< PreviousTop Cities 1 Budapest Metro Area, Hungary 2 Lodz Metro Area, Poland 2 Warsaw Metro Area, Poland 4 Moscow Metro Area, Russia 4 Prague Metro Area, Czech RepublicCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsBayturservis TOO Almaty Kazakhstan 555 24Endogenics LLC Tula Russia 140 200Novartis Pharma AG Saint Petersburg Russia 140 Stentex LLC Moscow Russia 140 700Novartis Pharma AG Prevalje Slovenia 122 150Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017LIFE SCIENCESEASTERN EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIAAt the opening of a new facility from Hungarian-owned Béres Pharmaceuticals in September 2018, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán noted the sector is one of the nation’s most innovative economic drivers and employs 14K people. His goal is to increase pharma’s share of gross national product from 6% to 8%.78 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 STop Cities 1 Dublin Metro Area, Ireland 2 Cork Metro Area, Ireland 3 Berlin/Brandenburg Metro Area, Germany 4 Galway, Ireland 5 Waterford, IrelandCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsImec Heverlee Belgium 1,072 Biogen Idec Inc. Zurich Switzerland 1,000 400Bristol Myers Squibb Dublin Ireland 900 350Roche Diagnostics GmbH Penzberg Germany 621 170Glaxosmithkline PLC Ulverston United Kingdom 562 250Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017LIFE SCIENCESWESTERN EUROPEBetween 2010-2014 and 2015-2017, fi nancing of privately held life sciences fi rms in Ireland increased by more than 200%. SOURCE: KPMG 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 79LIFE SCIENCESTop Cities 1 Suzhou Metro Area, China 2 Chengdu, China 3 Hyderabad Metro Area, India 3 Singapore, Singapore 5 Ho Chi Minh City Metro Area, VietnamCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsNovartis Pharma AG Shanghai China 1,000 Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd. Chengdu China 760 2,300Jinggangshan (Ji'An) Energy Technology Development Co. Ltd. Ji'an China 738 Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. Xi'an China 729 Samsung Biologics Seoul South Korea 720 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017ASIA PACIFICAnalysts at health care data fi rm IQVIA say China’s $122.6B pharma market was No. 2 in the world in 2017, and could grow to between $145B and $175B by 2022.80 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 SSUZHOU PHOTO: GETTY IMAGESSECTOR LEADER IN:he Classical Gardens of Suzhou are col-lectively considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yet Suzhou is no longer the quaint river town that its pictur-esque gardens and ancient canals portray it to be.With a population of 13.7 million, Suzhou’s prefectural boundaries have expanded recently to encompass surrounding smaller cities, gradually transforming it into a megacity. Suzhou’s advanced manufacturing base and integrated logistics infrastructure, combined with its proximity to Shanghai, have earned it the deserved reputation as the manufacturing hub of China’s Yangtze River Delta (YRD) Region and the linchpin of Eastern China’s economic present and future. Suzhou’s GDP reached an impressive $250 billion in 2017. Suzhou is 25 percent larger than Shanghai and eight times the size of Hong Kong. It also contains the small but mighty manufacturing hubs of Zhangjiagang, Kunshan, Changshu, and Taicang.Key clusters of electronics, textiles, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals and fi ne chemicals, and precision equipment manufacturing diff erentiate Suzhou’s manufacturing sector from the more consumer products–driven manufacturing clusters in southern Guangdong province around Shenzhen. Emerging sectors in Suzhou include high-end manufacturing, cloud computing and biotech, which have been prioritized by the local government as drivers of the city’s future growth. Suzhou’s industrial development has been centered on four key state-level economic development zones: Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), Suzhou New District (SND) and Wuzhong and Wujiang Export Processing Zones.Like Shanghai, Suzhou is encouraging companies to establish R&D and HQ facilities in the city. As of January 2018, there were 81 HQs in Suzhou, of which 38 were multinationals.Suzhou, home to more than 21,000 foreign-owned enterprises, has averaged about $8 billion annually in FDI over the last decade. e city recorded 985 new foreign investment projects in 2017 amounting to $4.5 billion.Suzhou was designated as a national trade and logistics hub in the Ministry of Commerce’s (MOFCOM) development plan (2015-2020). e most important component of the city’s logistics infrastructure is the Port of Suzhou — China’s busiest inland river port. In 2018, China’s National Development and Reform Commission approved a $14-billion expansion plan to extend the Suzhou Rail Transit network, including direct subway links to Kunshan and Shanghai. Construction is estimated to be complete by 2023.Herminio AndresTractus Asia LtdCHINA31.3021° N 120.5853° Eelev. 