A new survey shows that the Copenhagen region is 3rd in terms of attracting foreign head offices and among the top 10 in western Europe for attracting investments.
The Copenhagen region is among the top 10 regions in western Europe for attracting foreign investments and 3rd in terms of attracting foreign head offices, surpassed only by London and Paris. So reveals a new survey comparing the Copenhagen region with 346 other regions in western Europe, conducted by the Danish Enterprise and Construction Agency and the capital region of Denmark.
There are 2,100 foreign companies located in the Copenhagen area, of which approx. 500 are Scandinavian head offices, representing a wide range of industries. Strong Danish business clusters in sectors including life sciences and IT help attract head offices and R&D divisions from abroad. One of these is the German biotech giant Sartorius Stedim Biotech, which is currently creating a Nordic head office in Tåstrup on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Sartorius produces process equipment for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
“We chose Copenhagen in preference to Stockholm because Copenhagen with its Medicon Valley is one of the strongest and most interesting biotech regions in Europe at the moment,” commented Henrik Krogen, director of Sartorius Stedim Nordic A/S.
“Medicon Valley is the place in Europe where most new products are entering clinical testing, and it shows how innovative and strong in research the region is. To us, it means that we can product develop our equipment in direct collaboration with our customers, and that gives us an edge,” Krogen said.
The US, UK and Germany are the largest foreign investors in Denmark.
A new UN survey shows that Denmark is among the world’s best at digital administration. Denmark is only surpassed by Sweden, while Norway takes third place.
The “UN E-Government Survey 2008” assesses how good the individual countries
are at creating value for citizens, companies and authorities through digital administration, for example self-service solutions on the internet, better access to relevant information and improved dialogue between the public sector and citizens and companies.
In the last year, Denmark has also gained high scores in several international IT surveys and has been ranked the world’s best IT nation by the independent and acknowledged institute the World Economic Forum and The Economist Intelligence Unit in collaboration with IBM.
Children spend 5 billion hours per year playing with a Danish invention – LEGO bricks. The world famous little building brick celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year. And its popularity is continuously increasing after a minor downturn for the most electronic variants in the range. LEGO is now focusing again on its core products: building bricks that challenge children to build the most amazing constructions. The versatility of LEGO is documented by the fact that just six identically coloured 8-stud bricks can be combined in more than 915 million different ways.
LEGO dates back to 1932, when the self-employed carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen began making wooden toys. In 1947, he invested in his first plastic moulding machine, and in 1958 the first LEGO brick, as it is known today, was patented. The Lego name is a contraction of the Danish words ’Leg Godt’ (meaning Play Well), but it also means “I put together” in Latin.
The Egg – the world famous Danish architect Arne Jacobsen’s chair, which has achieved iconic status among the world’s designers – was taken into use for the first time 50 years ago at Royal Hotel in Copenha-gen. It was the first hotel in the world where everything from door handles and furniture to lighting, textiles and cutlery were designed by Arne Jacobsen.
The chair is more popular today than ever before and can be seen throughout the world at famous and exclusive museums as well as in private homes and design hotels. The chair is still being manufactured by the Danish furniture factory Fritz Hansen, which is making a series of 999 unique chairs to mark The Egg’s 50th anniversary.
The limited edition includes, for the first time, chocolate-brown suede on the back and dark chocolate-brown leather on the front. The frame is made in hand-polished bronze. Each chair is engraved with its own unique number under the seat cushion together with a brief text on the history of the chair.
From nowhere in 2006 to Best Debut at the Wallpaper Awards 2008. The Danish design company Mater has achieved a meteoric rise in the exclusive realm of the design industry.
Mater is a Copenhagen-based company with a strong vision, creating timeless and beautiful designs based on an ethical business strategy. Mater combines exclusive high-end home accessories with working methods that support people, local craft traditions and the environment.
The Angle Chopsticks have been created by French designer Aurelien Barbry for Mater. They are made in stainless steel with a nesting block in lacquered bamboo, and are produced at a small factory employing just 20 staff in the Chinese province of Zhejiang. The bamboo block is made from eco-friendly bamboo from Vietnam and lacquered according to a traditional method.
