Gothenburg scores highly in Financial Times’ investment destination rankings

“This is very good news. The rankings further confirm that Gothenburg is an attractive location for international firms to innovate and grow their business,” says Marcus Scoliège, head of foreign direct investment at Business Region Göteborg. 

In total, fDi intelligence assessed 370 European cities and 141 regions across several categories, including economic potential, human capital and lifestyle, connectivity, business friendliness and FDI strategy. Gothenburg was in the "large cities" category, which includes cities with a population of over 500,000 people, and at least one million people in the region.

When fDi Intelligence analyses a city’s human capital and lifestyle, apart from education level it considers many factors, such as the number of students, the number of top ranked universities, skillset of graduates, social progress and life expectancy. Gothenburg was placed just behind Hamburg and Krakow.

“Gothenburg’s population is well-educated and relatively young. We have two strong universities, world-class companies and several strong clusters. Our city is also progressive and offers an attractive lifestyle. All of this makes it appealing for talent and companies,” says Marcus Scoliège.

An engine for Swedish growth and innovation

Gothenburg also ranked tenth in the category “Economic potential” which assesses things like population growth, GDP forecasts, foreign investment, R&D expenditure and number of patents.

“Gothenburg has impressive growth figures. Since 2010 our labour market region has grown by 130,000 residents and 84,000 employees, and our economic growth has been among the highest of European metropolitan regions. At the same time, our region is Sweden’s leading hub for business R&D, with companies investing more in R&D here than anywhere else in the country,” says Marcus Scoliège.  

The fDi Intelligence also recognized Gothenburg for its strategy for attracting, retaining and expanding foreign investment – and the city was ranked eighth among large European cities. The judges awarded marks on everything from aftercare initiatives to energy resilience. 

“An integral part of our strategy is ensuring that the different authorities in the city are working together to help facilitate new investments. We believe one of the key factors of our success is the acknowledgment of the important value of inward investment across the board which results in excellent collaboration. It is rewarding to see this successful model being recognized here,” says Marcus Scoliège.