< Previous84 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION Zurich Leads Swiss Trio Among Top 10 Smart Cities B efore the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in June revealed that its home country of Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong topped its annual World Competitiveness rankings, the Lausanne-based institution’s World Competitiveness Center (WCC) in April unveiled the IMD Smart City Index, which found Zurich, Oslo and Geneva occupying the top three spots over other cities. e report points out that the two Swiss cities in the top three, along with Oslo and No. Lausanne (IMD’s home), “all lie outside the EU and yet are well integrated into it via trade and free movement agreements.” Reached by email, WCC Chief Economist Christos Cabolis says the index “off ers executives and decision-makers a unique lens into the urban experience as lived by residents. is is a critical and frequently overlooked dimension of location strategy. While traditional indicators focus on infrastructure or business costs, our index captures how well a city’s digital infrastructure, services and governance actually function in practice, as perceived by the people who live and work there.” After viewing the rankings, ibault Serlet, a partner at venture capital consortium Key State Capital, says, “Neutral countries such as Switzerland, Singapore, the UAE, Oman and Brazil are more likely to attract investors who are concerned about sanctions and counter-sanction. Whole war and chaos is generally bad for business. It is good for neutral and stable countries that manage to stay out of fi ghts.” As for the cities within those countries, the right amenities count for something too. “Many investors expect high-tech facilities and laws that are available in their home countries,” Serlet says. “Smart cities step up to cater to this demand. For example, in the UAE the internet is heavily censored and VOIP (voice call software) is blocked. ese restrictions are lifted in smart cities such as the Dubai Media City and Silicon Oasis.” Abu Dhabi and Dubai made the top for the fi rst time, driven in part by high scores for medical services provision and green space. Others in the top are on the rise as well: Ljubljana, Slovenia ( up to No. ) Warsaw, Poland (up to No. ) Doha, Qatar ( up to No. ) Vilnius, Lithuania (up to No. ) Mecca, Saudi Arabia (up to No. ) Riga, Latvia ( up to No. ) Shenzhen, China ( up to No. ) Cabolis says the index can be a leading indicator for talent attraction and retention; operational effi ciency and service delivery; and long-term urban resilience. “Cities that strive to balance technology, inclusion and governance are often better positioned to respond to economic and environmental shocks,” he writes. “For executives planning location strategy, the above imply that smart, human-centric cities are not just places to operate. ey may be strategic assets in competing for talent and long- term resilience. editor@siteselection.com SMART CITIES Scan this QR code to access more details and analysis of the 2025 IMD Smart City Index including an exclusive interview with IMD World Competitiveness Center Chief Economist Christos Cabolis. City 2025 2024 2023 Zurich 1 1 1 Oslo 2 2 2 Geneva 3 4 9 Dubai 4 12 17 Abu Dhabi 5 10 13 London 6 8 6 Copenhagen 7 6 4 Canberra 8 3 3 Singapore 9 5 7 Lausanne 10 7 5 Source: IMD TOP 10 SMART CITIES 86 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION by MARK AREND mark.arend@siteselection.com TOP COUNTIES T wo of Site Selection’s signature annual rankings are its Top Metros and Top Micropolitans, which are recognized each May for their capital investment success the previous calendar year. Counties, too, play a role in those areas’ success, which is why in recent years this Top Counties ranking appears in each July issue. Plenty of overlap can be found, to be sure. e top counties by total points tend to be dominated by their largest metros — Phoenix in Maricopa County, Arizona, or Houston in Harris County, Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company is building the $4.5 billion Lilly Medicine Foundry in Boone County, Indiana. Image courtesy of Eli Lilly and Company88 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION Texas. The same can be said of many of the top counties per capita, where micropolitan communities typically are the largest cities in their county. The recent addition of Top Counties, regardless of overlap with other rankings, recognizes the often behind-the-scenes contributions county officials make in facilitating both project attraction and project retention. No project will move forward very quickly without permitting, zoning, traffic planning and other county-specific inputs typical of new or expanding project activity. These rankings are based on total points awarded to counties based on number of projects between January 2024 and March 2025, capital investment and jobs created according to project data resident in Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database. Top Counties Per Capita Highlights Four Kentucky counties make the top 20 list for this year’s ranking, including Muhlenberg County in western Kentucky, which finishes in third place. It’s where Tampa, Florida–based Repkon USA - Defense LLC was awarded a U.S. Army contract worth over $108 million to design, construct and commission a TNT facility in Graham. It’s the first such facility built in the U.S. since the 1980s. In mid-June, Biomass Engineering and Equipment (BE&E) broke ground on a new $20 million facility in Muhlenberg County, creating 250 jobs. The company makes equipment for the agriculture, forest products and biomass industries. The project is the first to be located in the Paradise Regional Industrial Park, a 430-acre regional business park located at a new interchange on the Western Kentucky Parkway near Greenville. The park was approved for $745,000 in state support in 2023 as part of the Kentucky Product Development Initiative, the state’s site development initiative. “BE&E is a global company and as such can choose anywhere in the world as the most advantageous location to expand,” said Dane Floyd, CEO of Floyd Holdings, BE&E’s parent company. “Many factors go into such a major decision as this investment and all things considered, Greenville, Kentucky is the right choice. I am grateful to everyone involved; the dedicated employees, the