The following leading professional in investment promotion and economic development made up the judging panel of the European Cities and Regions of the Future 2023 ranking. 

Carolina Arriagada Peters 

Carolina Arriagada Peters is an FDI consultant specialised in the complete investor lifecycle.

As managing director of Cities & Collaboration and training portal www.fdiCampus.com, she is a sought-after senior advisor and trainer for investment promotion and economic development helping them “master FDI faster”. Her book Investment Aftercare Explained has become the reference guide for Aftercare practitioners around the world.

Jacopo Dettoni  

Jacopo Dettoni is the editor of fDi Intelligence, where he leads the title’s multimedia editorial coverage and strategic development. Prior to joining fDi, he lived and reported in Europe, Asia and Latin America, covering some of the world’s fastest-growing economies for international media.

He is a regular speaker and moderator at events discussing the perks and perils of global trade and investment. He holds a Master’s degree in economics and finance from the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, where he focused on trade policies and economic welfare.

Sean Duggan

Sean Duggan is a director and lead consultant with the specialist location consultancy firm, ILSA Consulting. An economist, Sean has over 30 years’ professional experience in the areas of industry policy and strategy, economic development, investment promotion and location benchmarking. During his career Sean has delivered more than 130 programs and projects in 30 countries. 

This includes working with economic development and investment promotion organisations such as BKPM, GIPC, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Invest Hong Kong, JIC, SBRD and ZIPA. He has previously held senior roles with OCO Global, FIAS — World Bank / IFC and PwC.

Judith O’Doherty 

Judith O’Doherty is the Founder of eutopiastragegy — a specialist place strategy and marketing firm.

She has more than 20 years’ experience in investment promotion in both the private and public sector with organisations including OCO Global, Invest Northern Ireland and Wavteq.

Judith works with a range of clients across Europe and the US to enhance their investment propositions and has led development of place brands for cities and regions. Eutopia has also developed a unique methodology for measuring FDI and place performance.

Seth O’Farrell

Seth O’Farrell is global investment reporter for fDi Intelligence, a specialist publication at the Financial Times, where he covers foreign direct investment and geopolitics with a particular focus on renewable energy and China.

He previously worked at MandateWire, another FT Specialist publication, reporting on institutional investors in Italy, the UK and France. He speaks French, Mandarin and Italian and holds a degree in modern languages from the University of Oxford.

Firdaous Oussidhoum

Firdaous Oussidhoum is the special adviser of the United Cities and Local Governments’ (UCLG) secretary general. The UCLG is the world institution for local and regional governments advocating for shared values and principles, and for local democracy as representative of the citizens and communities. She is also a member of the UNESCO Chair for Intermediate Cities and World Urbanisation.

Architect, urban planner and philosopher, Firdaous developed her expertise, within a human-focused approach, in the sustainable and resilient development strategies through 20 years of experience as a practitioner, consultant and policymaker at local, national and international levels. She has developed in parallel an expertise in international relations and development, and international public affairs, with a particular eye on global resilience.

This article first appeared in the European Cities of the Future supplement of the February/March 2023 print edition of fDi Intelligence.