In Brief

Shanghai Superstar

She may be small in stature, but the Little Mermaid has made a big impact at EXPO 2010 in Shanghai. Interest in Denmark’s beloved icon has been so great that by the halfway point of the event, the Danish pavilion had already achieved its target of 3 million visitors, affirms the Ministry of Business and Economic Affairs.

The Little Mermaid and the stories of Hans Christian Andersen enjoy great popularity throughout China, and according to Business and Economic Affairs Minister Brian Mikkelson the Danish pavilion’s success in drawing the crowds is in large measure due to the presence of the fabled figurine.

Visitors to the Danish pavilion at EXPO 2010, whose theme is ’Better City, Better Life’, can also gain a flavour of city life in Denmark, with its cycle paths, picnic areas and clean water in the harbours.

“Light in Africa” campaign is a big hit

Photo: Energi Nord

When Danish energy company Energi Nord launched a Facebook campaign to provide solar cell lamps to needy families in Uganda, they were massively surprised at the speed and amount of support they received from ordinary Danes.

For every 25 sign-ups received on its Facebook page “Light in Africa”, Energi Nord commits to send a solar cell lamp to a rural family through the Ugandan based JEEP (Joint Energy and Environment Projects) Centre. Energi Nord reckoned on sending around 5,000 lamps per year, but after just 14 days they had received 90,000 sign-ups – equivalent to 3,600 lamps – and within a few weeks the figure had passed the 5,000 mark.

Energi Nord makes no secret of the fact that the campaign is essentially self-promotional, but points out that the marketing money behind it is going to a good cause. 80% of the Ugandan population have no access to electricity and rely mainly on smoky oil lamps for lighting. Solar cell lamps work by storing the sun’s energy during the day, so that it can be re-released as light at night.

Worth knowing about

... as a point of contact for business or to add to your knowledge of what goes on in Denmark.

Statistics Denmark

Part of the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, this organisation compiles statistics on virtually everything you could want to know about Denmark. It is internationally recognised for its substantial use of public registers in statistics production.

How can they be useful?

The massive database StatBank Denmark, which is in English, is available free of charge to all internet users. Statistics Denmark also produces a comprehensive statistical yearbook and “Denmark in Figures”, an annual review of trends in Danish society. More advanced statistical services are available on a payment basis.

What is their web address?

http://www.dst.dk/HomeUK.aspx

Alternatively, google on ’Statistics Denmark’. That will take you straight to the URL.

Buy! Buy! Buy!

Figures recently released from the Danish National bank confirm that shares in Denmark’s leading stock-quoted companies continue to be a hit with foreign investors, who since June 2009 have been steadily increased their holding of Danish shares.

Financial daily newspaper Børsen reports that in the 12 months to July 2010, Danish shares held by foreign investors increased by 48%. In the same period the Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen C20 index of Denmark’s leading companies has been among the best-performing bourses globally with a 35% rise, and according to PFA Nordic Asset Management, this underlies the popularity of Danish shares.

The National Bank writes that another significant component in foreign interest was the stock exchange reintroduction in June 2010 of the international ingredients company Chr. Hansen. Capital fund PAI Partners, which owns the company, has divested around 45% of its shareholding, of which over 60% has been snapped up by foreign investors.

Photo: Scanpix

Spinning gold from financial gloom

In the wake of the financial crisis, efficiency improvement and optimisation are top priorities in many companies, which is good news for Logimatic Solutions, a Danish company specialising in logistics and maintenance systems. One of its products, Logihold, an IT based maintenance system that optimises and manages maintenance activities in a range of industries, is selling particularly well.

Sales manager Hans Christian Jensen told financial daily newspaper Børsen: “We have seen a significant increase in interest for Logihold in the last six to eight months. This is certainly because of increased focus on internal optimisation in companies.”

Logimatic Solutions is one of a number of companies in northern Jutland that specialise in intelligent logistics, one of the focus areas of BrainsBusiness ICT North Denmark, a private-public partnership in ICT. According to Berit Brendborg of Brains-Business, the region has a relatively large share of Europe’s knowledge and know-how in intelligent logistics, a position which she believes is due to Aalborg University’s strength in this area and the large number of companies collaborating on new product development.

