< Previous• New mixed-use districts include uCity Square in University City and the $3.5 billion, 6.9-million-sq.-ft. (641,010-sq.-m.) Schuylkill Yards from Brandywine Realty Trust.• A new $1-billion high-speed rail transit extension will link King of Prussia, Center City and University City, Greater Philadelphia’s three biggest employment centers. Construction is slated to start in 2019, with a projected completion date of 2023.• In addition to 1.3 million sq. ft. (120,774 sq. m.) of offi ce space, the new $1.5-billion Comcast Technology Center includes a tech accelerator for startups.• Econsult Solutions in 2017 found that Philadelphia International Airport annually produces $15.4 billion in economic activity output within the 11-county metro area.Philadelphia, PATo go from a list of 238 to a list of 20 only reinforces this is a wonderful region and we have a lot of positive assets, and Amazon recognizes that.” HAROLD EPPS, Director of Commerce, City of Philadelphia, on the area’s naming as an Amazon HQ2 finalist, in Plan Philly, January 19, 20184th4th4th4th39.9523° N75.1638° Welev. 39 ft.EDTUTC-5Company Investment (US$M) JobsHoltec International 260 235Glaxosmithkline 250 1,600Croda International PLC 170 30Holt Logistics/South Jersey Port Corp. 170 850The Chemours Co. 150 —population 2018: 5,695,498projected population 2023: 5,785,3385thUSA• Ranked 25th out of 90 cities in e Global Talent Competitive Index 2018 from business school INSEAD, Prague was No. 3 in retaining talent.• e Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 report from e Economist Intelligence Unit found Prague to be among the cities moving up the ranks the most since last year, rising 13 spots. But it’s still eminently aff ordable at No. 82 among the 133 cities in the study.• “Cities like Prague and Warsaw,” JLL says in a 2018 report, “are gaining the attributes to become a type of ‘New World City,’ ” i.e. a medium-sized, well-managed city that off ers “infrastructure, high quality of life and niche specializations to compete for mobile talent and economic activity in the sectors accelerated by new technologies.”PragueWe see in this city a great pool of skilled and diverse talent, which we believe will help us deliver better solutions within our company and provide the next generation of cross-functional leaders." ERIN CHAMPLIN, Vice President, Johnson & Johnson Global Services, at the June 2018 opening of a new 1,100-employee site1st2nd4th50.088° N14.4208° Eelev. 581 ft.CESUTC+1Company Investment (US$M) JobsVolkswagen AG 265 650Serum Institute Of India Private Limited 112 —Foxconn Technology Co., Ltd. 101 —Skoda Auto A.S. 94 —Makro Cash & Carry CR S.R.O. 60 600population 2018: 1,291,552projected population 2023: 1,323,3391stCzech Republic128 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S• Greater Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s second most important industrial area, trailing only the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area.• In 2017, the city’s GDP was estimated at $305 billion, making Rio de Janeiro the fourth richest city in Latin America.• e 2016 Olympic Games are credited for breathing new life into the economy of Rio de Janeiro.• Rio de Janeiro’s old dockside district has been reborn as Porto Maravilha.Rio de JaneiroRio is an energetic, vibrant place, full of beauty and nature.” EDUARDO PAES, Former Mayor2nd5th22.9064° S43.1822° Welev. 108 ft.BRTUTC-3Company Investment (US$M) JobsBunge 227 —B. Braun Melsungen AG 137 —Embotelladora Andina S.A. 120 —GE Oil & Gas 100 250Rolls-Royce 100 100population 2018: 13,293,172projected population 2023: 13,727,7204thBrazil• More than $800 million in foreign direct investment went to Queretaro in 2016 — 3 percent of Mexico’s total.• According to ProMéxico, Mexico recorded 27,186 researchers in January 2017; 2.6 percent of them were in Queretaro. Most researchers in the state are focused on engineering, physics and mathematics.