The how and the what of success with Copenhagen Capacity
How do you become a world leading Investment Promotion Agency in 2025? This is the question we asked some of the most renowned city and regional investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in the world in collaboration with Copenhagen Capacity and European Talent Mobility Forum. Based on initial research by Future Place Leadership, we aligned trends we saw in the market, with expert insights directly from the industry including these seven organizations: Berlin Partner, Brainport Development, Copenhagen Capacity, Helsinki Business Hub, Invest Stockholm, Montreal International, and Tel Aviv Global.
The challenge
Copenhagen Capacity is an award winning economic development agency and by many industry peers considered to be Champions League. Yet to win such a tournament each year (to use the soccer analogy), one can not rest on its laurels. Hence the organisation is always keen to understand, what is happening in the world related to the business of attracting investors, that one should adopt its strategy to, or completely change direction to accommodate. The challenge of this assignment was exactly that: Understanding the future market and providing recommendations on how to adapt strategically and operationally already now.
We identified 4 key questions as guiding principles for the research and interviews:
- What would it take to be the best Investment Promotion Agency by 2025?
- What do you need to do in the next five years to maintain a leading position?
- What are the respective roles of FDI, talent attraction, and placemaking? And how do they all work together?
- What trends really matter to our industry?
The solution
This white paper introduces eight recommendations for the future of investment promotion. Some relate to a changing world and economies, with technologies and the environmental crisis deeply affecting our ways of living, consuming, working, and producing. In reaction or to accommodate these trends, the role of Investment promotion agencies has also started to change. Instead of being the “salespeople” of their cities, regions, or nations, they are working strategically with public and private actors to facilitate the local economic ecosystems. This require specific knowledge on the priority industries, but also knowledge of actors to connect them.
The result
The eight recommendations are:
- Talents are your biggest asset
- Be a digital infrastructure leader
- Soft landing matters to investors
- This is an emotional business
- IPAs’ skill-sets will change
- A clear and distinct value proposition
- Sustainability moves to the forefront
- Diversify the investment mix
Download the report for free here!
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