniaTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2023 HUMAN CAPITAL ANDLIFESTYLERANK CITYCOUNTRY1

89、DuisburgGermany2Den Haag(The Hague)Netherlands3DortmundGermany4EssenGermany5WuppertalGermany6BochumGermany7UtrechtNetherlands8NiceFrance9Newcastle upon TyneUK10MannheimGermanyTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2023 CONNECTIVITY“WE EXTENDHEARTFELTTHANKS TO OURINVESTORS FORTHEIR TRUST INOUR

90、 WELL-DEVELOPED ANDOPEN COMMUNITY.THEIR CRUCIALROLE ISACKNOWLEDGED”JAKUB MAZUR,DEPUTYMAYOR,WROCAWwww.fDiIFebruary/March 2024CITIES WITH AN INTERNATIONALIST PERSPECTIVETRIUMPH AMONG SMALL CITIESEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners Small citiesIts innovation prowess was bol-stered in 2

91、023 by new research anddevelopment investments made by thelikes of US health sciences companyRevvity and German biotech companyBioNTech.It previously ranked as thethird-best tech ecosystem globally fordeep tech,university talent and percapita patents in 2022,according to aDealroomreport.Japanese ele

92、ctronics and industrialequipment company Toshiba opened a$16m quantum technology centre inCambridgetodevelopquantum-securenetworking products.It is set to create30newjobs.Geneva,SwitzerlandGenevaclaimsthirdplaceforSmallcit-ies,asoneoftheworldskeydiplomaticandfinancialhubsretainsitsglobalrel-evance.T

93、he city places third in theEconomic Potential category of fDisranking.Inseads Global TalentCompetitiveness Index 2023 namedSwitzerland as the worlds most talent-competitive country,while highlight-ing Geneva and Zrich as havingincreasingly important roles in creat-ingandattractingtalent.With some 13

94、0 multinationalsheadquarters already based in the city,newentrantsshowfewsignsoflookingelsewhere.Lastyear,MusketCorporation,which trades and distrib-utes petroleum products and operatesas a subsidiary of US-based LovesTravel Stops,established its EuropeanheadquartersinGeneva.18CITIESWINNERSEUROPEANC

95、ITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024LuxembourgThecityofLuxembourgcameoutontopintheSmallcitiescategory,whichrecog-nises cities with an immediate popula-tionbetween100,000and350,000.As one of the four institutionalseats of the EU,the city has a skilledmultilingual workforce and a strongreputation for financ

96、ial services.InfDis ranking,Luxembourg placed firstfor Economic Potential and BusinessFriendliness.The citys share of financial ser-vices FDI jumped considerably in 2023to nearly 70%of the years total esti-mated capital expenditure,accordingto fDi Markets.Notably,UK-basedclearing and transaction ban

97、k,TheBankofLondon,announcedlastyearitwill invest 200m in an EU headquar-ters in Luxembourg for which it willhiremorethan300peopleby2028.Cambridge,UKCambridge has placed second in thisyearsSmallcitiesranking.With23uni-corns and one of the best tech ecosys-tems in the world,Cambridge issuedplans last

98、year to incorporate 40 newmultinationalsandspinout15newuni-cornsby2035.Some 130 multinationals are based in Genevawww.fDiIFebruary/March 202419Winners:SmallEuropeancitiesCITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024RANK CITYCOUNTRY1LuxembourgLuxembourg2CambridgeUK3GenevaSwitzerland4CorkIrelan

99、d5BaselSwitzerland6GhentBelgium7EspooFinland8ReadingUK9DelftNetherlands10OxfordUKTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK CITYCOUNTRY1LuxembourgLuxembourg2CorkIreland3GenevaSwitzerland4BaselSwitzerland5CambridgeUK6EspooFinland7GhentBelgium8LausanneSwitzerland9ReadingUK10VantaaFinla

100、ndTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 ECONOMIC POTENTIALRANK CITYCOUNTRY1NicosiaCyprus2OxfordUK3CambridgeUK4BergenNorway5DelftNetherlands6GenevaSwitzerland7KaunasLithuania8GrazAustria9LausanneSwitzerland10ReykjavkIcelandTOP10SMALLEUROPEANCITIESOFTHEFUTURE 2024 HUMANCAPITALANDLIFESTYLERANK

101、 CITYCOUNTRY1LuxembourgLuxembourg2GliwicePoland3CorkIreland4ReadingUK5Milton KeynesUK6CambridgeUK7KaunasLithuania8Cluj-NapocaRomania9SloughUK10BasingstokeUKTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2023 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1BurgasBulgaria2RuseBulgaria3OradeaRomania4VarnaBulgaria5Con

102、stantaRomania6PitestiRomania7PlovdivBulgaria8KragujevacSerbia9PloiestiRomania10SarajevoBosnia-HerzegovinaTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1SloughUK2DelftNetherlands3CrawleyUK4OberhausenGermany5LeidenNetherlands6GuildfordUK7VenloNetherlands8LeuvenBelgiu

103、m9NeussGermany10AlmereNetherlandsTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2023 CONNECTIVITY“FEW CITIES CANCLAIM TO HAVESEEN AS MANYSCIENTIFIC ANDTECHNOLOGICALDISCOVERIES ASCAMBRIDGE”DUNCAN McCUNN,CEOAT CAMBRIDGEANDFebruary/March 2024www.fDiIZUG TAKES THE TOP SPOT BUTIRISH CITIES ARE NOT FAR BEHINDE

104、uropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners Micro citiesAmerican semiconductor manufactur-ing company Analog Devices invested630m in a new research,developmentand manufacturing facility in Limerick.The investment is expected to result in600 new jobs and the tripling of waferproduction capaci

105、ty at its operations inthe city.Since 2015,Analog DevicessLimerick site has been home to itsEuropean Research and DevelopmentCentre.Galway,IrelandThe city of Galway on Irelands westcoastalsokeepsitsplaceamongthetopthreeinthisyearsranking.While featuring among the top fivefor Economic Potential and B

106、usinessFriendliness alongside Limerick,Galway also came first in fDis HumanCapital and Lifestyle category.Over thepast decade,the citys top FDI sectorsare software and IT services,businessservicesandmedicaldevices.One notable investment from lastyearcamefromGermanmedicaldevicemanufacturer Freudenber

107、g Medical,which increased the companys manu-facturing footprint in Galway by 50%and created 100 new jobs.Elsewhere,the University of Galway and UK medi-cal technology company Medtronicannouncedafive-year5mpartnershipfocusedondevelopingthemedtecheco-system.20CITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHE

108、FUTURE2024Zug,SwitzerlandTheSwisstownofZugclungontothetopspotintherankingofurbanareaswithanimmediatepopulationbelow100,000.SituatedjustsouthofZrich,thecan-ton of Zug,where the town itself islocated,offersforeigninvestorsthemostattractive tax rate in Switzerland.Thishasensureditssuccessinattractingfo

109、r-eign direct investment in financial ser-vices,businessservices,softwareandIT,pharmaceuticals,andbiotechnology.Thetown placed top for both EconomicPotential and Business Friendliness infDisranking.Attracted by its talent and biotechecosystem,US-based AI-powered drugcompany Absci has opened a new in

110、no-vationcentreinZug.Itwillfocusonbio-logicsdrugdevelopmentandwillserveasa springboard for the company to enterthe European pharma and biotech eco-system.Limerick,IrelandIrelands southern city of Limerickretains its position in second place inthisyearsranking,asitfeaturedamongthe top three micro cit

111、ies for EconomicPotential,Human Capital and LifestyleandBusinessFriendliness.AsareputedhubforIT,lifesciencesand financial services companies,Limerick also secured a considerablechip investment in 2023.In May,US-BASEDAI-POWEREDCOMPANYABSCI OPENEDA NEWINNOVATIONCENTRE IN ZUGwww.fDiIFebruary/March 2024

112、RANK CITYCOUNTRY1LeskovacSerbia2DilovasiTurkey3PanevezysLithuania4SimanovciSerbia5ZrenjaninSerbia6SuboticaSerbia7LegnicaPoland8NitraSlovakia9StrykowPoland10Mlada BoleslavCzech RepublicTOP 10 MICRO EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1WelwynUK2RatingenGermany3Farnborou

