The number of projects in the South West backed by foreign direct investment (FDI) grew at a faster rate than the rest of the UK last year, new research finds.
The region saw growth of 31% with 42 projects - up from 32 projects in 2020 and 30 in 2019, according to the latest EY 2022 UK Attractiveness Survey .
Meanwhile, overall UK project numbers grew just 1.8% from 975 in 2020 and 993 in 2021.
The West of England had the UK’s fastest rate of project growth between 2020 and 2021, and had a 4.2% share of all UK projects last year, compared to 3.3% in 2020 and 2.7% in 2019.
Bristol was the highest-ranked location for FDI in the South West, with 19 projects (up from 12 in 2020) and ahead of its decade-long average. The city ranked fifth in the leading cities outside of London for investment after Edinburgh (31), Manchester (31), Belfast (24) and Glasgow (19). Swindon, with five projects, also represented the South West in the top-20 non-London locations for FDI.
The leading sectors for investment into the region last year were digital technology (22) – the highest number of projects recorded in the decade, and more than double the number of projects recorded from the transportation manufacturers and suppliers sector (10). Business services (16 projects) and manufacturing (nine) were the two leading activities in the region, with manufacturing seeing its first project rise since 2017.
Karen Kirkwood, office managing partner at EY in the South West, said: “The South West has a diverse regional economy and has been a UK FDI success story in 2021.
"The region has continued to be resilient despite the impact of the pandemic and has delivered a strong performance in high-value sectors like manufacturing and digital technology– which is set to lead the way for future UK FDI growth.”
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