The city has also been focusing on initiatives to remove barriers to education and employment. “The city and other regional partners are working to build more affordable housing units and preserve existing affordability. “Columbus, like other cities in the US, has been dealing with challenges around housing and talent, and is working to address these challenges in order to grow and thrive in ways that are truly equitable and sustainable," says Scherer. The city of Columbus has had its social and economic challenges, but it has not been sitting idly. In 2022, France's Foresee Power, which specialises in smart battery systems for sustainable electromobility, established its US headquarters in Columbus’s suburb of Hilliard.” From rust to semiconductorsĪs one of the so-called Rust Belt states, Ohio has suffered from the US manufacturing sector’s regression, which resulted in a process of deindustrialisation, economic decline, job losses and general urban decay. "Apart from historical investors, Columbus is attracting some interesting new ones. “Another notable foreign investor is DHL, which has its regional supply chain headquarters in Columbus," says Scherer. Many others have since joined Honda in Columbus, however. The Japanese automotive company entered the region in 1979, initially for motorcycle manufacturing, but it then expanded to cars. The first foreign investor to come to the Columbus region was Honda, and it is still the area's largest foreign investor. Columbus’s strategic position allows companies prime access points to the US marketplace, both for production and distribution.” "Such variety translates into market stability and because of this the Columbus region doesn’t suffer from industry-specific dips like other cities might. “The Columbus region boasts a highly diversified base of companies and industries," says Deb Scherer, managing director, global trade and investment, at regional promotion agency One Columbus. After that, FDI projects with a function in headquarters, manufacturing, and logistics and warehousing followed with an equal percentage of 16%. Although there was no clear leading sector, software and IT services and logistics came out on top with four and three new projects, respectively.Īs the chart above shows, the highest proportion (32%) of new FDI projects to have gone into the city since 2019 had business and professional services as the function. Across these three years, Columbus’s FDI activity shows just how diversified the city’s economy now is, with new FDI projects going into ten different sectors. Since 2019, the city has attracted 19 greenfield FDI projects, 14 of which were new investments and only five were expansions. Investment Monitor’s FDI Projects Database shows that Columbus is Ohio’s most popular foreign direct investment (FDI) location, accounting for 16% of greenfield projects into the state across 2019, 20. The city hosts the headquarters of six Fortune 500 companies – Alliance Data, American Electric Power, Cardinal Health, Huntington Bancshares, L Brands and Nationwide Mutual Insurance – while the Wendy‘s hamburger chain was founded in the city and is headquartered in its Dublin suburb. It also turns out a consistent stream of graduates from, among other institutions, Ohio State University, which is one of the largest in the US.Ĭolumbus has a stellar reputation for research, thanks mainly to the Battelle Memorial Institute, the world’s largest private research and development foundation.
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