113、ghUK4DaresburyUK5WillichGermany6BarnsleyUK7MaidenheadUK8LivingstonUK9HasseltBelgium10LutterworthUKTOP 10 MICRO EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 CONNECTIVITYRANK CITYCOUNTRY1ZugSwitzerland2LimerickIreland3GalwayIreland4WaterfordIreland5LuganoSwitzerland6ShannonIreland7LivingstonUK8LutterworthUK9Farn

114、boroughUK10KonstanzGermanyTOP 10 MICRO EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK CITYCOUNTRY1ZugSwitzerland2MonacoMonaco3LimerickIreland4GalwayIreland5WalldorfGermany6ShannonIreland7LuganoSwitzerland8WaterfordIreland9VaduzLiechtenstein10MechelenBelgiumTOP 10 MICRO EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 20

115、24 ECONOMIC POTENTIALRANK CITYCOUNTRY1GalwayIreland2LimerickIreland3KonstanzGermany4SligoIreland5LuganoSwitzerland6ZugSwitzerland7HasseltBelgium8AthloneIreland9GenkBelgium10DundalkIrelandTOP 10 MICRO EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 HUMAN CAPITAL&LIFESTYLERANK CITYCOUNTRY1ZugSwitzerland2Lutterworth

116、UK3LimerickIreland4GalwayIreland5NitraSlovakia6LivingstonUK7WaterfordIreland8MaidenheadUK9GeelBelgium10BarnsleyUKTOP 10 MICRO EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESS21Winners:MicroEuropeancitiesCITIESWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024February/March 2024www.fDiI“THE RESULT

117、S ONCEAGAIN REAFFIRMTHAT BUSINESSESCAN TRULY FINDTHEIR EDGE INLIMERICKSEMBRACE”PAT DALY CHIEFEXECUTIVE,LIMERICKCITY AND COUNTYCOUNCILMOST LEPS ARE WINDING DOWN,BUT THEIR LEGACY LIVES ONEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners UK LocalEnterprise PartnershipsHuman Capital and Lifestyle sub

118、catego-ries.GreaterManchesterTheGreaterManchesterLocalEnterprisePartnership(LEP)whichwasreplacedbytheGreaterManchesterBusinessBoardinNovember 2023 maintains its place insecondspotinfDisranking.AlbeitatasmallerscalethanLondon,GreaterManchesterhasbeenaformida-bleplayerintheUKsbidtoattractforeigninvest

119、ment.Since 2014,it has attracted427greenfieldprojectsroughlyatenthofitsrivalontheThameswhichplacesit second among UK administrativeregions.Last year,Greater Manchestersecuredan18%increaseinthenumberofgreenfieldprojectsitattractedin2023.Oneofthecityskeyattractionsisitstech and innovation standing.Las

120、t year,UScloudplatformcompanyVultropeneditssecondUKclouddatacentrelocationoutsideofLondoninManchester.In2022,real estate services firm CBRE rankedManchester first among the top 15 techdestinationsoutsideofLondon.The Greater Manchester LEP camesecond to London in the BusinessFriendlinesssub-category.

121、TheCambridgeshireandPeterboroughThe Cambridgeshire and PeterboroughCombined Authority,which integratedthelocalLEPintoitsBusinessBoard,alsostoodoutinlastyearsranking.According to UK government statis-tics,Cambridgeshire and Peterboroughtracked 29 investment projects in thefinancial year 2022/23,which

122、 created1361jobs.CambridgeshireandPeterborough investment projectsaccountedformorethanhalfofthewiderEastofEnglandregionstotal.With a world-class university and atech cluster,the combined authorityscored third in fDis Economic Potentialsub-category.Dubbed Silicon Fen,thetech cluster around Cambridge

123、boastsmore than 5000 companies with anannualturnoverofmorethan18bn.Outside of tech-heavy Cambridge,Peterborough,which was home toLondonBrickthecompanythathelpedtorebuildpost-warBritainstillattractsmanufacturing investments.In Marchlastyear,US-basedmetalpackagingcom-panyCrownHoldingsopenedanewbev-era

124、ge can manufacturing facility inPeterborough,expected to create 280newjobs.22LEPsWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024GreaterLondonTheLondonEconomicActionPartnership(LEAP)maintainsfirstplaceamong the UKs 36 Local EnterprisePartnerships(LEPs)in fDis ranking,asthebodiesresponsibleforlocalecon

125、omicdevelopmentinEnglandroundoffayearofchange.The UK government announced inAugustthatitwillwithdrawcentralgov-ernment support for LEPs from April2024,asthelatterareexpectedtobeinte-gratedintotheirownlocalauthorities.InLondons case,the LEAP Board held itsfinal meeting on March 7 2023 and itswork wil

126、l be“continued by a range ofGreater London Authority-hosted gov-ernanceandadvisorystructures,includ-ingtheLondonPartnershipBoard”,itsaidonitswebsite.Greater London stands tall amongother administrative regions in the UK,with roughly 36%of the total greenfieldprojectstrackedbyfDiMarkets.Notably,US te

127、ch giant Microsoft announced lastyearthatitwillbeginconstructiononits1bnNorthActondatacentreinLondon,duetobefinishedin2026.Asinlastyearsranking,LEAPcameout on top in the Business Friendliness,Economic Potential,Connectivity,andwww.fDiIFebruary/March 202424Winners:UKLocalEnterprisePartnershipsLEPsWIN

128、NERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024www.fDiIFebruary/March 2024RANK LEP1London2Greater Manchester3Cambridgeshire and Peterborough4West of England5South East6Leeds City Region7South East Midlands8Berkshire9Greater Birmingham and Solihull10OxfordshireTOP 10 LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPSOF THE F

129、UTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK LEP1London2Berkshire3Cambridgeshire and Peterborough4Enterprise M35Greater Manchester6West of England7Oxfordshire8Cheshire and Warrington9Coventry and Warwickshire10Leeds City RegionTOP10LOCALENTERPRISEPARTNERSHIPSOFTHEFUTURE 2024 ECONOMICPOTENTIALRANK LEP1Hull and East Yorksh

130、ire2Tees Valley3The Marches4North East5Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly6Black Country7Liverpool City Region8Greater Lincolnshire9Derby,Derbyshire,Nottingham andNottinghamshire(D2N2)10Sheffield City RegionTOP 10 LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPSOF THE FUTURE 2023 COSTEFFECTIVENESSRANK LEP1London2West of

131、England3Enterprise M34Cambridgeshire and Peterborough5South East6Oxfordshire7Coast to Capital8Solent9Heart of the South West10Buckinghamshire Thames ValleyTOP 10 LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPSOF THE FUTURE 2024 HUMAN CAPITALAND LIFESTYLERANK LEP1London2South East3Greater Manchester4South East Midland

132、s5Hull and East Yorkshire6Coast to Capital7Greater Birmingham and Solihull8North East9Liverpool City Region10Leeds City RegionTOP 10 LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPSOF THE FUTURE 2024 CONNECTIVITYRANK LEP1London2Greater Manchester3Berkshire4South East Midlands5Cambridgeshire and Peterborough6Leeds City

133、 Region7Cheshire and Warrington8Enterprise M39Coventry and Warwickshire10North EastTOP10LOCALENTERPRISEPARTNERSHIPSOFTHEFUTURE 2024 BUSINESSFRIENDLINESSRANK LEP1Oxfordshire2Coventry and Warwickshire3Greater Manchester4Leicester and Leicestershire5BerkshireTOP 5 LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPSOF THE FU

134、TURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYGROWWITHDEBRECENDebrecen,the second largest city ofHungaryisasignificantcultural,scientific,educational,andeconomiccentreinCEE.Inrecentyears,thecityhaswonprestigiousinternationalawards:inthebenchmarkglobalsurveyoffDIIntelligence,thecityofDebrecenhas been included in the TOP 10

135、list of bestinvestment promotion destinations in theworld alongside New York or Berlin,further-moreafter2023,DebrecenwasrankedamongTOP 5 in the category of Small EuropeanCitiesoftheFuture-FDIStrategyin2024too.The citys dynamic growth is well reflectedby new foreign direct investment attracted toDebr

