This accolade recognises Edinburgh’s collaboration and strategic alliance with Shenzhen as well as the innovative incubator space provided for creative and tech investment from Shenzhen at the City of Edinburgh Council’s Creative Exchange incubator hub.

It also recognises the Memorandum of Understanding with Innovate Finance to help Edinburgh and London promote technology companies supplying new and innovative software products to the financial sector. The Council’s role establishing StartEDIN, to help attract additional skilled tech workers to Edinburgh as well as the Council’s digital ‘Edinburgh Hotel Prospectus’, highlighting Edinburgh’s hotel market and key opportunities for hotel operators and developers were also acknowledged.

The award is further great news for the city as last month Edinburgh was awarded British Entrepreneurial City of the Year, ranked third in the Good Growth for Cities Report and voted best city to locate your tech business. The Council also announced last month that Edinburgh is to host EUROCITIES in 2018, welcoming all Europe’s major city leaders to the Capital.

Cllr Gavin Barrie, Economy Convener, said: “This is yet another fantastic result for Edinburgh and welcome confirmation that our strategy is driving investment to Edinburgh and creating thousands of new jobs. Due to its excellent quality of life and vibrant economy Edinburgh provides an excellent environment for companies of all sizes, both home grown and international, to succeed.

“The city’s rapid growth in the tech sector and start-up scene and increased international reputation coupled with long-standing expertise in finance mean that Edinburgh is well positioned to attract investment.

“In the past 12 months we’ve welcomed over 25 new foreign investors to the city and this award recognises that Edinburgh is regarded as a truly global player.”

Dexcom, San Diego-headquartered continuous glucose monitoring market leader, recently expanded into Europe with the opening of a new product support and research and development office in Edinburgh. Benefitting from soft landing support provided by The City of Edinburgh Council’s Investor Support Team, Dexcom utilised temporary soft landing office space in the Creative Exchange while their new European HQ in the Tanfield tech hub was prepared.

John Lister, general manager, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Dexcom said: “The first reason we selected Edinburgh as the base for our EMEA HQ was talent. There is a huge talent pool in Edinburgh from a medical, commercial and technical access, which is a pull to companies looking to expand into the UK and Europe. Edinburgh also has a rich history of innovations in the medical field, which, we hope, Dexcom will continue to be a part of.”

Other recent FDI to the city

• Janssen Pharmaceutica, a provider of medicines and therapeutic solutions and a subsidiary of US-based Johnson & Johnson, has established a new centre for dementia prevention in Edinburgh. The £2.5m centre is located in the city’s BioQuarter.
• China-based iRes Geo Technology, an oil and gas research company, has opened a new office in Edinburgh. The office will allow the company to expand its operations both in the North Sea and globally. It will create five new jobs in 2016 with this number expected to rise to 10 in the near future.
• Red Rock Power, a company which invests in renewable energy projects and is a subsidiary of China-based State Development and Investment, has opened a new office in Edinburgh. The office will serve as a platform to enable the company to invest further in renewable developments in Scotland.
• Norway-based Norwegian Air Shuttle, a commercial airline, is set to open a new base in Edinburgh Airport, UK. The new base will allow the company to operate flights to the US and is expected to open in 2017.
• US-based online retailer Amazon.com is expanding operations in Edinburgh. The company has announced plans to create 35 new jobs in its research and development facility, bringing its headcount to around 135. The new roles will include software engineers, scientists and managers