Derbyshire’s strategy for attracting overseas investment named one of the best in Europe

Derbyshire’s strategy for attracting investment into the county from overseas was ranked as one of the best in Europe by the Financial Times.
Derbyshire’s work in attracting overseas investment has been recognised by the Financial Times.Derbyshire’s work in attracting overseas investment has been recognised by the Financial Times.
Derbyshire’s work in attracting overseas investment has been recognised by the Financial Times.

In the Financial Times’ fDi European Cities and Regions of the Future 2022/23 rankings, Derbyshire placed fifth within the top 10 Small Regions for FDI Strategy category, which recognises areas that have devised strong strategies for attracting investment.

South-East Ireland finished top of the rankings, but Derbyshire found itself among impressive company, including Greater Helsinki in Finland, Oslo in Norway, the Region of Murcia in Spain and the Basel Area in Switzerland. Derbyshire was the only UK region to feature in the top 10 for this category.

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John Forkin is the managing director of Marketing Derby, who run the Invest in Derbyshire service, which involves attracting foreign direct investment to the county.

He said: “This is really good news as we have put a lot of effort into developing the successful Marketing Derby inward investment service in the county.

“We have worked very closely with our partners at Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Economic Partnership and Destination Chesterfield in doing this.”

Derby and Derbyshire also enjoyed success in a category which recognised the efforts of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). The D2N2 LEP, incorporating Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, ranked seventh for connectivity.

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fDi Intelligence is a service from the Financial Times and is the largest global centre of excellence for foreign direct investment. The rankings are one of the industry’s most prominent benchmarks of FDI competitiveness, and for this year’s rankings, fDi’s research team assessed 356 European cities and 148 European regions.

Both awards will be presented at a ceremony to be held at MIPIM, the global property fair that is set to take place in Cannes, in the south of France, next week. The success comes after the launch of a new Derbyshire Investment Prospectus, showcasing 23 projects that will help lead the county’s regeneration.

Mr Forkin said: “The investment prospectus lists over £1 billion of opportunities across Derbyshire. This complements our new Invest in Derbyshire website and promotional films, which have just been released.”

A number of developments are currently underway in Chesterfield, providing a range of fresh investment opportunities across the town. They include Chesterfield Waterside, Northern Gateway, Elder Way, the Staveley Regeneration Corridor and Markham Vale.