136、ecen in the volume of EUR 12+billion,creating19,000+newjobssince2015.FAVOURABLE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTThe highest possible regional aid intensity inthe EU is available in Debrecen region,whichis50%ofthetotalinvestmentvalue.Ontopofthis,the city provides full-scale professionalsupport for investors via

137、EDC DebrecenUrban and Economic Development Center.Inaddition,to support local SMEs,a supplierprogram,including several trainings and sup-plier forums,was launched to help them getinvolved in global value chains and establishrelationshipwithlargeenterprises.Large-scale,21st century business infra-str

138、ucturedevelopmentshavebeenconductedin the past 9 years.Two new industrial parksweredeveloped with a totalareaof1,500 ha,with full access to high-capacity utilities andpublic roads;moreover,the extension ofDebrecen International Airport and the con-structionofahigh-capacitytruckterminalandrailcontain

139、erterminalareinprogress.THE FLOURISHING BUSINESSENVIRONMENT OF DEBRECENSTANDING ON MULTIPLE FEETE-mobility,theautomotiveandbatteryindustryis growing dynamically,in 2018 BMW decidedtoinvestinDebrecen,followingitin2022theyannouncedtoexpandtheiriFactorywithabat-teryassemblyplant.ThefirstsuppliersofBMW,

140、EVE Power and ZF Chassis Modules alsoannouncedtheirinvestmentrecentlyinthecity.The biggest investment of 2022 in HungaryalsotookplaceinDebrecen:batterygiantCATLchose the city to build their second Europeanplant.Lithium-ion battery suppliers,SemcorpandEcoProhasalsostartedtheconstructionoftheirnewfaci

141、lityinthecity.The citys diversified economy is shown bythe presence of pharmaceutical companies,Teva,Gedeon Richter and the NationalVaccine Plant,as well as the Danish aircraftstructural component maintenance companySkywaysTechnics.Debrecen is an important business servicehub with a modern office st

142、ock of 125,500 m2where well-known business service centerssuchasDeutscheTelekomITSolutions,BritishTelecom and Flowserve employ 5,000 peo-ple,in a wide range of functions from IT,tele-communicationsandfinancialservicestohigh-value-added engineering activities.Besidesthat,three Big4 companies EY,Deloi

143、tte andPwCopenedtheirlocalofficeinDebrecen.Debrecenalsohasaplatformtohelpinterna-tionalssettledownandgetaroundwhilelivinginthecity,called“Debrecen4U”,whichoperatesa dedicated office providing assistance to allbusinessexpatprofessionalsandtheirfamiliestobeintegratedintothelocalcommunity.Thecityisseri

144、ouslycommittedtosustainableinvestmentsbothinurbanandindustrialareasconcerningenergetics,buildingmodernisation,air quality improvement,transportation,anddigitalliteracy.Toensuresustainability,compa-nies are encouraged to use environmentallyfriendly alternative utility resources,like usingpurified sew

145、age as industrial water and solarenergy.Severalcollaborationactivitiesforcom-paniesarealsoorganizedtoincreaseCSRactiv-ities,suchaswastecollectionandtreeplanting.STRONG TALENT POOLThe robust educational system and 1+millioninhabitants in the region provide a broadrange of qualification and language s

146、kill port-folio and experienced labour pool to servebusiness needs.Strategic partnership anddualtrainingopportunitieswiththeUniversityof Debrecen and the Debrecen VocationalCentre is also popular among companies.Deutsche Schule Debrecen started its opera-tionin2022,whereastheInternationalSchoolofDeb

147、recenhasbecomethefirstfully-accred-ited International Baccalaureate school inHungaryin2023.The growing population of the city justifiesDebrecens vision to increase the number ofinhabitants of the Debrecen MetropolitanArea by 10%until 2030.To align the labourmarket supply to demand,the Municipalityai

148、ms to increase the current students at localeducational institutions by 30%by 2030,withfocusontheskillsandknowledgerequiredbybusiness.LOCATION OF THE FUTUREDebrecens vision is to strengthen its domi-nant role as a cross-border economic,educa-tional,scientific,and cultural center in CEE,and to become

149、 one of the leading centers inthe e-mobility industry worldwide.Based onthis,Debrecenwillbeabletohaveakeyroleinsupporting the European carbon neutraltransformation.The available resources,includingstrongtalentpool,business-focusededucation system,cutting-edge businessinfrastructure,and the supportiv

150、e mindset ofthe city leaders ensures that this vision iswithinarmsreach.GrowwithDebrecen!EDC Debrecen Urban andEconomicDevelopmentCenterinvestedc.debrecen.hu,invest.debrecen.huSponsored bySPOTLIGHTONDEBRECENPARTNERCONTENTSPANISH CITIES WIN OUT,BUT THEIR BRITISH AND IRISH PEERSMAKE A MAKE A STRONG SH

151、OWINGEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners FDI Strategy(cities)mentinaresearchanddevelopmentcen-tre,slatedtocreate1000newjobs.Judges were impressed with thecitys bid to maintain its start-up strat-egy.For instance,Barcelonas BusinessSupport Office takes investors throughdue diligence

152、and facilitates reinvest-ment for small and medium enter-prises.Following a new start-up lawestablished in 2022,the city has alsomade moves to promote the start-upecosystem and make visas easier fornon-EU entrepreneurs,investors anddigitalnomads.Glasgow,UK Large citiesScotlands largest city moves up

153、 theranking to become the FDI StrategywinnerintheLargeCitiescategory.GlasgowhasbeennamedbytheUKgovernment as one of three recipientsoffundingfortheInnovationAccelerator programme.This pro-gramme is investing 100m in 26transformative research and develop-ment projects to accelerate the growthofthreeh

154、igh-potentialinnovationclus-ters,among them the Glasgow Cityregion.Its approach to innovation hasbeen to forge partnerships betweenacademia,industry,government andthe community,and has thereby cre-ated three innovation districts and fiveinnovationcentres.As a biotech and pharmaceuticalhub,the city b

155、oasts more than 200 lifescience companies and has supportedthe growth of medtech and other areasof research through the GlasgowBiocorridor,which brings togetherorganisations and businesses workingin this space.Last year,German phar-maceutical group Merck expanded itsbiosafetytestingoperationsinGlasg

156、owby opening a new 1200 sq m facility tohouse molecular biology and sequenc-ingservices.Newcastle,UK Mid-sized citiesNewcastle has clung onto its leaderposition for(continues page 28)26CITIES:FDISTRATEGYEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024The winners of this years FDIStrategy awards for cities we

157、reselected by a judging panelcomposedofleadingfiguresintheworldof foreign direct investment(FDI).Intotal,theyreviewedthesubmissionsofinvestmentpromotionagenciesfrom64Europeancitiesofallsizes.Barcelona kept its leading positionin the Major cities category,as didNewcastle and Limerick in the Mid-sized

158、 and Micro cities categories,respectively.New winners this yearinclude Glasgow and Cork in the UKandIreland,respectively.Barcelona,SpainMajorcitiesThe capital of Spains Catalonia regionwins top spot for FDI Strategy amongtheMajorcitiesinthisyearsranking.With technology as one of the citysmainpointso

159、fattraction,Barcelonacon-tinues to build on its clusters in super-computing,artificialintelligence,health-care and biotechnology.Last year,JapanesetechnologycompanyNTTDatainaugurated a new corporate headquar-tersinBarcelonasurbanrenewaldistrictknownas22.Meanwhile,UKpharma-ceutical and biotechnology

160、companyAstraZenecaannounceda800minvest-RANK CITYCOUNTRY1BarcelonaSpain2LondonUK3BerlinGermany=4DublinIreland=4MadridSpain=6MilanItaly=6MunichGermany8WarsawPoland9TbilisiGeorgiaTOP 9 MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYwww.fDiIFebruary/March 2024RANK CITYCOUNTRY1GlasgowUK2AntwerpBelgi