20 ft.CSTUTC+83rd1st1st1st1st1st1st1st 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 81LIFE SCIENCESTop Cities 1 San José-Heredia Metro, Costa Rica 2 Campinas Metro Area, Brazil 2 Tijuana, Mexico 4 São Paulo Metro Area, Brazil 5 Buenos Aires Metro Area, Argentina 5 Mexico City Metro Area, Mexico 5 Canelones, Uruguay 5 Chihuahua, MexicoCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsPfizer Inc. Buenos Aires Argentina 300 Sanofi-Aventis France Pilar Argentina 300 Pharmachem Technologies (Gran Bahamas) Ltd. Freeport Bahamas 120 Landsteiner Scientific, S.A. De C.V. Toluca Mexico 117 Mega Pharma Canelones Uruguay 110 350Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEANSan José, Costa Rica, saw its cost of living drop 12 spots (to 90th) in the Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 report from The Economist, while Mexico City rose by 23 spots to No. 59. 82 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 SSAN JOSÉCOSTA RICAPHOTO: GETTY IMAGESSECTOR LEADER IN:t may not have the cachet of the eponymous California municipality known as the home of Silicon Valley. But who needs that sort of baggage anyway?With a growing talent quotient, an expanding roster of multinational operations and costs that are about half of costs in that increasingly expensive Bay Area city, San José, Costa Rica, has the high-tech, high-growth momentum any corporate leader craves. e multilingual work force’s capability springs from Costa Rica’s lauded public education system. With a literacy rate of almost 98 percent, Costa Rica’s free and compulsory education system was ranked No. 27 in the world by the World Economic Forum. CINDE, the Costa Rica investment promotion agency, notes that the Technical English Program for Service Centers, developed with contact center companies in 2005, graduates 1,000 graduates on average every year. More than 86 percent of primary school students, public and private, attend English classes. Among the country’s fi ve public universities, the University of Costa Rica in San José is the largest, with 40,000 enrolled.Analysis of offi ce fi t-out costs performed by CBRE in 2016 put San José among the most aff ordable cities in Latin America, and No. 1 in one crucial category: speed to market, with completion times of around 18 weeks compared to some that were up to two months longer. Outsourcing advisory fi rm Outlier Legal Services, a champion of the Costa Rican ecosystem, puts it in clear terms in an April 2018 blog:“While offi ce rentals in Silicon Valley range between US$2.20 and $4.50 per square foot of space, in Costa Rica you can fi nd a wide range of rental options for your business with prices between $0.85 and $2.45 per square foot ... at cost diff erence means yearly savings of $123,000 per year, which is money you can allocate to other areas of your business.” e fi rm compares software engineer salaries too: $124,555 up north, $26,700 down south. And the 2018 Worldwide Cost of Living report published by e Economist highlighted San José as one of the biggest downward movers, dropping 12 spots to 90th most expensive city in the world out of the 133 surveyed.Based largely on the performance of Greater San José, the 2018 Global Location Trends report from IBM-Plant Location International ranked Costa Rica No. 5 in job creation per 1 million inhabitants — just ahead of Ireland — and No. 2 behind Brazil in all of Latin America, based on strong trends in life sciences and business services. Adam BrunsSite SelectionMagazine 9.9278° N84.0807° Welev. 3,845 ft.CSTUTC-61st4th1st2nd1st4th 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 83LIFE SCIENCESTop Cities 1 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, USA 2 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, USA 3 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, USA 4 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, USA 5 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, USACompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsAthenex, Inc. Jamestown-Dunkirk-Fredonia, NY United States 1,520 900Novo-Nordisk Of North America, Inc. Raleigh, NC United States 1,200 691Gilead Sciences, Inc. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA United States 500 500Grifols Raleigh, NC United States 370 200Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI United States 320 300Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017NORTHAMERICA Life sciences leader NYC also is No. 1 among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas in percentage of residents living in mixed-u se districts.