Dublin, Singapore and London have been crowned fDi’s global cities of the future.
Singapore has been crowned fDi’s Global City of the Future, marking the third successive victory for the Asian city-state.
London and Dublin have retained their positions in second and third, respectively, but the gap between them is closing.
Globally, although FDI projects have increased slightly between 2015 and 2017, the size of both the investment value and the number of jobs has decreased.
Their index projects that in 2016, the average capital investment was $58.1m, while the average number of jobs per investment was 151, but by 2017, this had dropped to $47.3m and 135 jobs.
The battle of two
Since fDi Markets records began in 2003, Singapore and London are the top destinations for foreign investment globally, accounting for almost 5% of all investment.
Between 2008 and 2014, Singapore accounted for a larger share of global FDI than London, however London overtook Singapore in 2015, taking 3.34% of global FDI (Singapore’s figure was 2.67%).
Between 2015 and 2017, the gap between the two cities narrowed, and data to date for 2018 suggests that Singapore is set to overtake London soon enough.
London strong
Despite facing a period of political and economic change, London ranks second overall.
London received the highest number of FDI projects globally between 2013 and 2017, while also notching up the highest number of outward FDI projects.
Also, six international airports are located within 80 kilometres of the UK capital, which remains the world’s most connected city with over 335 international destinations directly accessible, helping it to rank first in the Connectivity category.
London is also the Airbnb capital of the world.
Dublin rising
Dublin has been ranked as the number one large city in the world for foreign direct investment (FDI).
The Irish capital also ranked number two globally for ‘business friendliness’, entering the top ten in the category ‘Large Cities for Human Capital and Lifestyle’ as well.
Dublin boasts the highest level of FDI on a per capita basis of all locations in the study. The city has established a reputation as a software and IT hub, with major investments in recent years from US software giants including Facebook and Google.
Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council said that results of the report highlight a “phenomenal achievement” for the city.
“International rankings are an important benchmark to rate Dublin’s economic performance against our international peers, and we’re delighted to see that not only have we retained our overall third position globally, we’ve topped the category for our size and for economic potential.”