“We are delighted that companies such as Logimatic, which is a leader in its area, can achieve growth at a time when it is uphill for many companies,” she says.

http://www.logimatic.dk

Danes who made a difference

Photo: Scanpix

Niels Ryberg Finsen
1860 - 1904

Born in the Faroe Islands, Niels Ryberg Finsen was a physician who pioneered the use of light to treat skin diseases.

Finsen was the first to theorize that certain wavelengths of light could have beneficial medical effects, and his research led to the successful treatment with ultraviolet light of lupus vulgaris, a disfiguring skin disease which at that time had no effective cure.

The value of this discovery was duly recognised by the scientific community, and in 1903 Finsen was awarded the Nobel Prize, thereby becoming the first Danish recipent of the honour.

Finsen’s pioneering work opened up an important new avenue of medical science, and today light therapy is used to treat many different diseases, to the benefit of countless patients worldwide.

Cleantech Capital

Photo: Scanpix

Copenhagen has ambitions to be a world-leading cleantech city and will target its DKK 11 billion (EUR 1.5 billion) civil engineering budget at green investments over the next three and a half years, reports national daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende.

“There is already general support in the city council to make Copenhagen CO2 neutral by 2025. We now want to combine that objective with comprehensive civil engineering projects in order to create international awareness of Copenhagen as a leader in green growth,” says Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen.

Although the UN Climate Change Conference COP15, which Denmark hosted in December 2009, was disappointing in terms of results, Jensen opines that Copenhagen’s green image has not been affected.

“When I speak to my mayor colleagues around the world, no one blames Copenhagen the fact that the summit ended as it did. On the contrary, there is great curiosity in how Copenhagen has managed to create a 97 percent supply rate for district heating. And there is significant interest in how we will reach the objective of becoming CO2 neutral. We must capitalise on that interest so that we are able to convert the large amounts of goodwill into jobs and growth,” says the Lord Mayor.

Denmark No.1 for entrepreneurship

A new survey published in September ranks Denmark as the world’s most attractive country for entrepreneurs, ahead of Canada and the USA. The comprehensive survey of global entrepreneurship and development was carried out by some of the world’s leading researchers in entrepreneurship from George Mason University. The news is reported by financial newspaper Børsen.

The entrepreneurial performance of 71 countries was measured over a range of individual and institutional variables in order to capture both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of entrepreneurship. Denmark topped the index with a score of 0.76, followed by Canada on 0.74 and the USA on 0.72. One of Denmark’s leading experts in entrepreneurship,

Professor Torben Bager of the University of Southern Denmark, says that the survey partially reflects Denmark’s well-developed entrepreneurship policy but cautions that there are still barriers, such as the lack of venture capital, which need to be removed in order not to lose one of the important foundations for job growth in the Danish economy.

Did you know...

that Denmark is a world leader in district heating? 62% of the country’s households have district heating, compared with the European average of 9%.

Source: Statistics Denmark

Bookmark Denmark

If there’s an event in your interest area, why not bookmark it to attend?

FOOD AND PHARMACEUTICALS FOODPHARMATECH 10
2-4 November
Exhibition Centre Herning

Northern Europe’s largest trade show for the food and pharmaceutical industries. FoodPharmaTech features process technology and packaging for the food processing and pharmaceutical sectors, and a major exhibition of famous dairy products.

For more information visit: http://www.foodpharmatech.dk/uk

DOCUMENTARY FILM CPH:DOX COPENHAGEN INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
04-14 November
Copenhagen

CPH:DOX is the largest documentary film festival in Scandinavia. The festival shows more than 200 documentary films from around the world. During the 10 festival days, CPH:DOX also presents five days of professional seminars, and provides an international forum and meeting place with the newly founded DOX:FORUM.

For more information visit: http://www.cphdox.dk

OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY TECHNICAL COURSE 2010
8-11 November
Risø DTU, Roskilde

This course, held by the Wind Energy Division at Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, offers lectures in various aspects of offshore wind energy in pre-planning, planning and operational stages, a study tour to an offshore wind farm and hands-on experience with offshore wind resource assessment using WAsP

For more information visit: http://www.risoe.dtu.dk/en/Conferences

AGRICULTURE AGROMEK 2010
30 Nov - 3 Dec
Exhibition Centre Herning

One of Europe’s leading agricultural fairs showcasing agricultural machinery and technology, fixtures and equipment for livestock farming. The fair also features machinery and equipment for maintenance of parks and gardens.

For more information visit: http://www.agromek.dk