161、um3PortoPortugal=4BilbaoSpain=4GothenburgSweden6DsseldorfGermany7KatowicePoland8RotterdamNetherlands9IzmirTurkey10PoznaPolandTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Newcastle upon TyneUK2BelfastUK=3LeipzigGermany=3WrocawPoland5VilniusLithuania6RigaLatvia7dPoland8B

162、ydgoszczPoland9GenovaItalyTOP 9 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Cork CityIreland2BragaPortugal3DerbyUK4DebrecenHungary5DoncasterUK6MiddlesbroughUK7GdyniaPoland8KaunasLithuania=9KlaipdaLithuania=9ReykjavkIcelandTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 FD

163、I STRATEGYRANK CITYCOUNTRY1LimerickIreland2VentspilsLatvia3PanevysLithuania4TeanjBosnia-Herzegovina5Stara ZagoraBulgaria6JelgavaLatvia7KakanjBosnia-Herzegovina8WaterfordIreland9GradikaBosnia-Herzegovina10JastrebarskoCroatiaTOP 10 MICRO EUROPEAN CITIES OF THEFUTURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYCITIES:FDISTRATEGY

164、EUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024Standfirst copySPOTLIGHTONKATOWICEPARTNERCONTENTKATOWICENew technology,heritage and educationare the new blackAs the former capital of heavy industryKatowice,the central city of the GZMMetropolitanAreawith2.3Mresidents,hasturned over a new page and is now looki

165、ngtoamoresustainablefuture.With help of EU funds(over PLN 309 M)Katowice is renovating the old mine to trans-form it into the New Technologies District-Katowice Gaming and Technology Hub.It isplanning to open the old-new space toe-sports companies,TV producers and high-tech investors.The hub will be

166、 packed withthe state-of-the-art technology to cater to allexpectations while living up to the higheststandardsofsustainableofficespace.Thisisthethirdminewhichgotanewleaseof life,with Katowice coalmine being turnedinto Culture Zone and the facilities ofGottwald mine becoming a part of a shop-pingcen

167、tre.Developmentisinevitablesoout-dated ideas are abandoned to make place forthenewsolutions.Fortunately,heritageispre-served and returned to the community whileitsfunctionsareadaptedtothecurrentneeds.Withtheindustrialtraditionsandstrongworkethic still presentthecityisattractivetoinves-torswhoareinne

168、edofhighlyskilledgo-getters.In2024thereare105centres(evenmoreintheregion)which is the reason why Katowice hasfocusedoneducation.Togetherwithacademiaand business it is investing in development ofSponsored byskillsofitsyoungestresidentstopreparethemforthedemandsofthelabourmarket.Toshowstudentsvariousc

169、areeropportunities,inKatowicehavebeenintroducedfourprograms,including Corporate Readiness Certificate(byAccenture,EY,ING Hubs Poland and KyndrylGSDC)and international P-Tech(by FujitsuTechnologySolutionsandKyndrylGSDC),tothelocalschoolsanduniversities.Theyhighlightdif-ferentpathswhichhelpgraduatessm

170、oothlyenterthecorporatelife.Having in mind the importance of educationthecityjoinedforceswithsevenpublicuniversi-ties to apply for the title of the European City ofScience.Victoryhasconfirmeditsambitionsandstrengthenedtheresolutiontobecomethenewtechnology leader.The programme offers fiftyweeks of ex

171、periments and interactive work-shopswithbusinessinstitutionsengagingintheevents.Its goal is to foster inclusion andempowernextgenerationswhichwillcontributetodevelopmentofcompaniesandKatowice.Wanttoknowmore?Contactus:oikatowice.euorinvest.katowice.eu.PhotoTomaszSmogulski,SkyVisionPolskaFDIStrategyin

172、theMid-sizedcitiescat-egory,as a result of its commitment toniche sectors and to showcasing itselfas promoter of sustainable,inclusivedevelopment.All inward investors are stipulatedto sign up to the North of TyneCombined Authoritys Good WorkPledge,aframeworkthataimstobuilda business ecosystem that p

173、rovides agood quality of life and reduces ine-qualitiesamongcitizens.Newcastle was also the first city inthe UK to have a local authority,uni-versityandhealthcareservicedeclareaclimateemergencywithNewcastleCityCouncil,Newcastle University andNewcastle Hospitals NHS FoundationTrust all committing to

174、becomingNet Zero by 2030.The Net Zero 2030Forumisaplatformfortheprivatesec-tor to help play their part in the citysambitions.But the city is not planning to stopthere.According to its survey answer,the Invest Newcastle team is also look-ing to implement a new reportingframework to better understand

175、thesocial value created through newinvestmentsinthecity.Cork,IrelandSmallcitiesCork comes out on top of the SmallCitiescategoryforFDIStrategy,thankstoitscommitmenttoattractingforeigninvestment and making the city anexcitingplacetoliveandworkin.Within targeted sectors,such ashigh-valuemanufacturing,t

176、echnology,life sciences,business services andfinancialservices,Corkiscommittedtokeeping its roster of foreign investorswide-ranging.In November,US semiconductorcompanyQualcommannouncedthatitwill invest$127m to expand itsresearch and development facility atPenroseDockinCork.Elsewhere,US networking so

177、lu-tions company Netgear announcedthat it will expand its Cork headquar-ters and New Zealand-based dairycompany Fonterra announced a newresearch centre in the city,in partner-ship with APC Microbiome Ireland SFIResearch Centre,which is focused onmicrobiomeresearch.Cork City Council is keen to maketh

178、e city a vibrant hive of activitythrough co-working spaces,arts andculture and community-based activi-ties.It boasts eight co-working spacesdotted throughout the city.Many oftheseco-workingspacesarepartofthegovernments national network of con-nectedhubs.Limerick,Ireland Micro citiesLimerick kept its

179、 lead position in theMicro cities category,according to FDIStrategyinthisyearsranking.The city secured a win in the formof an investment worth 630m fromUS semiconductor company AnalogDevices,into its European regionalheadquarters in Limerick,reflectingthe city councils ability to attract andretainfo

180、reigninvestors.28CITIES:FDISTRATEGYEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024Newcastle has proved itselfa promoter of sustainable,inclusive development“NEWCASTLE HAS A STRONGTRACKRECORDFORATTRACTINGFDI AND THE LAST FEW YEARSHAVE SEEN RECORD RESULTS”JENNIFER HARTLEY,DIRECTOR,INVEST NEWCASTLEwww.fDiIFebr

181、uary/March 2024“BERLIN ONCE AGAINDEMONSTRATESTHE OUTSTANDING POTENTIALTHAT THE CITY OFFERS AS ACENTRAL EUROPEAN BUSINESSLOCATION”STEFAN FRANZKE,CEO,BERLIN PARTNERA life sciences and pharmaceuticalhub,Limerickisexpectedtoinvest1bnin enterprise and infrastructure invest-ment,in line with its Limerick

182、2030plan.Akeypartofthisistheemphasisithas placed on entrepreneurship.Innovate Limerick,its platform to spurinnovation ahead of the citys 2030 tar-gets,works with the start-up commu-nity,local and foreign businesses andacts as the glue between all three.Itscurrent projects at Innovate include:Engine,

183、Troy Film Studios Limerick,FilminLimerick,NAMCandRathkealeEnterpriseCentre.THE PARIS REGION SEEMS SECURE IN ITS LEADING POSITIONEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners Large regionsticketindustrialinvestments.Following on from Londons win infDis overall ranking,South EastEngland both be

184、nefits from the capi-tals global standing but has its ownregionalpointsofattraction.Overthecourseof2023,SouthEastEngland attracted 395 projects morethananyotherlargeregioninEurope.Outside of London,the regionincludesthecountiesofBuckinghamshire,EastSussex,Hampshire,the Isle of Wight,Kent,Oxfordshire

185、,Berkshire,Surrey andWest Sussex.Foreign investors havebeen keen to double down on existinginvestmentsintheseareas.In September,German carmakerBMWannouncedplanstoinvest600min Oxford and Swindon to upgrade itsproduction of Minis to all-electric.Elsewhere,US property developerPanattoniannouncedplansto

186、buildona22-acreindustrialsiteinWestSussexforalogisticsdevelopment.North Rhine-Westphalia,GermanyThe region of North Rhine-Westphaliahas clung onto its position in thirdplaceinthisyearsranking.Covering the cities of Cologne,Dsseldorf and Bonn,Germanys mostpopulous region is known for its busi-nesscen

