January 29, 2025
FDI Center’s senior consultant, Conor Finnegan was interviewed for Investment Monitor’s article on “How IPAs can compete in an era of heightened protectionism”.
The article explores the significant challenges investment promotion agencies (IPAs) face in attracting foreign direct investment in an era of rising protectionism fueled by geopolitical shifts, technological advancements, and the desire to protect domestic industries. In this interview, Conor covered many different aspects affecting IPAs including the global decline of FDI, booming industries, FDI screenings, digital FDI, how IPAs can manage stakeholders, and FDI attraction strategies.
He advises that IPAs should be very specific about the type of investment they want to attract and go much deeper into sub-sectors within broad industries to select their target groups for investment attraction. He recommends these be paired with sophisticated value propositions that highlight the IPAs’ unique location advantages. Conor concluded that IPAs should set clear goals, maintain transparency with stakeholders, and embrace innovation to navigate the evolving global investment landscape successfully.
The full interview can be read on Investment Monitor’s website here.
