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Multiple Irish cities earned high rankings in a new report, which benchmarked locations for their attractiveness to FDI.
Dublin has once again been ranked as one of the top European cities for investment, according to a report published today (17 February).
FDI Intelligence, which is part of the Financial Times portfolio, assessed 356 European cities and grouped them by population size into five categories: major, large, mid-sized, small and micro. 148 European regions were also assessed based on small, mid-sized and large categories.
The report, European Cities and Regions of the Future 2022/23, looked at the most promising investment destinations across Europe in a number of categories.
Dublin was ranked fourth overall among major European cities, behind London, Amsterdam and Paris. It also came third in the business friendliness and economic potential categories. In the 2021 and 2020 Tech Cities of the Future reports, Dublin was ranked third overall behind London and Paris.
London was ranked first overall in this latest report and in all categories except for cost effectiveness, where it wasn’t on the top 10 list.
Commenting on the results, FDI Intelligence said: “While London confirmed its investment appeal, competition from peers across the continent has intensified as the likes of Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris and Frankfurt were successful in intercepting some of the companies that relocated from the UK in the wake of Brexit.”
How other Irish cities and regions fared
The Dublin region also took the spot among European regions with fewer than 1.5m people. It was ranked highest overall and came top in terms of economic potential and business friendliness.
The report said the Dublin region had the largest inward foreign direct investment in this category, with 672 projects recorded between October 2016 and September 2021. It pointed to investments such as LinkedIn’s Dublin expansion.
“Dublin City Council has and will continue to pay a key role supporting the city particularly as the economy and society begins to reopen,” Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan said in the report.
Cork ranked second overall in the list of small European cities, and reached the top place in terms of economic potential. Belfast came 10th in the overall mid-sized city ranking, scoring well for its FDI strategy.
Ireland saw a lot of success in the micro cities ranking, with Shannon, Limerick and Galway all being named in the top five spots overall. Dundalk ranked ninth overall, while Athlone came ninth in the economic potential category.
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