Awards recognise Coventry & Warwickshire as an FDI powerhouse

“These awards are recognition of the excellent partnership work taking place here between the public and private sector."

Coventry and Warwickshire is among the fastest growing Local Enterprise Partnership regions in the country as a location for foreign investment.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Intelligence Magazine placed Coventry and Warwickshire in the top ten in three categories of its bi-annual FDI European Cities and Regions of the Future Awards.

The area is second for Foreign Direct Investment strategy, seventh for economic potential and ninth for overall winner. The awards were presented at MIPIM – the world’s biggest property development and investment show – which took place this month.

The awards recognise the work done over the last two years to bring forward major initiatives including Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Strategic Reset Framework and Warwickshire County Council’s Warwickshire Recovery and Investment Fund (WRIF).

They are also recognition of the quality of inward investment into key local sectors which include Zero Carbon Transport Technologies, Electric Vehicles and battery technology, and video games development.

In 2021, Coventry and Warwickshire saw major investments from REE Auto, Rimac, Classic Legends BSA motorcycles, Epic Games and Electronic Arts.

Official figures released last year showed that Coventry and Warwickshire continued to be a leading location for foreign investment with the creation of nearly 2,000 new jobs and almost 50 successful foreign direct investments being recorded in the area, representing a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent.

Cllr Kam Kaur, Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for Economy and Place and CWLEP board director, said: “These awards are recognition of the excellent partnership work taking place here between the public and private sector, and the innovative and informed approach our teams are taking to attract and retain investment in the Coventry and Warwickshire area.

“The awards will provide an excellent profile for the area, and we hope will lead to further interest and investment.”

Sarah Windrum, Chair of CWLEP, said the superb results underlined the importance of Coventry and Warwickshire’s partnership approach.

She said: “During the pandemic, CWLEP developed a newly-focused partnership-led Strategic Reset Framework to re-set our economy and continuing to encourage inward investment is paramount in our key sectors.

“These results emphasise the resilience of businesses throughout Coventry and Warwickshire and that we are outperforming many other areas in England.

“That is largely due to the united private and public sector approach that we have always driven at CWLEP since it breaks down barriers and encourages companies to locate here, creating and safeguarding jobs which boosts our economy.”