Kaunas among the top-ranking technological cities of the future

For the second year in a row, Kaunas has received attention and recognition from the Financial Times’ investment experts. Once again Kaunas found itself among the best in the fDi Intelligence ranking Tech Cities of the Future 2021/22. It took third place in the category of cost-effectiveness and secured a place in the top twenty cities with the best investment strategies, Kaunas IN reported.

Financial Times fDi Intelligence division of investment experts has been compiling a variety of ratings for two decades now. They are becoming a weighty and influential barometer that global investors and decision-makers are looking forward to every year. Launched a year ago, fDi Intelligence ranking Tech Cities of the Future is designed to discover and shed light on those European cities that offer the best prospects for startups as well as businesses investing in technology and innovation.

This year, the prospects of Kaunas as a city of technology were assessed in as many as two categories.

Having taken 5th place last year, this year, Kaunas took 3rd place in the fDi cost-effectiveness category for its ability to manage resources. The Romanian city of Iași came first, and Kaunas overtook such cities in the neighbouring countries as Wroclaw and Riga.

In the fDi Strategy category evaluating the investment strategy, Kaunas is ranked 16th, overtaking cities like Hamburg and Frankfurt am Main in Germany, Birmingham in Great Britain or Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. London, Berlin and the Paris region found themselves in the top three positions of this category.

“International expert evaluations are becoming a great testimony that we are headed in the right direction: the city’s engineering sector is growing rapidly, more and more innovative companies and startups are settling here. In addition, it is a great opportunity to see what we look like in the context of other European cities, what our strengths are, and where we should focus when creating a favourable, attractive and limitless city of future technologies,” Head of Kaunas IN Tadas Stankevičius says.

The ranking assessed the tax environment, the number of offices in the city, the cost of setting up a job position and even the readiness of cities to host business delegations, opportunities to host business events, and other factors. Data for evaluation was collected for 76 locations across 31 European countries. The commission assessed them in five categories: Economic Potential, Innovation & Attractiveness, FDI Performance, Cost Effectiveness and Startup Environment.

The top three leaders in the ranking haven’t changed for two years. Only Dublin (Ireland) changed places with Paris (France), which fell to third place. London (United Kingdom) – recognized as the tech city of the future with the greatest economic potential – remained in the first place.

This is not the first time that Kaunas was successful in the fDi Magazine rankings. At the beginning of 2020, the city received an evaluation for the strategy of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the category of European Cities and Regions of the Future 2020/21 and in the fall, the city was pleased with the high – fifth – position in the Cities of the Future 2020/21 ranking.