Along with Dublin and Cork, Galway has featured on the “Top 25 European Cities of the Future” list in fDi Intelligence’s study of the most promising investment locations in Europe. fDi Intelligence is a publication of the Financial Times Ltd., and publishes a yearly ranking of the best investment locations in Europe. Galway was also ranked at the top of the list of “Micro European Cities”.

Ireland features prominently in the overall list of top cities with three entries: Dublin at #5, Cork at #24 and Galway at #25. Just 10 countries feature on the list of top cities, with the UK having the most cities (8), followed by the Netherlands (4), Ireland (3) and France (3).

Rank	City	Country
1	London	UK
2	Helsinki	Finland
3	Eindhoven	Netherlands
4	Cambridge	UK
5	Dublin	Ireland
6	Munich	Germany
7	Barcelona	Spain
8	Berlin	Germany
9	Amsterdam	Netherlands
10	Reading	UK
11	Edinburgh	UK
12	Vienna	Austria
13	Glasgow	UK
14	Rotterdam	Netherlands
15	Lyon	France
16	Paris	France
17	Grenoble	France
18	Utrecht	Netherlands
19	Birmingham	UK
20	Ghent	Belgium
21	Liverpool	UK
22	Lisbon	Portugal
23	Derby	UK
24	Cork	Ireland
25	Galway	Ireland

Micro European Cities (< 100,000 people)

In the Top 10 Micro European Cities Overall, Galway claims top spot ahead of Waterford, Limerick and Coburg in Germany. Galway features at #2 behind Luxembourg in the Top 10 Micro European Cities for Economic Potential (Limerick is in ninth place).

The Top 10 Micro European Cities for Business Friendliness contains six Irish entries in its list: Newry in Northern Ireland tops the table, followed by Shannon, Galway, Drogheda and Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. Waterford also features at #7.

Under the Top 10 Micro European Cities for FDI Strategy, Waterford, Galway and Limerick are placed at #1, #2 (up from #10 last year) and #5 respectively. Limerick is eighth in the Top 10 Major European Cities for Human Capital and Lifestyle.

Major (> 750,000) and Small European Cities (100,000-350,000 people)

Cork is ranked eighth in the Top 10 Small European Cities Overall, and first in the Top 10 Small European Cities for Business Friendliness.

Dublin is ranked third in the Top 10 Major European Cities Overall, fourth in the Top 10 Major European Cities for Economic Potential, sixth in the Top 10 Major European Cities for FDI Strategy, and eighth in the Top 10 Major European Cities for Human Capital and Lifestyle (ahead of Barcelona and Helsinki).

Dublin (#3) and Cork (#10) are also featured in the Top 10 Cities for the UK and Ireland.

European Regions

The West Ireland Region is sixth in the Top 10 Small European Regions (< 1.5M people) for Business Friendliness, with the Dublin Region coming in first.

The Dublin Region was also #2 in the Top 10 European Regions for Business Friendliness, and #4 in the Top 10 Small European Regions for Economic Potential.

According to Cathy McReynolds, author of the report: “As a world region, Europe has been battered by recession storms in the past few years, yet there are signs of optimism, most recently with Ireland and Spain exiting their bailouts. Could we see a marked improvement in Ireland or Spain’s performance in the next rankings.”