PwC just published a report Cities of Opportunities 7. The report measures 30 cities across 10 indicator groups and 67 variables. The report ranks Stockholm as the seventh best city in the world and the only Nordic city in the report.

The world’s best City of Opportunity according to PwC is London which scores high in economic clout, intellectual capital and international accessibility. However the report was compiled before the Brexit referendum. Experts at PwC also warned there were risks Brexit could impact London, possibly hitting recruitment, trade and regulation, although they said it was too early to gauge the effect. London’s closest rival was Singapore, followed by Toronto, Paris, Amsterdam and New York.

Stockholm is the champion of sustainability and environment as well as infrastructure. Among the cities in the report Stockholm also has the smallest income inequality. Though Stockholm generally evaluates well, the city is pulled down in the ranking because of the housing shortage and its relatively expensive living costs.

Do you want to set up your business in one of the most innovative regions of the world? Welcome to Stockholm, where start-ups flourish. Feel free to contact Scandicorp who will happily provide you with any help and information.

Read the full PwC report

Catella is a leading specialist in property investments, fund management and banking, with operations in 12 countries across Europe. Catella recently published a Nordic Market Tracker.

Investment Opportunities

The Northern European property market is increasingly featuring in the pan-European real estate portfolios of institutional investors. Compared with other European countries, the economic transparency and prosperity of the markets in the Nordic countries makes them a popular option. Also, the availability of capital opens up new investment opportunities. Catella foresees these opportunities, especially for investments in the office and retail markets.

In general, some 90% of invested capital in the Nordic countries is based on domestic markets (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland), with a high share of Swedish capital – but this will change. Demand from German, French and UK investors rose in the past three quarters, not least through pressure from capital markets to look for a stable income stream.

“Many markets offer clear potential for portfolio diversification. Copenhagen and Helsinki display a correlation that is slightly negative, as does Berlin. Stockholm’s correlation is below the level identified, for example, for the German cities of Cologne and Dusseldorf, and also from the perspective of Lisbon, Warsaw and London investors. Against this backdrop, combining a Nordic segment with a German, Spanish or Belgium office property segment could be a successful strategy for anyone interested in risk diversification,” explained Dr. Thomas Beyerle, Head of Group Research at Catella, talking about the investment strategy from an international perspective.

Catellas report concludes

Catellas report concludes: “The Nordic countries are not as homogeneous as international stereotypes often suggest. There are marked differences to be aware of when investing. Not only do investors need to know how Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland differ when it comes to their social, economic and political arenas, but there’s something else international observers should keep an eye on, as well: intra-Nordic investment patterns. This report thus concludes that the northern European countries represent enormous potential when it comes to diversifying multinational portfolios. Furthermore, they also demonstrate structural stability for long-term investors with multi-country and multi-asset funds/strategy.”

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The London-based think tank, the Legatum Institute, has again released its annual global Prosperity Index. This year’s index ranks Norway as the most prosperous country among 142 countries.

The index compares 89 variables including traditional indicators like per capita gross domestic product and the number of people in full-time work in addition to factors such as number of secure internet servers in the country and how well rested people feel on a day-to-day basis. The variables are then split into eight sub-indexes: economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, and social capital.

Norway has topped the Prosperity Index for the last past seven years. Norway is the only country ranked in the top 10 of every sub-index.

The other Nordic countries all received high rankings:

Denmark 3rd, after Switzerland (2nd), and second best when it comes to entrepreneurship and opportunity.

Sweden 5th, after New Zeeland (4th), ranks the best for entrepreneurship and opportunity and also fares well in safety and security. The country gained one place in this year’s index.

Finland 9th , ranked the third best in safety and security and fifth best in governance, however, the relatively poor economy has pushed the country down a rank from last year.

Iceland 12th , dropped a rank compared to last year, but ranks in the top five in three sub-indexes; personal freedom, entrepreneurship and opportunity and safety and security.

Would you be interested in expanding your business into this prosperous market?

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Stockholm was ranked third best followed by Helsinki as fourth best among 35 European cities for startups in a recent survey. The index released was created by UK-based innovation charity Nesta as part of the European Digital Forum. It rates cities by how well they create a supportive environment for digital companies, from local business regulations to available financing to the skill level of the workforce. London and Amsterdam scored first and second while Copenhagen ranked fifth followed by Paris, Berlin and Dublin.

As expected, Stockholm features quite highly on the list, ranking second for scale-ups and third for startups. The Swedish capital has produced several of Europe’s biggest digital companies such as Spotify, King (creators of Candy Crush) and Mojang (creators of Minecraft). Moreover, it is the European city leader on many measures of digital infrastructure: it has the highest penetration of residential broadband, the highest percentage of fibre broadband connection in Europe and reports a greater proportion of ICT-specialist users in the total economy than any other country in the OECD. The population also have strong English language skills. The government, too, is highly supportive of entrepreneurship: it is a relatively easy place in which to do business, and public funding may be available via VINNOVA, Sweden’s innovation agency. The city is also home to top ranking universities, such as the Karolinska Institute, as well as telecoms giant Ericsson, which promotes strong knowledge spillovers.

Helsinki scores highly on nearly every dimension in the Index except cost of living, catapulting it to fourth position overall. Helsinki was also a ‘front runner’ in Nesta’s own CITIE report, due to its benign innovation policy environment. It is a well-connected city (Finland itself topped the World Economic Forum’s 2014 Network Readiness Index) which also scores highly for entrepreneurial culture, skills and early-stage support. The presence of electronics giant Nokia exerted significant influence for many years and helped in establishing a strong ICT and software talent pool in the region – this is evident in the skills score. Industry-defining technologies such as SSH, Linux and MySQL have been developed in Helsinki. Aalto University and the state-run VTT – two large, multidisciplinary research institutions – both play important roles in connecting this deep technical base with design and business skills. Today, Helsinki region is a home for over 500 tech startups and numerous incubators and accelerator programs.

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