JEWELLERY: After an intensive period of concept development, test shops and training, Danish jewellery and accessories company PILGRIM is now launching its international franchise concept on selected focus markets. Currently, the company is seeking partners in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ger-many, UK, France, China and the Middle East.
Although the history of PILGRIM dates back to the early 80s, it is only within the last 3 or 4 years that the PILGRIM brand has really taken off. Today, the company counts itself among the fastest growing international brands in fashion jewellery and related products. According to international franchise manager Dennis Hansen, the company’s “recipe for success” comprises three key ingredients: the products with their creative and sometimes startling designs are affordable and enhance the customer’s own unique and individual personality, the branding strategy is highly visible, and there are more than 5,000 partners and retailers around the world to bring PILGRIM products the last part of the way to the customer.
Under the new franchise concept PILGRIM promises that new partners will be able to run a professional shop where every major aspect of the retailing is catered for – from financing, setting up and launching to marketing and promoting the shop.
In 2007, Denmark was judged the world’s best IT nation. The country also ranks No.1 in terms of IT equality, according to a survey from the EU Statistics office Eurostat which measured the proportion of European men and women who visit the electronic universe on their computer on a daily basis. On average, 48% of male citizens between 16 and 74 years in the EU use their computer or the internet on a daily basis, while for women the figure is 39%. Among Danish citizens the corresponding figures are 72% for men and 68% for women.
According to Professor Niels Ole Finneman, Head of the Center for Internet Research at the Institute of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, the figures confirm the trend from other surveys.
“The high ranking is due to the fact that we have a modern, well-developed welfare society in Denmark, where the proportion of educated people is high for both men and women. There is also a historical reason in that Scandinavian women entered the labour market far earlier than in other EU countries,” he commented to the Danish national daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Apparently relaxed and laid-back: “We do not want to run after the others and constantly spend our time re-inventing the wheel. We constantly use our creativity to develop the absolute best.”
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
CRITICAL MISSION: When a decision cannot be changed once it has been made, it must be right. It must be based on the right data, delivered to the right place and the right person. Mission Critical IT solutions require the best brains in the software industry
In Denmark, the boastful ones come from Copenhagen, while people from Jutland are known for downplaying their abilities and achievements. So when Michael Holm, CEO of Systematic, Denmark’s largest privately owned software company, is asked whether revenue growth of approx. 30% and staff growth of more than 20% over the last 12 months is an expression of success, he answers:
“Well, you could perhaps say that. But we are in Jutland after all, and we do not indulge in adjectives so much here. We are more about making an effort each day to constantly improve ourselves. We have got to where we are today because we focus on what we are good at, a high degree of craftsmanship and a company culture where staff satisfaction is given pride of place. Quite simply, work should be fun, constantly challenging and engaging. The staff must feel and know that they make a difference.”
FATAL CONSEQUENCES
Systematic is among the world’s leading software companies, and among the very best regarding Mission Critical IT solutions. These are solutions which provide decision-makers with all the data necessary to make the decisions which must be right first time.
“When a decision-maker only has one shot at it, and the decision cannot be changed once it has been made, then it must be based on the right data, delivered to the right place, at the right time and to the right person. Quite simply, there is no room for error. At the same time, the systems must constantly work under all conditions,” says Michael Holm. “Such solutions require the best brains, and the best brains cannot deliver peak performance if they are not motivated.”
Systematic’s customers are the armed forces, national and international organisations, as well as health authorities in a large number of countries. Development of national security and intelligence systems is a relatively new business area which is seeing strong growth.
“The fact that the armed forces account for such a large part of our business – about 60% – is naturally due to the nature of the armed forces,” says Holm. “Wrong decisions based on incorrect or incomplete data can have fatal consequences. And since defence is increasingly based on international collaboration, it is of crucial importance to get different systems to communicate and act together so that the entire chain of command from top to bottom has the same, unambiguous picture to base decisions on.”
IDENTIFYING CUSTOMER NEEDS
Despite the close relation to the armed forces, few of Systematic’s staff have a military background. Michael Holm himself drew a number that exempted him from military service when he was a potential candidate for conscription, and so has no formal military background.
