Data released by the Department for Business and Trade has revealed that the Coventry & Warwickshire area remains among the best performing locations in the country1 as a leading destination for foreign direct investment (FDI2), continuing to outperform the overall UK figures.
The area attracted 56 foreign investment projects in the year 2022-23, maintaining the trend of recent years. The previous year – 2021-22 - recorded a figure of 45 projects, representing a 24% increase in projects, bettering the equivalent UK figure of 4%.
Key sectors for Coventry & Warwickshire included automotive and future mobility (17 projects) and digital creative and software (13 projects) and e-commerce and logistics (5 projects). The area also accounted for 17% of the total UK automotive projects. Investments included those from countries including Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, the US and Sweden.
The Coventry & Warwickshire area also saw growth in jobs created, up at 3,195 compared to 1,534 last year, while the UK saw a fall of almost 7% for the same period.
The release of the data marks another positive landmark for the region; earlier this year, FDI Intelligence Magazine recognised the strength of the local area, placing Coventry & Warwickshire in the top 10 for three categories in its annual FDI European Cities and Regions of the Future Awards 2023. The Coventry & Warwickshire area placed third for FDI Strategy, eighth for economic potential ninth for and business friendliness. The rankings benchmark European cities and regions according to their economic, financial, and business strengths. Invest Coventry and Warwickshire’s local investment strategy stood out due to the strength of its support to businesses in establishing themselves in the area, close collaboration with local partners and unique offer to inward investors, with Berry Global, DHL, Rhenus, REE Auto, and Switch Mobility among recent new investors into the area.
These figures put the city and county in a strong position as the UK looks ahead to the Global Investment Summit (GIS 23), taking place in October, where the UK Government will seek to attract billions of pounds of high value investment, with a special focus on high tech sectors such as innovation, research and development.
While the most recent years’ figures have shown accelerated growth, the upward trend for Coventry and Warwickshire is nothing new and has been seen over the last decade. The Coventry and Warwickshire area has seen 22,714 jobs created from 403 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects over the last nine years3.
Martin Watson, Cabinet Member for Economy, at Warwickshire County Council said “ We are thrilled to see that Coventry & Warwickshire remains a go-to area in the UK for FDI – Foreign Direct Investment - as we have the skills and talent sought by overseas companies, as well as the sites and connectivity.
“The area boasts outstanding talent pipelines at major universities, excellent transport infrastructure by road or rail and partners are experienced at supporting businesses in establishing operations in the area.
“The County Council’s inward investment service provides an excellent soft-landing support for business, with help in finding properties, accessing funding and attracting talent or filling skills gaps. The support available is comprehensive, and I would encourage potential investors to reach out to us if they are thinking of investing in the area.”
Councillor Jim O’Boyle, cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change said, “This is good news for Coventry and the Warwickshire area. Attracting inward investment supports the local economy and crucially, of course, its about creating jobs for local people because having a job changes lives.
“Our teams work hard to attract new investment and we have a good offer to companies looking to invest – including support to find the right premises, a great pool of talented people and access to business support. It’s a competitive market out there with towns and cities all trying hard to attract new jobs – so the fact we did so well and better than the year before is really good news.”
For further information visit www.investcw.co.uk or email contact@investcw.co.uk
1. Data published by Department for International Trade. Coventry & Warwickshire landed 50 projects and 6 shared projects across multiple areas/sites for 2022-23. Link here.
2. Foreign Direct Investment is investment in new or existing facilities by companies with foreign ownership. The UK Government assesses a company to be foreign owned if it has a 10% or more ownership from overseas.
3. Invest Coventry and Warwickshire data, cumulative years