Cork ranks 1st for economic potential in Financial Times FDI European Cities & Regions of Future league
22nd February 2022
Cork City Council has welcomed the news that Cork City has been awarded 2nd in the overall ranking of this year’s fDi Intelligence European Cities and Regions of the Future 2022/2023 , Small European cities category published by the Financial Times. This year, Cork achieved a higher ranking than cities such as Geneva and Cambridge.
Cork City competed in the Small European Cities category and was ranked across several different categories, placing 1st for Economic Potential, 6th for Business Friendliness and 7th for the city’s FDI Strategy.
Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Colm Kelleher commented, “This is fantastic news for Cork. These results speak for themselves. As the fastest growing city in the country, Cork is experiencing a great deal of investment at both a national and international level and continues to be the home to major multinational companies across sectors such as Pharma and IT. The Government has committed a further €2 billion that will continue to improve infrastructure and the public realm in the city ensuring that Cork will be the city of choice for those looking to invest internationally".
Cork City Council Chief Executive, Ann Doherty added: “We are delighted to see Cork being ranked so highly in this year’s fDi Intelligence European Cities and Regions of the Future rankings. Cork City Council is proud to continue to work closely with key stakeholders such as IDA Ireland, UCC, MTU Enterprise Ireland and Cork County Council to make Cork a global investment capital where businesses are enabled to grow and thrive. Cork is experiencing exponential growth and is proud to be home to more than 194 FDI employers. These rankings represent the value that multinational companies place on Cork and its citizens and also highlights that Cork is a city that both companies and people continue to choose to work, live, study and invest in”.
fDi’ European Cities and Regions of the Future 2022/23 benchmarked locations for their attractiveness to foreign direct investment (FDI). As many as 356 cities were assessed and grouped by population size into five: major, large, mid-sized, small, and micro cities. They were then ranked based on data collected across five subcategories: economic potential, business friendliness, connectivity, human capital and lifestyle, and cost-effectiveness.
In recent years Cork City has performed exceptionally well in attracting some of the world’s top companies across a variety of industries thanks to the work being done by Cork City Council and other city stakeholders to develop Cork City as a top European city to work and invest. These strong rankings show that Cork is beginning to gain international recognition and the future looks bright for the City.