“We do however have an amazing insight into how military procedures function and are thus able to identify needs. I would go as far as to say that our staff in some areas know the armed forces’ procedures and routines better than the armed forces themselves. The same is true for our work in the healthcare sector which resembles the armed forces in so many ways regarding decision procedures. But then we do not employ doctors either. It is not us who treat the patients, but we must know what data the doctor needs to be able to make the right decision regarding treatment. And we spend a lot of time acquiring that domain knowledge.”
PREVENTING FRIENDLY FIRE
One of the products which has contributed to the company’s rapid growth is Systematic SitaWare, a product suite that provides IT solutions for command and control at all levels, from headquarters to vehicles to the individual soldier. It is an open platform that allows both Systematic and the company’s partners to develop applications for specific customer groups in various segments.
“SitaWare has already helped to prevent the problem of friendly fire because it gives the entire command structure an overview of everything involved. It helps to identify friend and foe, and prevents mistakes.”
The fact that Systematic has the armed forces as its largest customer is due to a coincidence, says Michael Holm. When he graduated as a computer scientist back in the 1980s, he happened to get stationed in France in association with the Danish Navy, just at the time when it had bought its first computers to use for surveillance of Danish waters. When he came home and started up a business with a partner, the first order was to service the surveillance system.
ONE STEP AHEAD
“And then it went from one project to the next,” he says. “But constantly with a focus on what we were good at. We have continuously obtained deeper insight into the parameters that characterise Mission Critical solutions, and have concentrated on that. It is a concentration where we use our energy and creativity for something other than constantly re-inventing the wheel. There are lots of basic things which already exist. We don’t spent our time on those, but instead develop things which constantly take us forward.”
“Everyone can claim to be in the IT industry. Anyone can go to the nearest computer store and buy a PC and then start playing and call it IT business. But you need to have craftsman-ship. A carpenter who cannot knock in a nail is not a carpenter. We decided from the start that we simply wanted to be the best, constantly a step ahead of everyone else. We have succeeded, and this helps us to continuously attract the very best staff.”
WEIGHED AND MEASURED: THEY ARE THE BEST
CERTIFICATION: An ambitious dream of constantly being able to document that you are best in your area, has put Systematic up among the eight leading software developers in Europe
Since 2005, Systematic has gained international classification at maturity level CMMI 5 (Capability Maturity Model Integration). Only 140 other companies globally have achieved this. In Europe, just eight companies have done so, and in Denmark only Systematic has achieved the feat. CMMI is based on a worldwide best practice in software development, where CMMI 1 characterises the ad hoc driven and immature company, while CMMI 5 characterises the disciplined and mature company.
“We have never made a secret of the fact that we are ambitious,” says Michael Holm, who established Systematic in 1985. “We are not sat-isfied to participate in a conference. We want to stand on the podium and be the ones everybody listens to. If we are in an association, then it’s as part of the board. There are plenty of ordinary IT companies, but to be among the leaders requires that we can document right down to the smallest detail, that we are the best. We can supply that documentation with our certification.”
MINIMAL ERROR PERCENTAGES
Michael Holm acknowledges that the work of achieving the highest level of certification has been gruelling. But it has also given deep satisfaction each time a new objective has been reached.
“It started when we wanted to be certified according to the ISO9000 norm,” he says.
“But we quickly realised that it wasn’t ambitious enough. Our pursuit of the highest maturity level in CMMI gave us a shared project where we were constantly weighed and measured. And through the entire process we have seen steady improvements in our ability to forecast delivery times, in our ability to deliver and in our efficiency overall. An ’immature’ organisation uses up to 50% of the time correcting errors in its programmes. After having improved our performance ability through the CMMI process, our corresponding figure is down at 4.3%. It means everything for our ability to make flaw-less deliveries, on time and on budget.”
