Many of the world’s capital cities are also the economic centre of the respective country. London, Paris and Madrid are good examples of this. However, beyond these capital cities, there are many other major business hubs worldwide. Against this background, the Financial Times Group’s fDi Magazine, a specialist publication on foreign direct investment, recently surveyed the performance of non-capital business locations across the globe. The period covered by the study was 2015 – 2019, and Hamburg achieved an excellent 5th place, just after San Francisco, Montreal, Houston, and Düsseldorf. The other cities that made it into the top ten were Boston, Wroclaw, Edinburgh, Seattle, and Espoo.

Hamburg’s Minister for Economic Affairs, Michael Westhagemann, commented: “For us, these positive ratings are both a confirmation and an incentive. To retain our position as one of the world’s top business locations, we need to ensure an attractive business environment and keep developing our infrastructure for young, technology-oriented companies in particular. Innovations are absolutely vital for strengthening a location’s competitive edge, which is also one of the reasons I am embracing hydrogen as a future energy source.”

Dr Rolf Strittmatter, managing director of Hamburg Invest, added: “To be on a par with cities such as San Francisco, Houston and Montreal is a huge compliment for Hamburg as a business location. Hamburg’s consistent focus on industries of the future and innovative locations is now bearing fruit.” Especially in the Economic Potential and Connectivity categories, Hamburg scored very well. Other cities included in the top twenty were Austin, Manchester, Reading, Basel, Belfast, Rotterdam, Nanjing, Miami, Dallas, and Atlanta.

Methodology

As part of the survey, data was collected for 116 locations, under five categories: Economic Poten­tial, Human Capital and Lifestyle, Cost Effectiveness, Connectivity, and Business Friendliness. The study included non-capital cities that attract no more than 20 percent of the relevant country’s total foreign direct investment.