• A leading center of automotive manufacturing, Queretaro is attracting well more than 100 Japanese suppliers alone that are associated with Toyota’s facilities in nearby GuanajuatoQuerétaroOur selection of the city of Querétaro for this new plant was primarily based on the excellent results logged since the construction of our fi rst plant at this location more than 10 years ago." PHILIPPE PETITCOLIN, CEO of Safran, February 21, 2018, at the inauguration of a joint aircraft engine manufacturing plant2nd3rd2nd20.5888° N100.3899° Welev. 11,020 ft.CSTUTC-6Company Investment (US$M) JobsBrose Mexico S.A. De C.V. 170 1,200Safran México, S.A. De C.V. 100 —Robert Bosch México Sistemas Automotrices, S.A. De C.V. 80 600Leopold Kostal GmbH & Co. KG 40 250Cqlt Saargummi Deutschland GmbH 36 —population 2018: 1,287,963projected population 2023: 1,413,4741stMexico 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 129• San Antonio hosted the NCAA Final Four for men’s college basketball this year and generated a local economic impact of $185 million.• Four San Antonio entrepreneurs were named as fi nalists for the 2018 EY Entrepreneur of e Year Award: Jade Chang Sheppard of Gideon USA; Jerry Maldonado of Maldonado Nursery and Landscaping; Tim Koxlien of TeleQuality Communications; and David Evans of Texas Utility Engineering.• San Antonio ranks No. 14 on the U.S. News & World Report list of the 125 Best Places to Live. It ranks No. 6 on SmartAsset's 2018 list of Best Cities for New College Grads.San Antonio, TX e overwhelming success of San Antonio B-Cycle has proven that San Antonio is a model city for bike-sharing, and as we work toward creating a fi tter city, the bike-share program encourages a more active and healthy lifestyle.” JULIAN CASTRO, former San Antonio Mayor and former HUD Secretary4th29.4241° N98.4936° Welev. 650 ft.CDTUTC-6Company Investment (US$M) JobsCPS Energy 145 —Ben E. Keith Co. 92 100Niagara Bottling, LLC 85 75United Parcel Service 84 50Canadian General-Tower Limited 80 275population 2018: 2,217,169projected population 2023: 2,453,919USA• e 2018 California Life Sciences Industry Report by the California Life Sciences Association and PwC found that the Bay Area leads the state with more than 72,600 life sciences jobs — about 14,000 more jobs than second-place Los Angeles.• On the Milken Institute index of Best Performing Cities 2017, San Francisco ranked fourth in the U.S.• Fifty-four percent of the population over the age of 25 in San Francisco have earned at least a bachelor’s degree.• SF Motors has invested in Santa Clara in the Bay Area to expand the company’s autonomous vehicle R&D.San Francisco, CAAnyone who doesn’t have a great time in San Francisco is pretty much dead to me.” ANTHONY BOURDAIN, late TV personality and travel show host5th5th37.7749° N122.4194° Welev. 52 ft.PDTUTC-8Company Investment (US$M) JobsBoehringer Ingelheim Fremont, Inc. 217 300Sila Nanotechnologies, Inc. 138 213Novartis Pharmaceuticals 104 28Bayer Healthcare LLC 100 —Lineage Logistics Holdings, LLC 93 532population 2018: 3,325,284projected population 2023: 3,327,917USA130 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S• Santiago generates 45 percent of Chile’s GDP.• e oldest and largest university in both North and South America, Universidad de Chile, was built in 1622 in Santiago.• Chile was ranked No. 4 among the best countries for doing business in Latin America according to the Ease of Doing Business ranking published by World Bank in 2017.Santiago... a leading, connected, talented country, with solid institutions, and with a State that is modernizing to facilitate the arrival of foreign and national investors, aiming to boost our markets and create jobs." IAN FREDERICK, director of InvestChile, describing the business environment contributing to the country’s record-breaking FDI in 2018’s first quarter5th33.4569° S70.6483° Welev. 1,870 ft.CLTUTC-4Company Investment (US$M) JobsSCR - Sibelco NV 23 —Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B. De C.V./Ideal 22 —Grünenthal Pharma GmbH & Co. KG 15 —Duas Rodas Industrial Ltda. 7 —Ahern Rentals, Inc. 1 —population 2018: 6,680,371projected population 2023: 6,903,3924thChile• San Luis Potosí is the capital city of the Mexican state of the same name. e state has 2.68 million people and 60 percent of its population is under the age of 30.