By Dan Keeler 

Multinational companies are increasingly focusing their foreign investment in developed countries, favoring technological development and productivity over cheap labor.

Among the top 25 countries targeted for foreign direct investment by global companies, almost three quarters are in developed markets, according to a study to be released Monday by Chicago-based consultant A.T. Kearney. That is up from two-thirds last year and a shade over half in 2013.

"Investors are telling us they're technology-centric," said Paul Laudicina, chairman of A.T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council, which conducts the survey. "With few exceptions, the countries at the top of the list are among those that are the top global tech and innovation centers."

There may be a sea change under way in the global economy as multinational companies focus their foreign investment more on driving technological development and increasing productivity and less on tapping sources of cheap, plentiful labor.

According to the study, of the top 25 countries that global firms are expecting to invest in, almost three-quarters are developed markets.

"Investors are telling us they're technology-centric," said Paul Laudicina, chairman of A.T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council, which conducts the survey. "With few exceptions, the countries at the top of the list are among those that are the top global tech and innovation centers."

The study is based on a survey conducted this January of 500 senior executives world-wide who control FDI at their firms--all of which have annual revenues of more than $500 million and almost half with revenues over $1 billion. More than one-third of the companies involved have headquarters in developing countries.

Shafik Gabr, chairman of Artoc, an Egyptian firm that invests across Africa, said he sees significant interest among companies in directing FDI into developed economies. Businesses doing so, he said, "firstly for security and stability, second for the existing clarity of the rules of the game and third, because the infrastructure exists."

The U.S. and China occupy the first and second positions in the table for the third year running, but executives surveyed for the report showed a markedly higher level of confidence in the U.S.'s prospects than in China's.

Almost half the respondents described themselves as more optimistic about the U.S. economy than they were a year ago, while less than a third were more optimistic about China.

The index measures sentiment rather than actual flows of investment, so it is effectively a forward-looking indicator. Launched in 1998, the index has proved successful at indicating future investment trends. Since its inception, A.T. Kearney says, countries ranked in the FDI confidence index have consistently received at least half of global FDI inflows roughly one year after the survey.

The surge in interest in productivity and innovation is good news for developed economies but it could be an unwelcome development for emerging markets--particularly smaller economies such as Vietnam and Bangladesh that are currently pegging their hopes for economic growth on attracting foreign manufacturers with low-cost labor.

"Frontier markets are really not on the list," Mr. Laudicina said. "Location is becoming less important. Investment opportunities increasingly are less about tapping into low-skilled labor or a demographic-dividend environment and more about higher productivity, more sophistication."

Tom Speechley, a partner at private-equity firm Abraaj, which has $9 billion under management, agrees that frontier economies may be making a mistake by aiming to build their economies through providing cheap labor, but he believes the current monetary environment in which multinationals are operating may be having more influence on their investing strategies.

"There is a lot of cash on corporate balance sheets," Mr. Speechley said. "In an environment where we have near-zero or even negative interest rates, companies are almost forced to invest. Forced investment is going to be lower-risk, as opposed to exploratory investment, so they are more likely to put the money into developed rather than emerging markets."

Companies are guardedly hopeful about the prospects for the global economy. Slightly more than 60% of executives surveyed were more optimistic about the prospects for the global economy than they were a year ago.

Two-thirds said they expect to increase FDI to precrisis levels by 2016.

The report also reveals rising interest in Europe as a destination for investment. Fifteen of the countries in the top 25 are European, up from 11 in 2014 and seven in 2013. All of the European countries in the top 25 apart from Switzerland and Sweden have moved up in the ranking this year.

Overall sentiment toward the region is somewhat muted, though. Just 36% of respondents were more optimistic about Europe's economic prospects than they were last year, compared with 46% for the Asia Pacific region and more than 50% who are more optimistic about the Americas' regional outlook.

The report paints a bleak picture for sub-Saharan Africa, however. Almost 30% of the respondents described themselves as more pessimistic about the region's prospects this year and only 19% said they were more optimistic.