Baltic countries topped Emerging Europe’s ranking of the national investment promotion agencies

Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia topped Emerging Europe’s annual ranking of investment promotion agencies (IPA). Estonia with its IPA Invest Estonia holds first place for four years already, outperforming the competitors in innovation, creativity, support, and community-building components. Invest Estonia is followed by the Lithuanian agency Invest Lithuania. This year it improved the indicator of support and community building. 

Investment and Development Agency of Latvia took the third spot. In particular, it created a virtual ecosystem that consists of several web pages and databases. They enhance the user experience of potential investors and provide the possibility to discover opportunities, offered by the country online.

Innovation and creativity components weigh 15% in the ranking. These components check if IPA's website uses automation and artificial intelligence and/or other emerging technologies to improve potential investors’ user experience and provide a better service, or if the IPA uses the story-telling approach in website design to elevate user experience. 

The support and community building component weighs 25% in the ranking. It checks if the IPA uses its digital channel to build investors’ community and offers support to prospective investors. For example, if the website includes information that specifies what forms of assistance IPA staff can offer to investors, if the IPA invites the international business community and foreign investors present in the country to take part in events, and webinars, or if the IPA runs social media channels in English.

In the component of validity of information, which weighs 30% in the ranking, Estonia takes only the 6th spot, and Lithuania - 8th. Latvia overran its neighbors, being the second only to Czechia. This component looks at how reliable, valid, and up-to-date is the content of an IPA's website, social media, and newsletters. 

Emerging Europe’s report also includes details of actual foreign direct investment (FDI- amount of foreign direct investment), based on the latest data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). 

Across the emerging Europe region, in 2022, FDI inflows reached $85,5 bln, which is 2% lower than in 2021. Lithuania appeared here in the 9th spot, receiving $2,1bln, Latvia -  in the 13th spot, raising $1,5bln, and Estonia - in the 15th place with $1,2bln.

In terms of FDI per capita (per person), Estonia appeared in the 4th place with $909M, Latvia in the 6th place with $815M, and Lithuania is in the 7th spot, having $785M.

The ranking was published in 2018 for the first time. Emerging Europe has been researching how the region’s 23 national investment promotion agencies communicate their investment opportunities and how they use their digital channels to get potential investors interested in the various business opportunities offered by the region’s key sectors. In 2023, aside from ranking the performance of each country, it showed digitization of government and IPA operations and social media diplomacy.

Emerging Europe is a social enterprise and a growth hub, headquartered in London. Among multiple initiatives, the company produces pan-regional reports, such as the Future of IT, and provides market analysis. It analyses the market of Central Europe, Eastern Europe, North-East Europe (Baltic countries), and South-East Europe.