Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency

The European Cities and Regions of the Future 2023 ranking benchmarked against each other the most promising investment destinations across Europe. It assessed as many as 370 European cities divided by population size into five groups — major, large, mid-sized, small and micro cities — as well as 148 European regions divided into three groups — large, mid-sized and small regions.

Everything was ranked by their performance across five subcategories: economic potential; business friendliness; connectivity; human capital and lifestyle; and cost effectiveness. 

Hungary achieved record-breaking investment last year: the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency closed up to 92 deals worth EUR 6.5 billion. This investor activity can be attributed to many factors, including a strong talent pool and a pro-business economic policy.

The 2023 edition of fDi Intelligence’s European Cities and Regions of the Future Awards reflects all those achievements and strengths. For one, Central Hungary managed to finish 10th in the overall ranking of fDi’s Mid-Sized European Regions of the Future, whereas in subcategory Human Capital & Lifestyle it finished 7th and in terms of Business Friendliness it landed on place 10.

Budapest was recognized yet again, this time around for its cost-effectiveness: the city was ranked 7th in that segment. Our capital finished right before Prague, Warsaw and Zagreb.

On the other hand, the ranking collected surveys from European investment promotion agencies for the ‘FDI Strategy’ category. In that case a judging panel reviewed submissions, thus it was the only qualitative category in the otherwise data-driven ranking that feeds into the overall results.

Debrecen was the only Hungarian city that prevailed in that category by finishing 5th among Small European Cities of the Future 2023. Debrecen’s successful FDI strategy manifests itself also in the fact that in 2022, among others, BMW’s 1-billion euro iFactory broke ground and CATL announced its gigantic EUR 7.3 billion battery plant investment.

Read the full report with all winners here.