187、tresandnaturallandscapes.As30REGIONSWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024ParisRegion(le-de-France,France)Paris Region(le-de-France)has heldits leading position among fDis rank-ingofLargeEuropeanregions,whichisdefined as those with those with a pop-ulationofmorethanfourmillion.In line with t

188、he trend observed in2022,some of the biggest investmentsintheParisRegionhavelandedoutsideParis,themetropolitanregionsbeatingheart.In October,Telehouse Europe,asubsidiary of Japan-based communica-tions firm KDDI,announced an invest-ment worth 250m to open a seconddata centre in Magny-les-Hameaux,whic

189、h lies south-west of Frances capi-tal.The data centre will serve custom-ersthroughoutEurope.As it is Frances most populousregion,the Paris Region is also thecountrys most affluent,accounting for31%of French gross domestic product(GDP)and ranking as one of the EUslocal authorities with the highest GD

190、Ppercapita.The Paris Region came first in theEconomic Potential,Human CapitalandLifestylesub-categories.SouthEastEngland,UKMaintaining its position as runner-up,the South East England region rankedsecond thanks to its long-standing rep-utation and ability to attract new big-the countrys top investme

191、nt location,roughly22,000foreigncompanieshaveinvested in the region.North Rhine-Westphalia counts logistics,automo-tive,real estate and renewable energyamongitsmajorsectors.Looking back at 2023,the regioncelebrates new transformative invest-ments alongside expansions.US cloth-ing manufacturer Levi S

192、trauss decidedtobuildagreenlogisticsfacilityonafor-mercoalmineinthetownofDorsten,inthenorthwestoftheregion,whileIndianIT group Tata Consultancy,a long-standing investor in North Rhine-Westphalia,has added a new regionaldeliverycentreinthecityofBonn.www.fDiIFebruary/March 2024PANATTONIPLANSTO BUILDA

193、22-ACRELOGISTICSDEVELOPMENTIN WESTSUSSEX31REGIONSWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024RANK CITYCOUNTRY1Paris Region(le-de-France)France2South East EnglandUK3North Rhine-WestphaliaGermany4BavariaGermany5Baden-WurttembergGermany6ScotlandUK7HesseGermany8CataloniaSpain9Comunidad de MadridSpain1

194、0East of EnglandUKTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Paris Region(le-de-France)France2North Rhine-WestphaliaGermany3South East EnglandUK4Comunidad de MadridSpain5ScotlandUK6Baden-WurttembergGermany7BavariaGermany8Masovian VoivodeshipPoland9Auvergne-Rhne-AlpesFran

195、ce10CataloniaSpainTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 HUMAN CAPITAL ANDLIFESTYLERANK CITYCOUNTRY1HesseGermany2East of EnglandUK3North Rhine-WestphaliaGermany4BavariaGermany5ScotlandUK6Lower SaxonyGermany7AndalusiaSpain8Provence-Alpes-Cote dAzur France9North West EnglandUK10Paris Region(l

196、e-de-France)FranceTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 CONNECTIVITYRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Paris Region(le-de-France)France2South East EnglandUK3BavariaGermany4Baden-WurttembergGermany5North Rhine-WestphaliaGermany6CataloniaSpain7ScotlandUK8Masovian VoivodeshipPoland9Comunidad de MadridSpain10Fl

197、andersBelgiumTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 ECONOMIC POTENTIALRANK CITYCOUNTRY1Ankara RegionTrkiye2Izmir RegionTrkiye3SilesianPoland4Masovian VoivodeshipPoland5AndalusiaSpain6Istanbul RegionTrkiye7Valencian CommunitySpain8CataloniaSpain9SaxonyFrance10Hauts-de-FranceFranceTOP 10 LARG

198、E EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK CITYCOUNTRY1South East EnglandUK2North Rhine-WestphaliaGermany3Paris Region(le-de-France)France4BavariaGermany5HesseGermany6ScotlandUK7Baden-WurttembergGermany8CataloniaSpain9East of EnglandUK10North West EnglandUKTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN REGI

199、ONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESSWinners:LargeEuropeanregions“THE RECOGNITION OF OUR ATTRACTIVENESSSTRATEGY ENCOURAGES US TO CONTINUEWORKING TOGETHER TO PROMOTE PARISREGION INTERNATIONALLY”LIONEL GROTTO,CEO,CHOOSE PARIS REGIONFebruary/March 2024www.fDiINORTH HOLLAND STAYS TOP BUT BERLIN CL

200、IMBS TO SECOND PLACEEuropean Cities and Regionsof the Future 2024Winners Mid-sizedregionsThe region spanning the Germancapital came out on top in the HumanCapital and Lifestyle sub-categoryand placed third in the EconomicPotential sub-category.One standout investment from2023wasDutchdeveloperVanCaem

201、s1bn investment in a 100 megawattdata centre in Berlin,which isexpected to become the largest in theregion,covering nearly 30,000 sq m.This makes Van Caem the biggestinvestor in the region to-date.Last year,its top FDI sectorsinclude software and IT services,business services,financial servicesand r

202、eal estate.Uusimaa,FinlandThe Finnish region of Uusimaa main-tains its third place position amongmid-sized European regions,thanksto its performance in the EconomicPotential and Connectivity sub-cate-gories.Finlands most populous region ishome to the countrys capitalHelsinki.In 2023,Uusimaa scored a

203、record amount of greenfield invest-ment,with an estimated$4.6bn inFDI inflows.The main boost camefrom Norways Blastr Green Steel,32REGIONSWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024North Holland,NetherlandsNorth Holland came out on top onceagain in fDis Mid-sized regions cate-gory,coveringthosewi

204、thapopulationbetween 1.5 million and four million.The coastal province in the north-west of the Netherlands is home toAmsterdamandHaarlem.Avitalpartof the Dutch economy,the Amster-dam Metropolitan Area alone countssome 3,100 international companies,according to government estimates.The region bagged

205、 a number ofheadquarter investments over thecourse of 2023.UK pharmaceuticalcompany AstraZenecas subsidiaryNeogene Therapeutics is opening anew European headquarters inAmsterdam,while Chinese automo-tive company Geelys premium EVbrand Zeekr relocated its Europeanheadquarters from Gothenburg,Sweden t

206、o Amsterdam.In fDis sub-categories,the regioncame out on top for EconomicPotential,Business Friendliness andConnectivity.Berlin Region,GermanyThe Berlin region rose in this yearsranking to place second in the Mid-sized regions category.which unveiled plans to invest 4bntoestablishagreensteelplantwit

207、hanintegrated hydrogen production facil-ity in Inkoo,just to the west ofHelsinki.It is expected to produce 2.5million tonnes of green steel annuallyand will serve markets in Europe.Berlin welcomed 1bn from Dutch developer Van Caemwww.fDiIFebruary/March 202434REGIONSWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFT

208、HEFUTURE2024RANK REGIONCOUNTRY1North HollandNetherlands2Berlin RegionGermany3UusimaaFinland4South HollandNetherlands5Capital Region of Denmark Denmark6Stockholm CountySweden7Canton of ZrichSwitzerland8Hamburg RegionGermany9North BrabantNetherlands10Bucuresti-IlfovRomaniaTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN REG

209、IONS OFTHE FUTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Berlin RegionGermany2Stockholm CountySweden3Vienna RegionAustria4South HollandNetherlands5North HollandNetherlands6Lisboa RegionPortugal7Bucuresti-IlfovRomania8Capital Region of Denmark Denmark9Hamburg RegionGermany10AtticaGreeceTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROP

210、EAN REGIONS OFTHE FUTURE 2024 HUMAN CAPITAL ANDLIFESTYLERANK REGIONCOUNTRY1North HollandNetherlands2WalloniaBelgium3North BrabantNetherlands4Canary IslandsSpain5North East EnglandUK6South HollandNetherlands7Hamburg RegionGermany8Basque CountrySpain9UusimaaFinland10Capital Region of Denmark DenmarkTO

