Coventry & Warwickshire leading the UK for international investment
"We continue to have the skills and talent sought by overseas companies, as well as the sites and connectivity."
Data released by the Department for Business and Trade (1) has revealed that the Coventry & Warwickshire area is the best performing location in the UK and Northern Ireland for foreign direct investment (FDI), continuing to outperform the overall UK figures (2).
Per capita, which takes account of the local population size and the number of projects, Coventry & Warwickshire was the leading destination with one project per 21,464 per population. In terms of overall projects landing in one location, the city and county were placed fourth behind Greater Manchester, Birmingham and Solihull and Leeds City Region (3).
The area attracted a total of 53 foreign investment projects in the year 2023-24, maintaining the trend of recent years. The previous year recorded a figure of 50 projects.
Key sectors for Coventry & Warwickshire included 22 projects for automotive and future mobility (up from 17 projects) and eight digital creative and software, four e-commerce and logistics (five projects last year) and four medtech projects. Altogether, the area accounted for 20% of UK automotive projects.
The Coventry & Warwickshire area also saw a strong performance around employment, with 2,717 jobs new and safeguarded jobs, placing Coventry & Warwickshire fifth for most new jobs by area in the UK.
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 2024. The Coventry & Warwickshire area placed second for FDI Strategy, and was awarded top-ten placings for Economic Potential 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, which this year included Accenture, BMW, GM, Polestar, TATA, Tencent and Visteon among recent new investors into the area.
The latest data confirms the city and county as a leading UK destination for FDI and high-tech investment over the last decade. The Coventry and Warwickshire area has seen 25,431 jobs created or safeguarded from 447 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects over the last ten years (4).
Cllr Martin Watson, portfolio holder for Economy, at Warwickshire County Council said “We are delighted to see that Coventry & Warwickshire continues to be such an attractive destination for foreign investment, with so much of it led by technological businesses - we continue to have the skills and talent sought by overseas companies, as well as the sites and connectivity.
“Our new strategic economic plan and sector growth plans will help support and develop the offer of our local economy. 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, at Coventry City Council said “It’s good news that we are continuing to perform well when it comes to attracting inward investment from outside the UK. We did especially well to attract investments from the future mobility and energy sectors including Tata Elxsi based at the Techno Centre, Coventry and Corona Energy based in the City Centre.
“The green industrial revolution is coming and we believe, with our plans for a gigafactory, Coventry Very Light Rail and our partnership with E.ON that we can lead in this area. There will be lots of jobs in this rapidly growing sector and we certainly have the right location, skills and business support to make Coventry a very attractive place for new business to move to and grow in.”
For further information, please visit www.investcw.co.uk or email contact@investcw.co.uk
Editor’s Note:
- Data published by Department for International Trade. Coventry & Warwickshire landed 44 projects and 9 shared projects across multiple areas/sites for 2023-24.
- 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.
- Looking at single-sited projects, Coventry & Warwickshire with 44 projects and a population based on latest NOMIS data of 944,424.
- Invest Coventry and Warwickshire data, cumulative years.