UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2026 confirms that global FDI is recovering. But the recovery is becoming more concentrated, with investment flowing into fewer locations and a smaller number of strategic sectors, including digital infrastructure, semiconductors, clean energy and critical minerals.
Those industries matter far beyond economics. Governments increasingly view them through the lens of national security, resilience and long-term competitiveness. The result is tighter investment screening, more policy intervention and greater scrutiny of cross-border investment.
For me, though, the biggest takeaway from this year’s report lies elsewhere.
For decades, investment promotion was built around external competition. The challenge was convincing companies to choose one location over another. That still matters. But once an investment decision has been made, a different challenge begins.
Projects now face longer planning processes, more complex permitting, greater infrastructure constraints and increasing expectations from local communities. The European Union’s recent reforms to its foreign investment screening framework are another sign that governments are placing more conditions around strategic investment.
We’ve reached a point where many projects succeed or fail long after the location has been chosen.
That changes the role of investment promotion agencies.
Winning investment remains important, but helping projects move from announcement to construction is becoming just as important. Investment promotion agencies increasingly find themselves working with planners, infrastructure providers, regulators, elected officials and local communities to keep strategic projects moving.
In many cases, they’re spending as much time building support at home as they are competing for investment overseas.
That’s a significant change in how the profession operates.
Investment promotion has always been about creating economic value for the communities an IPA represents. Today, that means helping investors navigate increasingly complex local environments while making sure projects deliver long-term benefits for the places that host them.
It’s a shift we’ve seen reflected in our own work at OCO Global.
Increasingly, we’re supporting governments and corporate investors beyond site selection. Our work now extends into stakeholder engagement, permitting, planning and project management support because these are the areas where investment often slows or stalls.
Attracting investment remains essential. But in today’s environment, getting projects built has become just as important.
