Derby’s investment strategy named one of the best in Europe by FT

Derby’s strategy for attracting overseas investment to the city has been named as one of the best in Europe in rankings compiled by the Financial Times.

Part of Marketing Derby’s Invest in Derby service involves attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to the city.

And in the prestigious Financial Times’ fDi European Cities and Regions of the Future 2023 rankings, Derby has been placed fourth within the Top 10 Small European Cities for FDI Strategy category, which recognises the cities who have devised the strongest strategy for attracting investment.

Derby is ranked alongside other cities in countries across Europe, including Portugal, Ireland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, said: “This is fantastic news for Derby. Being awarded fourth place in Europe at this year’s awards helps illustrate our strong FDI strategy, which is based on strong relationships with foreign-owned local companies and a robust customer-focussed approach to enquiries.

“The award further solidifies Derby’s status as a key city for the future at an exciting time, with internationally owned companies such as Vaillant, St. Modwen Logistics and others, recently investing over £100 million into Derby, creating more than 500 jobs in new R&D, HQ and production facilities.”

Derby and Derbyshire also enjoyed success in a category, which recognised the efforts of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).

The D2N2 LEP (Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) was ranked 10th in the Cost Effectiveness category.

fDi Intelligence is a service from the Financial Times and is the largest Foreign Direct Investment centre of excellence globally.

The rankings are one of the industry’s most prominent benchmarks of FDI competitiveness, measuring economic, financial, and business strengths.

For this year’s rankings, fDi’s research team assessed data from 549 locations across Europe, made up of 370 cities, 141 regions and 38 LEPs.

Both awards will be presented at a ceremony to be held at MIPIM, the global property fair that is set to take place in Cannes, in the south of France, next month.