Rachel Craig
In a more competitive climate than ever, with total foreign direct investment in Europe falling by more than 7% in 2011, London has maintained its title as fDi Magazine’s European City of the Future 2012/13. The Greater Stockholm region has overtaken the South East UK to become the European Region of the Future.
London has maintained its title as fDi Magazine’s European City of the Future 2012/13, having claimed the top spot in the previous two rankings. The UK capital is followed by Paris in second place and Vienna in third. Other UK cities that have made it into the top 10 are Reading and Cambridge, in fifth and seventh places, respectively. Germany is represented by Munich (sixth) and Berlin (ninth), and Moscow, Dublin and Stockholm also feature in the top 10.
London continues to be the largest recipient of FDI in Europe; the city received 376 greenfield FDI projects in 2011, according to data from fDi Markets – an increase of 16% on the number of projects recorded in 2010 and its highest annual figure since the company started data collection in 2003. London also topped the human resources, business friendliness and infrastructure categories. Even though it is not part of mainland Europe, London remains the most accessible city thanks to direct flights to more than 300 destinations and its proximity to large ports.
Vienna was the highest ranking European city of the future for economic potential and scored strongly because of its relative stability and innovative environment, with one of the largest number of patents granted of the cities in the competition. Oslo was the best European city of the future for quality of life. Berlin has been ranked by the independent judging panel as the best European city of the future for FDI promotion strategy and Antwerp in Belgium followed closely in second place.
