The 2023 iteration of fDi Intelligence’s flagship Global Free Zones of the Year awards recognise the best free zones across geographies and specialisations among the 69 that participated in the awards this year. The 'Industrial champions' awards crown the world's best zones for manufacturing facilities. 

Africa winner: Lagos Free Zone, Nigeria

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Lagos Free Zone is the inaugural winner of Africa’s industrial champion category, which recognises the region’s leading SEZ for manufacturing. Its integration with a deep sea port that receives container vessels from around the world creates new opportunities for manufacturers looking to export their goods.

When it comes to staffing their projects, manufacturers benefit from a community jobs portal and a future training hub, which is dedicated to vocational skills that align with its priority sectors of food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, engineering, paper, chemicals, and non-metallic minerals. Among its manufacturing tenants, notable expansions over the past 12 months include consumer goods giant Colgate, which added 104 jobs, while German chemicals group BASF increased its local headcount by 103. 

Americas winner: Coyol Free Zone, Costa Rica

With its history as a pillar of Costa Rica’s leading life sciences sector, it’s no surprise to see Coyol Free Zone recognised as the industrial champion among free zones in the Americas. Besides its favourable location, programmes that leverage local talent and extensive fiscal incentives, the SEZ offers perks geared towards its manufacturing tenants. These include its long-established know-how in the construction of buildings for the manufacturing industry, its services as a one-stop shop for tenants looking for advice on exporting products or otherwise managing their projects, and its focus on supporting smart manufacturing. 

Among the most high-profile new arrivals is US-headquartered Shockwave Medical, in an investment that created 46 direct jobs. Existing manufacturing tenants to expand recently include Germany’s Bayer, which added 73 jobs, and US-based firms MOOG Medical and Steris, which added 668 and 99 jobs, respectively. 

Asia Pacific winner: Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, China

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Over the years, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in Shanghai has attracted tenants across a range of sectors. It has now set its sights on targeting key industries including biomedicine, semiconductors, intelligent manufacturing and automotive. Its greatest progress so far has been in the medical devices sector, where the free zone is fostering the full value chain from R&D, to manufacturing and trading. Sector-specific benefits are offered to medical device businesses such as exemptions from import tariffs, tax waivers and pilot programmes to expand local capacity. 

Manufacturers in this sector that have arrived or expanded in the past year include Israeli-owned Lumenis Laser Technology and BeiGene R&D. Flextronics Intelligent Equipment Manufacturing also invested in the zone, creating jobs for 829 workers. Over the same period, the free zone improved the facilities for tenants by, inter alia, investing $44.6m in developing new buildings to house manufacturing equipment as well as $18.4m in upgrades to surrounding roads.

Europe winner: Kraków Technology Park, Poland

In recent years, the Polish city of Kraków has emerged as a growing tech hotspot, so it’s unsurprising that Kraków Technology Park is focused on building its reputation as an SEZ that hosts factories of the future. It’s a successful strategy for the free zone, which is a favourite among industrial firms. Out of the 59 investments in Kraków Technology Park over the past year, 56 were in manufacturing. They have access to the free zone’s European Digital Innovation Hub, which helps firms incorporate Industry 4.0 principles such as digitalisation and robotisation into their production processes. Its accelerator programmes validate solutions to manufacturing challenges by connecting start-ups with large, well-established industrial firms. To cap it off, manufacturing tenants can reap the benefits of the SEZ’s forward-thinking sustainability plan. Some of its most recent industrial projects have been thanks to auto supplier Valeo Autosystemy, industrial automation specialist Lenze-Tarnów and engineering firm Rockfin. 

Middle East winner: Jebel Ali Free Zone, UAE

The 800 manufacturers with operations in Jafza had good reason to select the Dubai-based free zone for their project. Jafza has extensive experience in developing bespoke infrastructure solutions, having delivered over 100 built-to-suit projects collectively covering 2m square feet. Manufacturers can also access funding solutions thanks to Jafza’s partnership with the Emirates Development Bank, and those offering value-added activities can avail themselves of exemptions from customs duty on certain imports. Through Jafza’s sector-specific manufacturing clusters — which include  petrochemicals, oil and gas fabrication, construction, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverages — businesses can diversify their input sources, reduce procurement lead times and costs, and access downstream services such as packaging. On top of this, manufacturers have unrivalled connections to the Middle East’s biggest port, the Jebel Ali Port, which sits inside Jafza. All of these benefits helped attract steel firm Conares Metal, Fresh Fruits FZE and textile exporter Vogue International FZCO over the past 12 months.

Free Zones Awards 2023

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