Porto is the best European City of the Future for FDI, once again
Having been on the prestigious Financial Times podium for four consecutive years, the city of Porto repeats its 2022 victory and sees its foreign direct investment strategy, led by InvestPorto, once again distinguished as the best in Europe.
InvestPorto
· 18 Feb 2025
Two years ago, Porto made history by achieving first place in the ranking of European cities of the future, in the FDI Strategy category. Awarded annually by fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times publication, this distinction honors the foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy of European cities, assessing their results over the previous year and the policies in place to achieve them.
Two years later, Porto not only makes history, but repeats it, being once again deemed the Best European City of the Future for FDI, in the category of large cities.
"It is with a profound sense of sustained accomplishment that Porto once again receives this renowned distinction, which further highlights the city’s ability to deliver an investment promotion strategy that consistently remains one of the brightest in Europe. Porto is proud to accept an award that proves and carries on its historic status as a hub for initiative and development", said Rui Moreira, President of Porto.
Having been on the podium for four consecutive years and rising from the third place achieved in last year’s edition of the ranking, the city once again sees its strategy for attracting investment, in terms of its results and its potentialities, placed at the very top of Europe. This recognition results from the work carried out by InvestPorto, the municipal division specializing in attracting and implementing FDI projects in Porto.
Founded in 2015, InvestPorto has already supported nearly six hundred investment projects, distributed among 500 different companies and investors. In total, these projects have already resulted in an investment of over 2 billion euros, and have also led to the creation of nearly 28 thousand local jobs.
In total, fDi Intelligence received close to 90 submissions for the category of FDI Strategy, with each location detailing its specific scheme for promoting FDI. These strategies were then scored by fDi’s judging panel, with Porto surpassing cities such as Antwerp (Belgium), Glasgow (Scotland), Leeds (United Kingdom), Dusseldorf (Germany), or Torino (Italy).
fDi Intelligence considered Porto a major hotbed for talent in science, technology, engineering, and maths, as well as an emerging hub for innovative, digital business in Europe. Additionally, the judges highlighted Porto’s economic development strategy and were impressed with municipal actions to support local start-ups through initiatives such as ScaleUp Porto.
The "fDi European Cities and Regions of the Future” awards ceremony will take place on March 11th in Cannes, France, during MIPIM, one of Europe's largest real estate investment fairs. Porto will once again attend this event along with the municipalities of Matosinhos and Vila Nova de Gaia, under the Greater Porto initiative.
