UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2026 reminds us that foreign direct investment represents much more than capital: it brings technology, skills, access to new markets and integration into global value chains. In many cases, their greatest contribution is not financial, but rather the ability to spread knowledge throughout the economy that receives it.

This change deserves greater attention. The global economy is increasingly concentrated in knowledge-intensive sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, digital infrastructure or clean energy. In these sectors, the main competitive factor is no longer the size of the industrial facilities, but the quality of the people, research and innovation networks that support them.

When a multinational sets up an engineering centre, a research laboratory or a technological unit, it does not just transfer capital. It introduces new processes, new management methodologies, new technical skills and new international connections. Workers learn, suppliers evolve, universities establish new partnerships, and part of this knowledge ends up spreading to the rest of the economic fabric. It is this multiplier effect that distinguishes transformative investment from merely financial investment.

Portugal already has positive examples of this dynamic. The growth of international technology centres has allowed the development of highly specialised skills that today feed new companies, startups and national innovation projects.

Therefore, perhaps it is time to change the way we evaluate the success of investment attraction policies. More important than knowing how many millions enter the country is to understand what capacities are installed after the investment takes place: how many national suppliers have become part of global chains, how many professionals have acquired new skills and how many Portuguese companies have managed to innovate thanks to the proximity of international multinationals.

It is these responses that determine the true long-term economic impact. Of course, not all investments produce this effect: the greater the technological intensity and the greater the connection to the national scientific and business system, the greater the probability of generating lasting knowledge.

In a global economy where knowledge is the main factor of competitiveness, this may be the most important measure of all. Because capital can move to another country, but knowledge, when it is truly incorporated into people and companies, remains.