Investing in Success
Berlin, May 8, 2026 – In 2025, Berlin recorded a total investment volume of €970 million – the third-best result in the past 15 years. During the same period, Berlin Partner supported 74 companies in establishing operations in the capital region, including 37 international firms. The overall conclusion was clear: even amid challenging economic conditions, the capital region continues to prove itself as one of Europe’s most dynamic hubs for innovation and investment. This was underscored by Stefan Franzke, CEO of Berlin Partner for Business and Technology, during the presentation of the organization’s 2025 annual report. This momentum is also gaining international recognition. In the recently published 2026 Global Best to Invest ranking by Site Selection Magazine, the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region ranked eighth worldwide, placing it alongside leading metropolitan regions such as Amsterdam, Melbourne, Seoul and Tokyo-Kanto.
In addition, the capital region ranked No. 3 in Western Europe, among Europe’s five leading metropolitan investment destinations, alongside London, Paris, Amsterdam and Stockholm.
Site Selection Magazine is a leading B2B publication and analytics platform focused on global corporate location and investment decisions. Its annual Global Best to Invest rankings assess countries and metropolitan regions based on their economic competitiveness and investment attractiveness. The ranking is particularly relevant for companies evaluating new locations for manufacturing facilities, R&D centers or international offices. Unlike rankings that focus on quality of life or other “soft factors,” Global Best to Invest emphasizes hard economic indicators – including real investment projects, economic momentum, labor market quality, infrastructure, innovation capacity, cost structures and overall business climate. To develop the ranking, Site Selection combines investment project data and macroeconomic indicators with additional international benchmarks and performance indices, resulting in a data-driven ranking that is updated annually.
Why Berlin-Brandenburg? There are many reasons why the capital region continues to perform so strongly. For one, Berlin remains Germany’s leading startup ecosystem and one of Europe’s most important innovation hubs. With a total startup ecosystem valuation of €169 billion, Berlin ranks among Europe’s top startup locations. At the same time, the region’s highly international business environment and Berlin’s global appeal continue to attract top talent from across Europe and around the world. Companies are drawn not only by the region’s dynamic market environment, but also by its competitive cost structure, strong innovation ecosystem, and direct access to world-class research institutions and universities. As a result, Berlin has become one of Europe’s most attractive hubs for frontier AI research, with more than 9,000 AI experts working across academia, startups and industry. Beyond artificial intelligence, Berlin also holds strong positions in future-oriented industries such as FinTech, ClimateTech and deep tech innovation. A major driver of this success is close regional collaboration with neighboring Brandenburg. In 2019, Berlin and Brandenburg jointly launched the Joint Innovation Strategy Berlin-Brandenburg (innoBB 2025), a cross-state innovation agenda designed to accelerate cluster development in high-growth sectors such as healthcare, energy technologies and photonics. It is a model of regional collaboration that continues to deliver measurable returns – economically, strategically and, increasingly, in terms of international visibility – s the latest ranking by Site Selection demonstrates.