— “The New Geography of Urban Neighborhoods,” Urban Land Institute, June 201884 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 SLIFE SCIENCESTop Cities1 Algiers Metro Area, Algeria2 Jerusalem, Israel2 King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia 2 Cairo Metro Area, EgyptCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsTeva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Tel Aviv Israel 308 Neopharma - L L C Jizan Saudi Arabia 267 Life Pharma Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 160 Sudair Pharmaceutical Dilam Saudi Arabia 150 Astrazeneca Al-Djazair Algiers Algeria 125 104Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017AFRICA & MIDDLE EASTConnections in the West Bank and Gaza EcosystemA World Bank Group report from members of the Global Entrepreneurship Research Network (GERN) surveyed 423 entrepreneurs in the West Bank and Gaza in order to map the startup ecosystem, much of which is aliated with the life sciences sector. IMAGE COURTESY OF WORLD BANK GROUP2018 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 85MA CHINER Y & E QUIPMENTngineering and construction underpin most economic activity.” us did the World Economic Forum, in its 2017 report “Shaping the Future of Construction,” reinforce a basic tenet of Conway Analytics’ Conway Projects Database tracking corporate facility locations: Construction must take place to qualify. And just as construction is indicative of economic momentum, investment in machinery & equipment can be a harbinger of construction.Take our top fi ve in North America: Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta are all in the top 12 commercial construction markets for 2018, according to Dodge Analytics, and metro Detroit’s construction boom put it in the top 10 for con-struction job growth in 2017, even as its automo-tive industry continued to sustain its own demand for new machinery e machinery & equipment leadership of Queretaro, Mexico, in Latin America likewise can be attributed to its leadership in so many sectors using those machines: e state has a substantial automotive presence, and in the fi rst half of 2018 attracted half of the entire nation’s aerospace FDI. São Paulo, Brazil, meanwhile, accounts for 37 percent of the jobs in the sector in São Paulo State, which in turn accounts for 57 percent of the value of industrial transformation in the sector in all of Brazil.“ e demand for industrial machinery continues growing strongly because of a global boom in capi-tal expenditures that is largely fueled by commodi-ty processing, extraction and intermediate product production,” says Oxford Economics’ Dan Levine. “However, increasing global protectionism and rising U.S. interest rates contribute to downside risk for this sector.”Yet continued urbanization, he notes, is “likely to fuel construction demand in the developing world for the foreseeable future.”Even in China, where it’s been going on for a while now, urbanization rates are still only at 57 percent, he says, “and this percentage is expected to continue climbing in lock-step with China’s rising middle class. In addition, Oxford Eco-nomics expects that China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative will spur massive civil engineer-ing projects as the country constructs its planned cross-country infrastructure network,” not to mention that initiative’s major capital expenditures abroad.Indeed, overlaying a global map of OBOR-relat-ed outward investment with our rankings by world region shows more than a few coincidences: Our Africa & Middle East No. 2 Nairobi, for instance, is in a country where OBOR funds are a major part of Kenyan infrastructure projects. Pune and Delhi, India, are both connected to major industri-al corridor, high-speed rail and other infrastructure projects where Chinese OBOR capital may fi nd a home. e same goes for some of our top-ranked metros in the UAE, Russia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. ose Chinese investors are onto something: Not only do engineering and construction under-pin economies. e major infrastructure projects that go with urbanization do too.“86 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 SEASTERN EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIAMACHINERY & EQUIPMENTCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsWalter CZ S.R.O. Kurim Czech Republic 6,387 Novatek Oao Murmansk Russia 843 Star Assembly SRL Sebes Romania 341 1,000Claas Krasnodar Russia 130 Visteon HVCC Szekesfehervar Hungary 104 230Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Lipetsk, Russia 1 Plzen, Czech Republic 1 Brno Metro Area, Czech Republic 1 Budapest Metro Area, Hungary 5 Nowa Ruda, Poland 5 Moscow Metro Area, RussiaRussia’s machine industry exports amounted to $7.7B in H1 2017.The Czech Republic is No. 8 globally and No. 5 in Europe in machine tool production per capita. 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 87Next >