• 89 percent of the people of this region are of European ancestry, mostly from Spain.• Ponciano Arriaga International Airport serves the city and provides a variety of both domestic and international fl ights daily.• Francisco Gonzalez Bocanegra, who wrote the national anthem for Mexico, hails from this region of the country.San Luis PotosíUtilities were nearby, enough wells were available and power was stable. In addition, logistics-wise, it is very centrally located in the Mexican automotive corridor.” ALEXANDR A SEGERS, the international senior account executive and EPCM manager at SSOE Group who advised BMW on the siting of a 1,500-job, 4-million-sq.-ft. plant in San Luis Potosí1st22.1498° N100.9792° Welev. 10,430 ft.CDTUTC-6Company Investment (US$M) JobsGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 500 —Continental Automotriz, S.A. De C.V. 86 550Watco Companies, L.L.C. 45 —Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. 36 540Eva Precision Industrial Holdings Limited 26 —population 2018: 1,179,475projected population 2023: 1,273,325Mexico 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 131• On Feb. 9, 2017, McLaren Automotive announced the creation of the new McLaren Composites Technology Centre to be located within the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation District of Sheffi eld. e £50-million investment will create 200 jobs.• Sheffi eld’s high skill set was a major draw for international law fi rm Fragomen, which cited the presence of two large universities as a signifi cant factor in the fi rm’s site selection.• Sheffi eld regularly produces tech startups. Founded in 2015, Perkbox has grown to become the UK’s leading voluntary benefi ts provider and was recently named No. 2 in the Startups 100 Index of fastest growing startups in the UK.She eld e approach adopted by Sheffi eld City Council demonstrated that they understood the signifi cance of the commercial risk McLaren Automotive were considering and structured their support to respond to that.” KEN SMART, McLaren Automotive’s Sheffield Project Director1st53.383° N1.4659° Welev. 95 ft.UTCUTC+0Company Investment (US$M) JobsHitachi 85 160Rolls-Royce 36 180Boeing Co. 24 30Maher 5 20Nikken 5 10population 2018: 720,085projected population 2023: 745,8764thUK• Skopje is the capital of the Republic of Macedonia and is also the largest city in the country, accounting for 45.5 percent of national GDP. e area tends to attract many people from outlying areas, as well as transplanted workers from Kosovo, Albania and Southern Serbia.• e major industries of Skopje are food processing, textiles, printing and metal processing. Most of the area’s major industries are concentrated in the Gazi Baba municipality, located on the rail lines to Belgrade and essaloniki.• Foreign direct investment has been a staple of the Skopje economy, luring such global luminaries as Johnson Controls, Johnson Matthey and Van Hool. In addition, steel plants in Skopje are operated by ArcelorMittal and Makstil.SkopjeResponsible leaders should work on fi nding solutions for their peoples, states and cities, and not on creating new problems, or perpetuating old ones. I believe that if there is a will, there can always be a solution, regardless of the initial diff erences.” PETRE SHILEGOV, Mayor of Skopje2nd4th4th41.9965° N21.4314° Eelev. 790 ft.CESUTC+1Company Investment (US$M) JobsHaj-Tek Korporacija D.O.O. 22 300Energy Limited 22 150Loko Trans S.R.O. 20 200Arc Automotive Macedonia D.O.O.E.L. 18 400Cap-Con Automotive Technologies 18 400population 2018: 584,208projected population 2023: 611,107Macedonia132 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S• Nearly half of the city’s population was born overseas.• SGS Economic & Planning reports that professional services and fi nancial & insurance services contributed 44 percent of Sydney's GDP growth of 3.3 percent in 2016-2017.• e New South Wales Department of Industry reports that around 2.6 million people (nearly 53 percent of NSW residents aged 15-64) are tertiary educated.