This year, several Swiss cities and cantons once again feature in the Top 10 of the European Cities and Regions of the Future 2024. These rankings are used by fDi Intelligence, a British investment portal belonging to the Financial Times, to assess the most attractive locations in Europe for direct investment. Data was collected from a total of 330 cities and 141 regions in five sub-categories: economic potential, human capital and lifestyle, cost effectiveness, connectivity and business friendliness.
Zug repeated last year’s performance to win the micro cities category, just ahead of the Irish cities of Limerick and Galway. In the human capital and lifestyle sub-category, Lugano ranked in fifth place. Among mid-sized cities, Zurich took second place, slightly below its top spot last year, coming in behind Wroclaw in Poland and ahead of Vilnius in Lithuania. The report emphasizes Zurich's well-educated workforce and its concentration of medtech companies. In its category, Zurich has the greatest economic potential. It has recorded an average of 33 new relocation projects over the past five years.
According to the report, Geneva retains its importance as one of the world's most important diplomatic and financial hubs. It ranks third among small cities. Basel is now in fifth position after first place last year.
For mid-sized European regions, the canton of Zurich came in seventh place, while the cantons of Geneva and Zug ranked eighth and ninth respectively among small regions. The Greater Zurich Area (GZA) and the Basel Area were also successful, taking third and 10th place respectively. They were recognized for their fDi strategy, which they use to attract internationally expanding companies to the Swiss region.