211、P 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN REGIONS OFTHE FUTURE 2024 CONNECTIVITYRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1North HollandNetherlands2Capital Region of Denmark Denmark3Berlin RegionGermany4UusimaaFinland5Stockholm CountySweden6Canton of ZrichSwitzerland7Hamburg RegionGermany8South HollandNetherlands9Bucuresti-IlfovRomania10Nor

212、th BrabantNetherlandsTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN REGIONS OFTHE FUTURE 2024 ECONOMIC POTENTIALRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1BosniaBosnia-Herzegovina2Kocaeli RegionTrkiye3Sud-EstRomania4Nord-EstRomania5Sud-VestRomania6SudRomania7CentruRomania8Nord-VestRomania9VestRomania10Kyiv OblastUkraineTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEA

213、N REGIONS OFTHE FUTURE 2024 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1North HollandNetherlands2Lower SilesianPoland3Berlin RegionGermany4Lesser PolandPoland5South HollandNetherlands6Greater PolandPoland7Pomeranian VoivodeshipPoland8Canton of ZrichSwitzerland9North East EnglandUK10d RegionPolandTOP 10 MID

214、-SIZED EUROPEAN REGIONS OFTHE FUTURE 2024 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESSWinners:Mid-sizedEuropeanregionswww.fDiIFebruary/March 2024“BRABANT STANDSOUT AS ONE OF THEMOST INNOVATIVE,SMART,ANDFAST-GROWINGECONOMIES IN THENETHERLANDS”BRIGIT VAN DIJK VAN DEREIJT,CEO,BRABANTDEVELOPMENT AGENCYEuropean Cities and Regi

215、onsof the Future 2024Winners Small regionsout on top for Human Capital andLifestyle in fDis sub-category andplacedinthetop10forConnectivity.AccordingtofDiMarkets,theregionsecured its first renewable energyinvestment for a decade.Polish powerutilityPolenergiasphotovoltaicsubsidi-ary opened an office

216、in Prague in 2023,whichwillservethedomesticmarket.LuxembourgThe region including and surroundingthe financial hub of Luxembourg hasreached podium-position this year,thanks to its world-class talent,globalstanding as a financial hub and pro-businessgovernment.Nearly three-quarters of the pro-jects re

217、corded into the Luxembourgregion have flown into the city ofLuxembourg.The regions top FDI sec-tors are financial services,software andIT services and business services.Itplaced in the top three for EconomicPotentialinfDissub-category.Irish mobile and cloud securitycompany CWSI announced that it wil

218、lexpand its office in Capellen,a town inthe southwest of the country,as part ofits plans to expand across Ireland,UK,Belgium,LuxembourgandtheNetherlandsby2026.REGIONSWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024DublinRegion,IrelandOnceagain,CountyDublinhaswonfDiscategory for European Small Regions

219、oftheFuture,definedasthosewithapop-ulationoflessthan1.5million.As Irelands economic engine room,the region benefits from a deep talentpool,established reputation and busi-nessinfrastructure.Lastyear,onenota-bleinvestmentoutsideDublinitselfwasUK industrial developer Chancerygatesplans to establish th

220、e Airport TradePark development in Swords,a town10kmtothenorthofDublin.Morethanhalfofthegreenfieldpro-jects into Ireland between January andNovember 2023 were recorded inCounty Dublin.In fDis sub-categories,the region secured top spot among itsEuropean peers for Economic PotentialandBusinessFriendli

221、ness.PragueRegion,CzechRepublicMoving up a position this year,thePrague Region secured second placethanks to its skilled workforce,centrallocationinEuropeandinfrastructure.Its top foreign investment sectorsarerealestate,softwareandITservices,and transport and warehousing,withrealestateaccountingforn

222、early30%ofits inflows since 2014.The region came35DUBLIN REGION STAYS TOP,WHILE THE PRAGUE REGION CLIMBS ONE PLACELuxembourg city accounts for almost three-quarters of new projects in the regionFebruary/March 2024www.fDiI36RANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Dublin RegionIreland2Prague RegionCzech Republic3Luxembour

223、g RegionLuxembourg4Oslo CountyNorway5Vilnius CountyLithuania6Skane CountySweden7South-West RegionIreland8Canton of GenevaSwitzerland9Canton of ZugSwitzerland10Brussels Capital regionBelgiumTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 OVERALLRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Prague RegionCzech Republic2Oslo Coun

224、tyNorway3Skane CountySweden4Canton of VaudSwitzerland5Riga RegionLatvia6Vilnius CountyLithuania7Dublin RegionIreland8Sofia CityBulgaria9Utrecht(province)Netherlands10Bratislava RegionSlovakiaTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 HUMAN CAPITAL ANDLIFESTYLERANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Balearic Islands

225、Spain2Skane CountySweden3Southern DenmarkDenmark4Rogaland countyNorway5Canton of GenevaSwitzerland6Brussels Capital regionBelgium7Bremen RegionGermany8Limburg RegionNetherlands9Oslo CountyNorway10Prague RegionCzech RepublicTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 CONNECTIVITYRANK REGIONCOUNTR

226、Y1Dublin RegionIreland2South-West RegionIreland3LuxembourgLuxembourg4Canton of ZugSwitzerland5Oslo CountyNorway6Prague RegionCzech Republic7Canton of VaudSwitzerland8Canton of GenevaSwitzerland9Brussels Capital regionBelgium10Vilnius CountyLithuaniaTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 ECO

227、NOMIC POTENTIALRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Ruse ProvinceBulgaria2Stara ZagoraBulgaria3Burgas ProvinceBulgaria4Skopje Statistical RegionNorth Macedonia5Varna ProvinceBulgaria6Plovdiv ProvinceBulgaria7Sofia ProvinceBulgaria8Sofia City ProvinceBulgaria9Kaunas CountyLithuania10Vilnius CountyLithuaniaTOP 10 SMALL

228、 EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 COST EFFECTIVENESSRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Dublin RegionIreland2Prague RegionCzech Republic3Harju CountyEstonia4Canton of ZugSwitzerland5Luxembourg RegionLuxembourg6Bratislava RegionSlovakia7Vilnius CountyLithuania8UtrechtNetherlands9Sofia City ProvinceBulgaria10Brussel

229、s Capital regionBelgiumTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 BUSINESS FRIENDLINESSWinners:SmallEuropeanregionsREGIONSWINNERSEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024www.fDiIFebruary/March 2024THE PARIS REGION AND NORTHERN IRELANDCONTINUED TO IMPRESS THE JUDGESEuropean Cities and Regionsof th

230、e Future 2024Winners FDI Strategy(regions)ing FDI on its environmental,socialandgovernance(ESG)policies,andfis-cal impacts in line with consultancyRolandBerger.With a vibrant tech scene,theregion counts some 12,000 start-upsand more than 250 incubators andaccelerators.The regions sectors ofinteresti

231、nclude:mobility,inparticularsustainable electric or hydrogen trans-port;cleantech;energy;sustainablecit-ies;health;plant-based food and thecircular economy;IT services;andfinancialservices.Northern Ireland,UKNorthern Ireland has once againwon the FDI Strategy award for Mid-sizedregionsin2023,thankst

232、oseveralinitiatives that caught the judgesattention.Amongsuchinitiativesistheglobaldiaspora initiative for the region:Northern Irish Connections.Its funda-mental aim is to engage with theNorthern Irish diaspora globally,so asto bring that talent and entrepreneur-ship back to the region and boostgrow

233、th.The regions investment promotionagency Invest NI also published its ESGstrategy framework last year.Its ESGambitionsupto2030includethedecar-bonisation of its own and its clientsoperations,and the establishment of acirculareconomyinNorthernIreland.Mid-West Region,IrelandIrelands Mid-West Region cl

234、imbed tothe top spot in the FDI strategy cate-goryforSmallregions,onaccountofanimpressive plan to boost investmentoutsideofDublin.With more companies looking tolocate to regions outside of Dublin and38REGIONS:FDISTRATEGYEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024ThewinnersofthisyearsregionalFDIStrategya