• Sydney's time zone, 10 hours ahead of GMT, spans the closing of the North American business day and the opening of business in Europe.Sydney ere’s an ease that I have living in Australia. e best things about Sydney are free: the sunshine’s free, and the harbor’s free, and the beach is free.” RUSSELL CROWE, actor2nd33.8679° S151.2073° Eelev. 82 ft.AESUTC+10Company Investment (US$M) JobsAirtrunk Pte. Ltd. 161 —Equinix, Inc. 97 —AstraZeneca PLC 77 60Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG 45 350Synnex 45 100population 2018: 4,792,281projected population 2023: 5,120,8943rdAustralia• e larger Stuttgart region has a population of 2.7 million people and boasts a highly advanced industrial infrastructure. It is the birthplace and home of Gottlieb Daimler, who invented the motor car at the end of the 19th century.• Stuttgart serves as the world or German headquarters of Daimler, Porsche, Bosch, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.• Stuttgart is a leading center of mechanical and electrical engineering. e region is also considered a European leader in clean energy, fuel cells and nanotechnology.• About 9,000 companies in the creative industries call Stuttgart home. Sectors within this fi eld include spatial communications and the fi lm and TV industry.StuttgartUntertürkheim is the birthplace of the automobile. ese investments will ensure that we continue to play a role in shaping the ongoing evolution of mobility from our base here." PETER SCHABERT, head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Powertrain production and head of the Untertürkheim plant in Stuttgart3rd48.7823° N9.177° Eelev. 804 ft.CETUTC+1Company Investment (US$M) JobsPorsche Automobil 761 1,000Herma GmbH 113 —Robert Bosch Gesellschaft Mit Beschränkter Haftung 74 —Carl Zeiss AG 65 —Ebm-Papst Mulfingen GmbH & Co. KG 51 —population 2018: 630,291projected population 2023: 635,4893rdGermany 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 133• According to the UBS Data Explorer Price Index, Tel Aviv has a price index of 85.4, ranking the city the 19th highest priced of 77 global cities.• Tel Aviv serves as the fi nancial and technological center of Israel. Located in the Gush Dan, the region is known by many as Silicon Wadi.• Tel Aviv has been ranked as the 25th most important fi nancial center on the planet.• According to Forbes, four of the 15 Israeli-born billionaires in the world live in Tel Aviv.Tel AvivTel Aviv is buzzing with so much life, you could bottle it and sell it as honey.” CLIVE SINCLAIR, British Author4th3rd32.0809° N34.7806° Eelev. 16 ft.IDTUTC+2Company Investment (US$M) JobsTeva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited 308 —Hazera Seeds B.V. 21 —Intel Corp. — 2,500Daimler AG — 25Hydco - Givati Ltd. — —population 2018: 4,010,977projected population 2023: 4,420,8553rdIsrael• Tijuana ranks as Mexico’s No. 1 aerospace and defense cluster.• San Diego and Tijuana are the two largest cities in the CaliBaja Bi-National MegaRegion, which has more than 6.5 million people.• Tijuana is home to more than 600 maquiladoras, factories in Mexico run by foreign companies who then export their products back to those countries.• International fi rms located in Tijuana generate economic activity for San Diego, helping to create a $205-billion, cross-border regional economy.TijuanaWe analyzed several destinations and found that Tijuana has the strongest knowledge base and experience in medical device manufacturing, costs reduction, and immediate connectivity with major markets by land and sea.” VICTOR DIAZ, President and COO, Vancouver, B.C.-based Surgical Specialties, in announcing the company would invest $11 million in a new manufacturing facility2nd1st2nd32.5027° N117.0037° Welev. 65 ft.PDTUTC-8Company Investment (US$M) JobsPrime Wheel Corp. 170 1,159Icon Aircraft, Inc. 150 1,000Toyota Motor Corp. 150 —Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, S.A. De C.V. 73 —Sohnen De Mexico, S. De R.L. De C.V. 65 —population 2018: 2,058,213projected population 2023: 2,259,787Mexico134 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S• e Washington D.C., metro area ranks No. 1 in several areas including economic strength, public transportation, sustainable real estate, entrepreneurship and having the highest proportion of women working in technology fi elds.