Municipality of Porto receives Financial Times European Cities of the Future award

The award for Porto City Hall's investment attraction strategy, recognised by fDi Intelligence, of the Financial Times, which placed it at the top of the European Cities of the Future, was delivered to the mayor, Rui Moreira, and the councillor for Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship, Ricardo Valente. The ceremony took place within MIPIM, which brings together this week, in Cannes, over six thousand investors and international financial institutions.

At this moment, the municipal strategy attracts talent, startups and international companies, in a work that has been developed by InvestPorto, the municipal division specialized in attracting and facilitating direct investment projects, born of a political vision that has investment as the cornerstone of the development strategy for the city. In 2022 alone, the municipality was able to attract around 433 million euros in direct investment to the city, more than double the previous year, creating 1380 direct jobs. Hence, in the Financial Times ranking, Porto led in the category "FDI strategy - Large cities", ahead of cities such as Birmingham or Manchester (England), Glasgow (Scotland), Antwerp (Belgium), Katowice (Poland), Izmir or Adana (Turkey), Gothenburg (Sweden) and Bilbao (Spain).

For the award, the investment promotion strategies of 90 cities and regions were compared, considering criteria such as the profile and number of foreign investments attracted in the last 12 months, the fastest growing sectors of activity and the results of local policies on talent attraction, energy resilience and sustainability.

Before reaching the top of fDi Intelligence's European Cities of the Future, Porto had already conquered the 8th position in 2018/19, the 5th in the 2020/21 edition and the third place on the podium in the ranking presented by the Financial Times in the last edition, 2022/23.

The mayor and the councillor for Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship are present at MIPIM, the biggest world event dedicated to the real estate market, which takes place this week in Cannes. In a joint strategy of the Greater Porto brand, Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Matosinhos are trying to attract investment to the entire region.

Since Greater Porto was created, the three municipalities of the Atlantic Front have assumed a collaborative dialogue in the debate of joint strategies and in attracting investment, building a shared future. Participation in MIPIM also seeks to create opportunities to foster and strengthen territorial alliances. The mayors of the three municipalities will therefore participate in initiatives such as the conference "Building Territories of the Future", with the mayors of Malaga and Madrid.