In the face of adversity, Europe has demonstrated impressive resilience in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).
Read MoreInternational Update
France Leads the Way for Foreign Investment
In the face of adversity, Europe has demonstrated impressive resilience in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). As FDI flows plummeted worldwide with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the countries of Europe collectively recorded 5,578 FDI projects in 2020, a 13% drop from 2019, according to EY’s 2021 Attractiveness Barometer, published over the summer. That compares with a worldwide drop in FDI of 42%, as reported by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Europe’s top three recipients of FDI didn’t change, although third-ranked Germany (930 project announcements) and the second-ranked United Kingdom (975 announcements) closed the previous year’s gap with top-ranked France (985 project announcements).
Combined, those top three garnered 53% of the continent’s FDI projects, “reflecting,” says EY, “the safe haven effect that these leading countries can have in the eyes of investors in times of crisis.”
Based on a panel of 550 international decision-makers, field research conducted for the study in March and April of 2021 found that French implementation of France Relance, the country’s pandemic recovery plan, served to bolster the country’s attractiveness among foreign investors, 44% of whom ranked the plan as superior to those adopted by other European governments. (The French verb relancer means to revive or restart.)
The $113 billion (€100 billion) package, with 40% provided by the European Union, aims to support businesses, rethink production models, transform infrastructure and bolster workforce training.
In addition, French President Emmanuel Macron has championed reforms to make France more competitive since assuming office in 2017. Those steps have included labor reforms, corporate tax cuts, extending the country’s research tax credit and simplifying procedures for foreign investment. Thus, France led Europe in the EY study with 341 manufacturing and industrial projects, far outpacing Turkey (153) and the United Kingdom (112) and besting the U.K and Germany to lead in the installation of R&D centers (115).
In June, the French government released a list of 22 new FDI projects representing $3.9 billion (€3.5 billion) and 700,000 new jobs. The list featured a who’s who of international investors, including Procter & Gamble, Mondelez, Braun, Merck, Biogen, Mars and Minnesota-based Ecolab, whose expansion of its Luce Letartre Center of Excellence in northern France makes it Europe’s largest hygiene R&D center.
“Ecolab has a long-lasting and widespread presence in France, and this investment shows that its confidence in the French economy remains very high,” said French Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness Franck Riester. “International investors trust in France because our pro-business agenda remains clear. The ‘France Relance’ recovery plan supports this strategy.”
UK Pushes ‘Global Britain’
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, seeking to energize the post-Brexit U.K. economy, convened his country’s first-ever Global Investment Summit in mid-October. The U.S.-heavy guest list included Bill Gates, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.
Johnson seized the occasion to announce foreign investments totaling $13.4 billion (£9.7 billion) in green energy projects, an area upon which he staked the UK’s economic future. The green energy deals, says the government, will create at least 30,000 jobs and drive funding for targeted sectors including hydrogen energy, sustainable housing and carbon capture and storage.
Included in the announcement are investments in wind power, zero-carbon warehouses and decarbonization technologies by Spain’s Iberdola ($7.9 billion/£6 billion), California-based Prologis ($1.9 billion/£1.5 billion) and Viridor, owned by New York-based KKR ($1.3 billion/£1 billion).
“There is a force out there that is stronger than government, stronger even than business, and that force is consumer choice,” Johnson told the conference. “That force is the market, and the market is going green.”
In the runup to the conference, London’s Evening Standard opined, “France has lured investors under modernizer Emmanuel Macron. Britain needs to catch up.” The newspaper tweaked “Global Britain,” Johnson’s post-Brexit recovery plan, as “much talked about, but little defined.”
During the conference, the Johnson government unveiled its Investment Atlas, an online platform designed to help international investors identify and execute high-priority investment opportunities within the UK. The Atlas offers an initial 53 strategic opportunities, each with a strong sustainability element, including offshore wind projects in Scotland and manufacturing ports in the northeast of England.
Air Capital
Supply Chain Central
When companies are looking to right-shore operations, manage costs and bring balance to a tangled global supply chain, there’s no more central place than Kansas.
Read More
On the Menu:
Where Key Business Sectors Find Their Support Services
Perhaps some of the more than 7,000 Kansas graduates specializing in corporate and professional services annually are among the more than 1,400 such jobs created in 2021.
Read More
Manufacturing MOMENTUM
As the self-proclaimed “Air Capital of the World,” Wichita, Kansas needs no introduction to the world of advanced manufacturing.
Read More
Made in Kansas
Workforce Within Reach
Innovation Takes Root In the Heartland
Grants Boost Rural Participation In The Digital-Focused Economy
Governor Laura Kelly announced in March 2021 the Broadband Acceleration Grant Program, which will improve access to highspeed internet for homes and businesses in communities statewide.
Read More
Wind Belt Blows Dollars Into Area Economies
Anyone who’s ever stood in a Kansas field knows the power of the wind that sweeps unimpeded across most of the state.
Read More
This Is Not the Same Old Kansas Anymore
Kansas’ Record-Breaking Year
The Numbers Add Up In Kansas
Investment Profile
Building a Hydrogen Hub For the Net-Zero Economy
Edmonton Metropolitan Region, Alberta: Air Products, Dow, Shell are investing billions into clean-energy projects in the Edmonton region.
Read More
International Update
A Community College On the Cutting Edge
During the course of a year immersed in career and technical education topics, two of the stories I’ve pursued stand out.
Read More
Right On Time
E-commerce workforce demands are being met through innovative, digital logistics certifications.
Read More
As Skills Gap Widens, Employers Just Add Water
Renewable Workforce
Resources for AI, Cybersecurity Careers
Artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity are the branches of computer science seeing the most activity in 2021,
Read More
Workers are An Automotive Projects Magnet
A New Generation Of Farmers
AEROSPACE INDUSTRY MAKES PROGRESS
Big Tech Schools Us
Skills training from tech giants like Amazon is much more than mere window dressing. It’s a door to everyone’s future.
Read More