Data centres are becoming increasingly essential business assets, and as many companies realise their need for such facilities, so too are locations across the US waking up to the economic benefits of hosting these large, power-hungry sites.

California, once the undisputed home of the film industry, is facing increasingly stiff competition from as far afield as the UK and India, as other locations wake up to the possibilities of this lucrative industry and attempt to attract production companies with incentive packages.

Concerned about an over-reliance on its oil and gas industries, the Trinidad and Tobago government is working to highlight its other strengths to would-be investors, with a particular emphasis being placed on its educated and highly skilled workforce.

While its largest city, Toronto, captures most of the international attention afforded to the Canadian province of Ontario, the investment strategies of three of its smaller cities – Mississauga, Hamilton and Waterloo – show that the area has considerable strength in depth.

The relatively small and quiet Canadian province of Nova Scotia manages to punch above its weight in the investment stakes, thanks in no small part to its economic development agency, which has taken a creative and thorough approach to attracting FDI.

There are high hopes that Colombia’s free-trade agreement with the EU, on the heels of a similar deal with the US, will prove to be yet another step towards a future notable for a glut of foreign investment and the prosperity that has previously eluded the country.

Once divided, Minnesota's two largest cities – Minneapolis and St Paul – have been working together to attract investment to the region. The mayors of both cities tell fDi what prompted this decision to bury their old rivalry.