Vilnius has reached the highest level of assessment – the city was chosen as the most business-friendly in growing Europe

The selection commission was made up of 100 world-renowned investment experts who evaluated cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants. population. Last year, the award was won by the Czech capital Prague, which this year came in second place.

The Business-Friendly City Perception Index by Emerging Europe provides the most important information about cities in growing Europe. In this ranking, the cities are divided according to 8 criteria: brand, economic potential, business environment, talent, city growth in the field of high technology, infrastructure, quality of life and the amount of local authorities’ support for business. These criteria are carefully evaluated by the responsible investor commission and across Europe. The ranking highlights the positions in which cities should improve, providing more information for various investors.

“This international assessment for the city of Vilnius illustrates the daily cooperation of business, science and state institutions. We are setting extremely high goals for Vilnius, one of them is for a new financial sector institution established by the European Union, AMLA – the agency for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, to be established in our city. I believe that the title of the most business-friendly city will attract the attention of decision-makers at the EU level – we have all the necessary advantages to attract both investments and foreign talents”, says Vilnius City Mayor Valdas Benkunskas.

The compilers of The Business-Friendly City Perception index note that Vilnius has always been among the ten fastest growing European cities. This year, the capital’s initiative in improving the business environment was evaluated. This was also influenced by the gathering of high technologies – lasers, life sciences, IT and communication technologies, GameDev and FinTech sectors – into a single “Vilnius TechFusion” ecosystem a year ago.

“This assessment once again proves how strong the Vilnius TechFusion ecosystem is, which is increasingly attracting the world’s attention, and what potential awaits it in the future,” Inga Romanovskienė, head of the Vilnius tourism and business development agency Go Vilnius, is happy with the assessment.

In the index, Vilnius surpassed such cities as Warsaw, Tallinn, Riga, Kyiv, Ljubljana or Lodz.

Emerging Europe is a UK-based data and social impact board consultancy focused on understanding emerging European regions. The company’s mission is to try to contribute to the social, economic and democratic development of 23 countries in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the South Caucasus.

You can find the latest Emerging Europe index here here.