Cork ranked #2 in Europe for economic potential
Cork has been ranked as the second best small European city in terms of economic potential and sixth in the top ten list of Small European Cities of the Future.
That’s according to Financial Times FDI European Cities and Regions of Future 2020/2021 league, which was published recently.
They rate Cork’s economic potential as being higher than the likes of Swiss cities Geneva and Basel, Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Cambridge in the UK.
Cork also ranked highly in the top 10 Small European Cities of the Future list for FDI strategy along with Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, Kaunas in Lithuania and Portugal’s Porto. It was ranked ahead of Nicosia in Cyprus and Reading in the UK.
FDi Magazine’s European Cities and Regions of the Future presents a league table of the most attractive locations in Europe for inward investment.
Up to 505 locations were judged in total including 319 cities and 148 regions with Cork classed as a small city based on population. Small cities are cities with an immediate city population of 100,000-350,000.
Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr John Sheehan said: “We can see it all around us. Cork is going through a period of unprecedented economic development and investment with up to €1 billion of office, hotel and apartment developments underway.
“Cork city is the European base of global leaders like Apple and home to life sciences and ICT clusters and this confidence is our future is clear in the sustained growth evident at Cork Airport and with the large numbers of people from overseas choosing Cork as a place to live and work.”
Cork City Council Chief Executive, Ann Doherty said: “We are delighted to see Cork being ranked so highly as a location for investment. Cork City Council has worked hard with Cork County Council, IDA Ireland, UCC, CIT and Enterprise Ireland to make Cork a global investment capital where businesses are enabled to grow. Cork is home to more than 169 FDI employers employing almost 39,000 people and eight of the world’s 10 leading pharmaceutical companies have a presence in the Cork metropolitan area.”
The South West region was also ranked in the top 10 of Northern European Regions of the Future 2020/2021, figuring at number nine. The Dublin region headed that list.
The South West region was also named at seven in the top 10 of Small European Regions of the Future 2020/2021 and at four for the top 10 of Small European Regions of the Future 2020/2021 for economic potential.