235、wardswerechosenfrom a pool of 48 investmentpromotion agencies.Once again,thejudgesconsideredParisRegion(le-de-France)to have the best foreign directinvestment(FDI)strategy amongthe large regions.In a similar vein,Northern Ireland kept its crown in theMid-sizedregioncategoryandIrelandsMidwest region

236、climbed to have theforemost FDI strategy among smallEuropeanregions.ParisRegion(le-de-France),FranceFollowing on from last year,when itreceived the FDI Strategy award forlargeregionsalongsideSpainsCatalonia,the Paris Region continuedto impress the judges in this yearsEuropeancitiesranking.In additio

237、n to all the reasons out-lined above for it winning fDis LargeEuropean region of the future,theregion surrounding the French capitalhas also sought to actively engage inassessing its own economic develop-mentstrategies.Itsinvestmentpromo-tion agency Choose Paris Region hasalso started looking at way

238、s at evaluat-www.fDiIFebruary/March 2024THEPARISREGIONCOUNTSSOME12,000START-UPSANDMORETHAN250INCUBATORSANDACCELERATORS“NORTHERN IRELAND IS NOW THEONLY REGION IN THE WORLD WITHTARIFF-FREE ACCESS TO BOTH THEGB AND EU MARKETS”STEVE HARPER,EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS&SKILLS,INVEST NI“THE R

239、EGION IS A PLACE WHEREBUSINESSES CAN THRIVE IN ASUPPORTIVE,FORWARD-LOOKING,AND OPEN-MINDED ENVIRONMENT”SONJA WOLLKOPF WALT,MANAGING DIRECTOR,GREATER ZRICH AREAavail themselves of remote working,IDA Ireland,the countrys investmentpromotion agency,introduced aregional property programme toensure the s

240、upply of land,buildingsandinfrastructureinregionallocationsas required by current and prospectiveclients.This has allowed companies,new and existing,to invest more easilyinregionallocations,suchasLimerick.Following US pharmaceutical com-panyEliLillys$1bnbiopharmaceuticalfacility in Limerick,announce

241、d in2022,the region welcomed US semi-conductor company Analog Devicessinjection of 630m into its Europeanregional headquarters in Limerick in2023.Elsewhere,Danish energy com-pany rsted announced in 2023 that itwill develop a 43.2 megawatt windfarminCountyTipperary.Covering the counties of Limerick,C

242、lareandTipperary,theregionishometo pharmaceuticals,medical devices,renewable energy,semiconductors,software and IT services,among othersectors.REGIONS:FDISTRATEGYEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024SPOTLIGHTONCORKPARTNERCONTENTECONOMICSTRENGTHCork City has been included in the top 10 ofvarious ca

243、tegories in fDis Small EuropeanCitiesoftheFuture2023awardsandhasbeennamedastheno.1SmallEuropeanCityoftheFuture2024 forFDIStrategy.Located in Irelands southwest region,CorkCity is Irelands second largest city home to apopulationof222,333peoplewhichisexpectedtoincreaseby50-60%overthenext20years.Contri

244、buting roughly 20%of Irelands nationalGDP Cork City is Irelands second largest eco-nomicdriver.Corkishometoover200multinationalcompa-niesincluding7ofthetop10globalpharmaceuti-cal companies which form a stunning cluster ofmedicaldevicesandbiopharmacompanieswhoare driving the future of healthcare,such

245、 asBostonScientific,Johnson&Johnson,andStryker.Therearealsomanyindigenousandmultinationalfirmsoperatinginthesoftware,lifesciences,finan-cial,businessservices,engineering,agri-food,andmaritimesectorsandCorkisprivilegedtohosttheEuropeanheadquartersofAppleandNetApp.CorkCitywasalsoawardedthirdplaceinthe

246、EuropeanRisingInnovativeCitycategoryatthe2023EuropeanCapitalofInnovationAwards.Human Capital and SkillsGlobal leaders are attracted by Cork Citys hotbed of skills and talent,many of whom havebeenprimedbyanimpactfulthird-leveleduca-tionsystemdrivenbytwoofIrelandsmostpres-tigiousuniversities,Universit

247、yCollegeCork,andMunster Technological University.There areover35,000studentsenrolledinbothuniversi-ties which produce over 10,000 ambitious andmotivatedscience,engineering,technology,andbusinessgraduatesayear.Quality InfrastructureCorkCityisacriticalcentreofgrowthinIrelandsNationalDevelopmentPlanand

248、willsignificantlydevelopscaleandcapabilityasakeyeconomicdriverforIreland.Asaresult,significantinvest-ments have been made by regional,national,and international property developers andagentsmostnotablyintheCorkCityDocklandsredevelopmentwhichisonethelargestredevel-opmentsinEurope.Cork City offers a v

249、ariety of prime Grade Aand LEED Dynamic office spaces which are30-50%cheaper than Dublin.The continueddevelopment and investment in high-qualityofficespacesinCorkCitysignalsconfidenceforcontinuedeconomicgrowthandjobcreation.ConnectivityCorkCityiswellconnected,agatewaytoEuropeforcenturies,CorkCitysco

250、nnectivityisboostedbyIrelandssecondlargestairport,Corkairport.CorkAirportislocatedjust7kmoutsidethecitywhich provides access to almost 50 interna-tionaldestinations.ContactJohnCrottyWeareCorkjohn_crottycorkcity.iewww.wearecork.ieSponsored by40RANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Paris Region(le-de-France)France2West

251、MidlandsUK3North Rhine-WestphaliaGermany4CataloniaSpain5Emilia-RomagnaItaly6PiemonteItaly7LombardyItaly8MadridSpain9SilesiaPoland10AndalusiaSpainTOP 10 LARGE EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Northern IrelandUK2BrabantNetherlands3Greater Zrich AreaSwitzerland4TuscanyI

252、taly5PomeraniaPoland6West YorkshireUK7DnipropetrovskUkraine8Northern NetherlandsNetherlands9MalopolskaPoland10Aix-Marseille-ProvenceFranceTOP 10 MID-SIZED EUROPEAN REGIONS OFTHE FUTURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYRANK REGIONCOUNTRY1Mid-West Region of Ireland Ireland2The West of IrelandIreland3LeipzigGermany4Ir

253、eland South EastIreland5LimburgNetherlands=6HighlandScotland=6Krapina Zagorje CountyCroatia8The Midlands RegionIrelandof Ireland9Stara ZagoraBulgaria10Basel AreaSwitzerlandTOP 10 SMALL EUROPEAN REGIONS OF THEFUTURE 2024 FDI STRATEGYREGIONS:FDISTRATEGYEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024Analog Dev

254、ices investeda further 630m inLimerick in 2023www.fDiIFebruary/March 2024“THIS UNDERLINESOUR COMMITMENTTO SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT ANDSTRENGTHENS THEDISTRICT OF LEIPZIGAS A LEADINGLOCATION FORFORWARD-LOOKINGINVESTMENTS”HENRY GRAICHEN,DISTRICTADMINISTRATOR LEIPZIGJUDGESEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTU

255、RE202441JUDGING PANELCarolinaArriagada PetersCarolinaArriagadaPeters is one of the veryfew FDI consultantsspecialisedinthecompleteinvestorlifecycle.As MD ofCities&Collaborationand training ,she is a sought-aftersenior advisor and trainer for investmentpromotion and economic developmenthelping them“m

256、aster FDI faster”.Herbook Investment Aftercare Explained hasbecome the reference guide for aftercarepractitionersaroundtheworld.JacopoDettoniJacopo Dettoni is theeditor of fDi Intelli-gence,where he leadsthe titles multimediaeditorial coverage andstrategic development.Prior to joining fDi,helived an

257、d reported inEurope,Asia and Latin America,coveringsome of the worlds fastest-growingeconomiesforinternationalmedia.Heisaregular speaker and moderator at eventsdiscussing the perks and perils of globaltrade and investment.He holds a mastersdegree in economics and finance from theCatholic University

258、of Milan,Italy,wherehe focused on trade policies and economicwelfare.Sean DugganSean Duggan is a direc-tor with a specialistlocation developmentconsultancy,ILSAConsulting.He is an economistand investment promo-tion specialist.He hasmore than 35 years experience in eco-nomic and industry policy and s