• Alexandria, Virginia, located across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital, has more than 4.6 million sq. ft. of offi ce space, 1.4 million sq. ft. retail space, and 9,400 residential units in development.• Seventy-one percent of adults in Arlington, Virginia (part of Amazon's two-city HQ2 solution) have at least a bachelor’s degree, and more than 25 percent have an advanced degree. Arlington was ranked among one of the “Top 7 Intelligent Communities in the World” by the Intelligent Community Forum."Washington, D.C.5th2ndIt’s amazing to see these record numbers of development growth throughout the District of Columbia, proving that the city is an attractive place for people to live, work, play and build a business.” KEITH SELLARS, President & CEO, Washington DC Economic Partnership38.8951° N77.0364° Welev. 72 ft.EDTUTC-5Company Investment (US$M) JobsDominion Resources 3,400 —Vantage Data Centers Management Co., LLC 1,000 50Iron Mountain Inc. 350 25Google Inc. 250 50AstraZeneca 200 300population 2018: 5,206,593projected population 2023: 5,490,080USA• Top industries in Warsaw in 2018 include electronics, high-tech mechanics and food processing. Business processing centers, call centers and R&D operations are also leading economic drivers.• Warsaw’s Wola district, a former manufacturing area and a central spot in the Warsaw Uprising of World War II, is now a center of Poland’s fi nancial industry.• According to a 2018 U.S. News & World Report ranking, Poland is No. 3 out of the top 20 countries in which to invest; Warsaw is its economic and political capital.Warsaw2nd2nd2ndOur new facility in Warsaw, as well as the additional talent we plan on recruiting this year, will mean that our customers in Poland and across Europe will benefi t from our closer proximity ...” R AFAŁ BONTER, Managing Director, water technology company Xylem, March 201852.2298° N21.0118° Eelev. 328 ft.CESUTC+1Company Investment (US$M) JobsInter Cars S A 53 200Zaklady Farmaceutyczne Polpharma S A 19 —Harper Hygienics S A 8 —Jeronimo Martins Polska S A 8 —Eczacibasi Monrol Nükleer Ürünler San. Ve Tic. A.S. 7 —population 2018: 1,767,798projected population 2023: 1,797,5161stPoland 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 135• Known as “China’s thoroughfare,” Wuhan is a major transportation hub in Central China on the Yangtze River.• Wuhan was rated the “happiest place in China” by China Central Television’s happiness index in 2018.• e country’s fi rst hydrogen fuel cell industrial park will be built in Wuhan’s economic and technological development zone. e industrial park is estimated to produce output worth some 35 billion yuan (US$5 billion) annually.• A major hub for the steel industry, Wuhan is also home to nine automobile factories, and is often called “China’s Motor City.”Wuhan5thWuhan seizes the automobile consumption market.” WANG ZHEN, chief engineer in Wuhan Economy and Information Technology Commission30.5833° N114.2667° Eelev. 121 ft.CSTUTC+8• e city of Wuxi in the southeast Jiangsu province is more than 3,000 years old and has 31 protected heritage sites.• In 2017, the city put more than 170 low-carbon buses on the road and added 2.05 million square meters of urban green land.• 52 Fortune 500 companies are located in Wuxi.Wuxi5thWuxi has a very good IoT development environment and platform." JIANG WANGCHENG, president of Huawei's IoT solutions department31.5689° N120.2886° Eelev. 16 ft.CSTUTC+8Company Investment (US$M) EmployeesTsinghua Unigroup Ltd. 24,000 —Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. 2,586 5,000Shanghai General Motors 1,220 —Renault/Dongfeng 1,200 2,000Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. Of Zhuhai 749 —Company Investment (US$M) EmployeesSmic Holdings Corp. 1,162 —Citic Pacific Group Special Steel Co., Ltd. 600 —Comtec Solar Systems Group Ltd. 450 —Yogomo Co. Ltd. 449 —Infineon Technologies AG 300 2,500population 2018: 8,175,602projected population 2023: 8,718,250population 2018: 3,143,996projected population 2023: 3,437,3465thChinaChina136 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SNext >