local government, the community and Gov. [Andy] Beshear’s office for making this decision so easy for us.” Top ranking Defiance County, Ohio, in January 2025 secured a 180-job project worth $253 million from MetalX LLC, an independent metals recycler. The project will include two components, says the company — an aluminum rolling slab manufacturing plant that will convert scrap into large aluminum slabs and an aluminum scrap shredding and advanced sortation facility. In second-place Boone County, Indiana, Eli Lilly and Company announced in October 2024 a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development. RANK JURISDICTION POINTS 1 Maricopa, Arizona 2,330 2 Harris, Texas 2,329 3 Cook, Illinois 2,315 4 Dallas, Texas 2,313 5 Tarrant, Texas 2,310 6 Franklin, Ohio 2,303 7 Williamson, Texas 2,282 8 Bexar, Texas 2,275 9 Collin, Texas 2,270 10 Lake, Illinois 2,269 11 Jackson, Missouri 2,251 12 Wake, North Carolina 2,240 13 Fulton, Georgia 2,237 14 Travis, Texas 2,234 15 Madison, Alabama 2,223 16 Hennepin, Minnesota 2,204 T17 Hamilton, Ohio 2,191 T17 Salt Lake, Utah 2,191 19 Denton, Texas 2,186 20 Kent, Michigan 2,179 TOP COUNTIES OVERALL90 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION The facility “will give Lilly the ability to research new ways of producing medicines, while also scaling up manufacturing of medicines for clinical trials. The first-ever facility of its kind, combining research and manufacturing in a single location, the Medicine Foundry will be located in Indiana›s LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon, Indiana, and will expand the company’s investment there to more than $13 billion,” the company reports. The Foundry will be built on a 190- acre campus. Current development plans include 1 million total sq. ft. of new buildings, with ample room for capacity expansion, according to the company. Once fully operational, the Medicine Foundry is expected to add 400 full-time jobs for highly skilled workers including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians. Top Counties for Total Points Highlights Outside, frequently adjacent to, the cities at the hearts of these counties’ economies are locations winning capital investment projects that are no less significant to their metros, counties and states. In first-place Maricopa County, Arizona, the Phoenix-Mesa- Chandler metro remains a magnet for semiconductor manufacturing, data centers and logistics facilities. But United Airlines in March broke ground on a new 140,000-sq.-ft. Ground Service Equipment (GSE) Maintenance Facility at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston (Harris County) and opened a new Technical Operations Training Center at the airport, where the airline has invested $3.5 billion in modern facilities since 2015. Rendering courtesy of United Airlines92 JULY 2025 SITE SELECTION Tricolor, a leading used automotive retailer focused on underserved Hispanic consumers, opened its newest state- of-the-art mega reconditioning center in Surprise in September 2024. The 258,000-sq.-ft. facility will employ more than 500 people from the area. In Buckeye, Fortescue is moving forward with its green hydrogen production plans for the U.S. with a 158-acre site for its solar- and wind- powered Arizona Hydrogen facility. The plant is slated to produce up to 11,000 tons of liquid green hydrogen annually. The Buckeye project is the first part of Fortescue’s $550 million plan for producing green hydrogen in the U.S. Thank the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro, a leading global energy hub, for landing dozens of projects that more than contributed to Harris County’s second-place finish in this Top Counties category. But the community of Humble secured two of Harris County’s most significant projects, both from United Airlines divisions; the air carrier operates one of its global hubs at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. United Technical Operations is opening a $38 million global distribution center in Humble and expanding other facilities in support of the hub. Foust Distributing Company is investing $24 million to expand a beer distribution center in Jacinto City. RANK JURISDICTION POINTS POPULATION 1 Defiance, Ohio 2,286 38,000 2 Boone, Indiana 2,282 76,000 3 Muhlenberg, Kentucky 2,266 31,000 4 St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana 2,265 40,000 5 Milam, Texas 2,259 26,000 6 Scott, Kentucky 2,241 60,000 7 Toombs, Georgia 2,233 27,000 8 Shelby, Kentucky 2,226 50,000 9 Clarke, Alabama 2,204 23,000 10 Hancock, Ohio 2,203 75,000 11 Jasper, South Carolina 2,196 34,000 12 Clark, Indiana 2,176 126,000 T13 Wilson, North Carolina 2,173 79,000 T13 Allen, Louisiana 2,173 22,000 15 Mason, Kentucky 2,170 17,000 16 Waller, Texas 2,165 64,000 T17 Pittsylvania, Virginia 2,164 101,000 T17 Lowndes, Mississippi 2,164 57,000 19 Sumter, Georgia 2,144 29,000 20 Marshall, Mississippi 2,123 34,000 TOP COUNTIES PER CAPITA SITE SELECTION JULY 2025 93 Cook County, Illinois, is home to Chicagoland, but not all of the projects went to the Windy City. In the spring, DN Solutions opened its new Chicago Technical Center (CTC) in Schaumburg. The South Korean precision machinery manufacturer says the 24,000-sq.-ft. CTC will become one of the company’s global Additive Manufacturing Solution Centers, serving as a hub for part design, process optimization, prototyping and production. “The Chicago Technical Center is more than just a machine showroom,” said DN Solutions North America CEO Daniel Medrea. “It’s a technological hub for advanced machining applications and an important resource for the support of all North American manufacturers.” In Buffalo Grove, Sweden-based Ymer Technology, a manufacturer of electric vehicle (EV) components for the heavy equipment industry, announced the opening of its new U.S. headquarters in August 2024, involving a $5.7 million investment. Buffalo Grove occupies sections of Cook and Lake Counties. “We completed an exhaustive nationwide search for a new U.S. location,” said Frederik Peterson, the founder of Ymer Technology, at the announcement event. “The [Illinois] Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Lake County Partners and the Village of Buffalo Grove worked together to support our site selection and assembled an attractive offer that highlights Illinois’ talent, work ethic, favorable climate and vast network of EV leaders.” Next >