259、trategy.This includes more than 20 years experi-ence in economic and location develop-ment and competitiveness,and invest-mentpromotion.During his career,Sean has deliveredmore than 140 programmes and projectsin 30 countries,working with numerousgovernment,economic development,andinvestmentpromotion

260、organisations.Currently on a gap decade,Seans focusin on working in good sandpits with arangeofgoodpeopleandinterestingtoys.Judith ODohertyJudith ODoherty is theFounderofeutopia.eutopiaprovidesplace-based analyticsand marketing servicestolocalgovernmentandeconomic developers tod i r e c tp l a c ede

261、velopment activities,enhance placemarketing and support effective placemanagementtoimprovecompetitiveness.Judith has more than 20 yearsexperience in investment promotion inboth the private and public sector withorganisations including OCO Global,Wavteq and Invest Northern Ireland.Judith works with a

262、 range of clients acrossEurope and the US to enhance theirinvestment propositions and has leddevelopment of place and economicbrands for cities and regions.eutopia hasdeveloped a unique methodology forranking places as areas in which to invest,live,visitandstudy.Seth OFarrellSeth OFarrell is globali

263、nvestmentreporterforfDiIntelligence,aspecialistpublicationatthe Financial Times,wherehecoversforeigndirect investment andgeopoliticswithaparticular focus on renewable energy andChina.HepreviouslyworkedatMandateWire,another FT Specialistpublication,reporting on institutionalinvestors in Italy,the UK

264、and France.Hespeaks French,Mandarin and Italian andholds a degree in Modern Languages fromtheUniversityofOxford.February/March 2024www.fDiI42ECONOMICPOTENTIAL Populationgrowthrate Unemploymentrate(%)Inflation GDP(PPPcurrentintl$)(millions)GDPpercapita(PPPcurrentintl$)GDPForecast(averageannualgrowthr

265、ate,%)(2021-2026)GDPaverageannualgrowthrate(%)OutwardFDI(H22018H12023)OutwardFDIper100,000people(H22018H12023)InwardFDI(H22018H12023)InwardFDIper100,000people(H22018H12023)NominalgrowthininwardFDIprojectsper100,000people(October2012September2017)vs(October2018September2023)InwardFDIinR&DandDDTper100

266、,000people(H22018H12023)InwardFDIinadvancedmanufacturingper100,000people(H22018H12023)Numberofmegaprojectsbyjobs(over1000jobs)Numberofmegaprojectsbycapex(over$100m)(H22018H12023)per100,000people Numberofmegaprojectsbycapex(over$100m)Numberofmegaprojectsbyjobs(over1000jobs)(H22018H12023)per100,000peo

267、pleDATA POINTS CapitalexpenditureonR&Dprojects($)(H22018H12023)Numberofpatents20132022 Numberofpatentsper100,000people2013-2022HUMANCAPITALANDLIFESTYLE Labourforceparticipationrate,total(%oftotalpopulationages15+)(modelledILOestimate)Secondaryeducationalattainment Tertiaryeducationalattainment Educa

268、tionexpenditure(%ofGDP)Numberofstudents Numberofstudentsper100,000people Numberofhighereducationinstitutions Numberofhighereducationinstitutionsper100,000people NumberofIBSchools NumberofTop500Universities Overqualificationratesbyeconomicactivity Lifeexpectancy SocialProgressIndex HumanDevelopmentIn

269、dex Numberofphysiciansper1000people Easeoffindingskilledemployees NumberofbusinessschoolsinGlobalMBArankings LiteracyrateCOSTEFFECTIVENESS Averageannualsalary($)forasemi-skilledworker Averageannualsalary($)foraskilledworker AnnualrentforprimeGradeAofficespace($persqm)AnnualrentforprimeGradeAindustri

270、alspace($persqm)4*/5*hotelincitycentre($pernight)Minimumwage($)Bankoverheadcosts,%oftotalassets Householdconsumption:pricelevelsin2022 CostofLivingIndex Petrolprices($)Costofelectricity($perkwH)Corporationtaxrate(%)VAT/commonindirecttaxrate(%)Taxas%ofGDPCONNECTIVITY Uploadspeed(mb/s)Downloadspeed(mb

271、/s)MobileConnectivityIndex Numberofairportswithin80kmofthecity Numberofinternationaldestinationsserved Distancetonearestinternationalairport(km)Numberofportswithin100km(medium+)Logisticsperformanceindex NetworkReadinessIndex EnvironmentalPerformanceIndex LPIInfrastructureScore Averagecommutetime Rai

272、lnetwork Companiesinthetransportationsectorper100,000peopleBUSINESSFRIENDLINESS Totalnumberofcompanieswithintheknowledge-basedsector2023 Proportionofcompanieswithintheknowledge-basedsector2023 Totalnumberofcompanieswithintheknowledge-basedsector2023(per100,000people)NumberofjobscreatedbyallinwardFDI

273、(H22018H12023)NumberofjobscreatedbyallinwardFDIper100,000people(H22018H12023)Numberofexpansion/colocationprojectsper100,000people(H22018H12023)FragileStatesIndex Numberoftop1000WorldBanks Corporationtaxrate(%)EnterpriseConditionsIndex(LegatumInstitute)IndexofEconomicFreedom CorruptionPerceptionIndex

274、 InvestmentEnvironmentIndex(Legatum)SafetyandSecurityIndex(LegatumInstitute)CreditratingTo create a shortlist for fDis EuropeanCities and Regions of the Future 2024,the fDi Intelligence division of theFinancialTimes collected data using thespecialist online FDI tools fDiBenchmark and fDi Markets as

275、well asother sources.Data was collected for509 locations(330 cities,141 regionsand 38 LEPs),under five categories:Economic Potential,Human Capitaland Lifestyle,Cost Effectiveness,ConnectivityandBusinessFriendliness.Locations scored up to a maximum of10 points for each data point,whichwere weighted b

276、y importance to theFDI decision making process to com-pile the sub-category rankings as wellas the overall European Cities andRegionsoftheFuture2024ranking.In addition,surveys were collectedunderasixthcategory,FDIStrategy,forwhich there were 117 submissions.Inthis category,locations submitteddetails

277、abouttheirstrategyforpromot-ingFDI,whichwasthenscoredbyfDisjudgingpanel.Bonuspointswereawardedtoloca-tions ranking in the top 10 for FDIStrategywithintheirpopulationbrack-METHODOLOGYets.The highest-ranking location wasawarded an extra one point,on a slid-ing scale to 10th position,which wasawardedan

278、additional0.1point.Bonuspointscontributedtothescoresfortheoverall results tables,but not the fivecategoriesasmentionedabove.PopulationcategoriesmethodologyTo categorise cities,fDi consideredboth the population of the immediatecity and that of the larger urban zone(LUZ).In addition,where locationswer

279、e in the large or major categories,we took into consideration the loca-tions receipt of FDI as a percentage ofthecountrysoveralltotal.City size categoriesMajor cities:The cities in this categoryhad an immediate city population ofmore than 750,000 plus a LUZ of morethan 2 million,or a LUZ of over 4 m

280、il-lionLarge cities:Cities with an immediatecity population over 500,000 plus aLUZ of over 1 million,or a LUZ over 2millionpeopleMid-sized cities:Cities with an immedi-atecitypopulationover200,000plusaLUZover750,000,oranimmediatecitypopulationover350,000Small cities:Cities with an immediatecity popu

281、lation between 100,000 and350,000Micro cities:Cities with an immediatecitypopulationbelow100,000City FDI parametersWhere a capital city was not classed asmajor by its population,we looked atits inward FDI figures.Any capital citywith a LUZ of over 1 million whichreceivedmorethan30%ofitscountrysFDI w

282、as upgraded to the Major cate-gory.Inaddition,welookedatFDIstatsfor any non-capital cities whose popu-lations classed as Major.Any citywhich received less than 10%of itscountrysFDIwasclassedasLarge.Regional size categoriesLargeregions:More than 4 million peo-pleMid-sized regions:Between 1.5 and 4millionpeopleSmall regions:Fewer than 1.5 millionpeopleMETHODOLOGYEUROPEANCITIESANDREGIONSOFTHEFUTURE2024www.fDiIFebruary/March 2024