Investor Watch: March 23, 2026

Softbank Group and AEP announce a 10-gigawatt AI data center campus in Ohio. Waaree Energies strengthens the solar components supply chain in India. Hyundai Translead marks its first investment in Illinois on property formerly occupied by Lion Electric and Caterpillar.

BRAZIL

Kelly Barraza reports on renewed interest in the multibillion-dollar, long-stalled Transnordestina freight railway project and interviews Daniel Miyasatao, president and regional leader of Wabtec in Latin America, about the transportation equipment company’s expansion in Contagem, Minas Gerais.

INVESTMENT PROFILE: MARYLAND

That’s what Maryland offers the more than 9,000 aviation and aerospace companies doing business in a state that one industry leader says offers “an extraordinary number of assets,” including a growing talent base.

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Photo by Akseli Valmunen courtesy of Helsinki Partners

These people are the happiest people in the world.

Don’t take our word for it. Released last Thursday by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre together with Gallup, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the report’s editorial board, the annual World Happiness Report for the ninth year in a row has named Finland No. 1 in the world, followed by Iceland and Denmark. Among the biggest upward movers is Costa Rica, which has moved to No. 4 this year from as low as No. 23 three years ago. Sweden and Norway complete the top six, followed by the Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Primarily based on three-year averages of life evaluation scores collected by Gallup, the report also analyzes six key factors associated with differences in life evaluation, including income, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption. The report’s results factor every year into Site Selection’s Sustainability Rankings.

“The 2026 rankings mark the first time since the World Happiness Report was first published in 2012 that none of the English-speaking countries — New Zealand (11th), Ireland (13th), Australia (15th), United States (23rd), Canada (25th) and the UK (29th) — appear in the top 10, with only half in the top 20,” said a release.

A notable aspect of the report is the association of social media and mobile device use with a lesser degree of happiness. A related release from Helsinki Partners notes, “Finland and Helsinki [have] taken concrete steps to support healthy digital habits among children and young people. Since August 2025, use of phones and other mobile devices has been banned during the school day in Helsinki’s comprehensive schools, encouraging students to focus on learning, face-to-face interaction and physical activity.” Added Mayor Daniel Sazonov: “Happiness does not happen by accident. It is built through trust, good education, strong communities and an environment where people can live balanced lives.”

Yet another release from Business Finland named the top five things that allow happy people and firms to thrive in Finland: stability, a high level of trust, work-life balance, high-quality digital infrastructure and connection to nature. “Even with great digital connections, Finns also know how to log off,” the organization said. “Anywhere in Finland (even in the cities), you’re always within a 10-minute walk from a nature trail or park. The proximity of nature gives people a sense of calm — and people who are relaxed, recharged, and happy outside work are also happy and productive people when they’re in the office.” — Adam Bruns

Oodi is Helsinki’s Central Library and “a living meeting place,” says Helsinki Partners.
Photo by Kuvatoimisto Kuvio Oy courtesy of Helsinki Partners

Innovative developers create affordable homes for working families. (Watch for more reporting on workforce housing in Site Selection’s July issue.)

Alexis Elmore talks to Clareo Biosciences CEO Dr. Melissa Smith and nonprofit LifeSciKY Executive Director Christin Godale about why a new wet lab at OneNKY Center in the Northern Kentucky city of Covington makes sense in the state’s emerging life sciences scene.

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The headquarters of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is located in Alexandria, Virginia.
Photo courtesy of USPTO

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on March 11 released the 14^th edition of its International IP Index, which evaluates intellectual property systems across 55 economies using 53 unique criteria. The United States, the United Kingdom and France top the charts in that order, followed by Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. The Chamber noted, “Score declines were largely concentrated in high-income economies traditionally seen as global IP standard-setters, with scores in eight EU Member States declining. However, 20 economies improved their overall score, with the United Arab Emirates (+4.72%), Ecuador (2.81%), Malaysia (+1.42%), and Brunei (+1.42%) achieving the largest increases in overall score.”

A release about the findings from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) stated that a U.S. services exports surplus contributes $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy and IP-intensive industries account for 31% of the total value of U.S. services exports.

“At the end of the day, a strong intellectual property system may begin with a legal structure, but its efficacy rests on whether or not it is a foundation for economic growth, an opportunity for technological leadership and a catalyst for human progress,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director John A. Squires. “The United States is proud to lead and will continue to do so, to do the hard and necessary work to ensure the next generation of inventors, entrepreneurs, and creators can eagerly bring their ideas to market — any and all markets of their choosing — and, by so doing, make all our worlds better.”

The USPTO has recently opened new community engagement offices on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, at Montana State University in Bozeman and at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property in Concord. The USPTO also recently named five finalists in its National Patent Application Drafting Competition (NPADC), with a final round to be held at USPTO’s HQ in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 17. The finalists come from Harvard Law School; University of Wisconsin Law School, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and the independent Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Photo courtesy of National Park Service

The Department of the Interior and National Park Service on March 5 announced that peak bloom for the iconic cherry trees surrounding the Tidal Basin and National Mall is projected to occur between March 29 and April 1, with exact timing dependent on weather conditions. Once peak bloom begins, the blossoms typically remain on the trees for seven to 10 days. Want to keep track? Bookmark the National Park Service’s Bloom Watch web page.