How this Yorkshire city should attract foreign investors in a post-Brexit era, according to experts

The Foreign Direct Investment and Cities Forum, hosted by York University brought together experts to talk about the challenges of encouraging investment into cities from abroad.

The event aimed to bring a non-academic viewpoint on how to encourage foreign investment into cities such as York, with invited guests sharing their experiences from both the investment and city planning perspective.

Members of York City Council and others heard about success stories from cities including Cambridge, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Vilnius and Milan, as they talked about topics such as the importance of human brilliance and a joined-up narrative for attracting and retaining investment in a city.

Prof Christopher Williams said: “One key lesson that we heard several times was the importance of a joined-up narrative. Harriet Fear from Cambridge described how visiting investors spoke to people from the university, the local council, and others, and each of them gave a different vision for the city.

"These mixed messages had a negative effect on the investors’ confidence – they no longer knew exactly what it was they were investing in.

“People from across York therefore need to work together to ensure they present a united front in how they sell the idea of the city.”

“Another aspect which was brought up was the role of universities, particularly in knowledge-intensive industries. It doesn’t make sense if the university is good at one thing, but your investment strategy is aimed at something else.”

“On top of this, there’s the idea of aftercare: what happens once you’ve attracted the investment? It is so important that you keep working together with these partners that you’ve brought to your city, so that five or 10 years down the line they don’t suddenly decide it isn’t worth it anymore.”Foreign direct investment stands at around $1.6 trillion.

“It is important for York and Yorkshire to ensure that it has a strategy to get a slice of that pie,” Prof Williams said.