Dublin ranked number one large city in the world for foreign direct investment

Dublin retains overall third place position in the ‘Global Cities of the Future 2018/2019’ report

Dublin has been ranked the number one large city in the world for foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the ‘Global Cities of the Future 2018/2019’ report. The report is published by fDi Intelligence, which is part of the Financial Times portfolio and provides industry insight into globalisation and foreign direct investment.

In the report published today, Dublin:

• Ranked number one in the world in both the ‘Large City’ and ‘Economic Potential’ category;
• Claimed second place globally for ‘Business Friendliness’;
• Retained its third position as overall ‘Global City of the Future’; and
• Broke into the top 10 in ‘Large Cities for Human Capital and Lifestyle’ category.

Commenting on the report, Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council, said:

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.

“Our impressive performance as a city is a direct result of a supportive public policy environment created at both local and national level as well as multi-agency co-operation and collaboration across Government.”

Foreign Direct Investment coming to Ireland

“The IDA have had incredible success attracting the next wave of FDI into Dublin with companies like MasterCard, AutoDesk and SoftBank, among many others, all announcing new or expanded investment in the city this year.

“Dublin City Council has also put significant resources into supporting business seeking to invest in Dublin in a post-Brexit environment and our Economic Development Office has been meeting with these companies on an ongoing basis, offering advice and local knowledge to support these transitions. While our Local Enterprise Office, delivered in partnership with Enterprise Ireland, has in recent years awarded over €6m in grants to support early stage businesses, nurturing Dublin’s thriving tech start-up community.

“Our SmartDocklands project has also had amazing success in providing a SmartCities technology test bed and a platform to create a smart district for emerging technologies. This collaboration between Dublin City Council, Trinity College Dublin and a wide range of MNC’s positions us as a global leader in exploring innovative and collaborative opportunities such as public realm analytics and autonomous transport solutions.”

“Dublin is well established on a global scale as the home of the European headquarters for many high-tech companies with 9 out of 10 of the global ICT companies calling Dublin home. With a highly educated workforce and highly evolved start-up eco-system, today’s results solidify the city’s reputation as a global investment hub.”