LABOUR SHORTAGE: In the years ahead, more Danes will be retiring from work than will be entering the labour market. The Danish government is making comprehensive efforts to attract qualified labour from abroad
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
The Danish authorities are launching a comprehensive campaign in 2008 to attract competent foreign workers to the Danish labour market. Attractive tax schemes, easier access to green cards and reduction of the salary threshold which provides direct access to the Danish labour market are among the government’s initiatives to attract foreign experts and other workers.
“The government has a twin-track strategy, raising the pressure to get the increasingly small group of unemployed Danes into work, while working hard to attract foreign workers with the right competencies to Denmark,” says Minister for Employment Claus Hjort Frederiks-en. “With a current total of 60,000 vacant jobs in the public and private sector, we need to provide easier and more attractive access for foreign workers to the Danish labour market if we are going to ensure continued welfare and economic growth,” says the minister.
ATTRACTIVE TAX SCHEME
The government’s plan comprises 26 different initiatives, including improvement of the current taxation scheme for foreign researchers and highly paid key workers. Taxation in Denmark is applied on a progressive scale, i.e. the last earned krone is subject to relatively higher taxation than the first earned. Denmark also has the world’s second largest tax burden, but unlike other countries where many public services are paid for separately, they are free in Denmark. Taxation will be eased on highly qualified researchers and other highly paid key workers, who can choose between working for three years in Denmark at a gross taxation rate of 25% or working for five years at a gross taxation rate of 33%. Approval of foreign research qualifications will also be streamlined.
EASIER ACCESS
Highly qualified workers in fields such as IT, healthcare and engineering have the opportunity to seek work in Denmark either by means of a Green Card or a special scheme where foreign workers can obtain a Job Card.
Foreign workers can obtain a Green Card based on their training, work experience, linguistic or other skills. The jobseeker is awarded points according to specific criteria, and once a Green Card has been obtained, the holder can seek jobs in Denmark without needing to apply for a separate work or residence permit.
The Job Card Scheme has so far meant that foreign workers have been granted a work permit and residence permit in Denmark if they could document a job offer with a minimum salary of DKK 450,000 annually. The government is now reducing this to DKK 375,000 annually, which will considerably enlarge the group of potential workers at middle management level.
“WORK-IN-DENMARK”
The government will also make it easier for international corporations to use staff from other parts of their international organisations. Until now it has only been possible to immediately transfer staff to Denmark if they came from affiliates located within the European Union. In the future, it will also be possible to redeploy staff from outside the EU without needing to apply for separate work and residence permission each time.
The government will also establish a special “Work-in-Denmark” center. The center will work actively to attract qualified labour to Denmark and will function as a one-stop-shop for foreigners with the right qualifications who want to work in Denmark. Initially a pilot center will be established in one country outside the EU.
LINKS
http://www.workindenmark.dk
http://www.workimport.dk
http://www.denmark.dk
http://www.nyidanmark.dk
http://www.bm.dk
Danish companies and public institutions have a labour shortage among the professional groups listed below – the positive list – which are geared to the Job Card and Green Card schemes:
Knowledge workers in natural sciences and technology, IT specialists, engineers, medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, radiologists, midwives, dentists, veterinarians, architects, land surveyors, building technicians, agronomists, accountants/auditors, geometricians, lawyers, actuaries, economists and marine engineers.
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: If a luxury chocolate tries to usurp that aura of prestige, luxury and quality that Rolls-Royce represents by copying its world-famous logo, trouble is in store. Brands need protection.
“Look dad, look at that super Rolls-Royce.”
Lawyer Christian Bardenfleth of solicitors firm Zacco in Copenhagen was on his way to the bakers one Saturday morning, when his 8-year-old son made the above comment. But when Bardenfleth looked, it was neither the Queen’s limousine or the British ambassador’s car he saw. It was an ordinary van, but the sides of the vehicle were adorned with the unmistakable logo. This van was clearly advertising Rolls-Royce.
Now Christian Bardenfleth is no ordinary lawyer. Zacco Legal is affiliated to Scandina-via’s largest consultancy company specialising in Intellectual Property (IP), and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is among the company’s clients. Taking a closer look at the logo painted on the van, he saw that the two intertwined letters in the logo were not the two Rs of Rolls-Royce, but a P and an R. And instead of the words “Rolls Royce” it said “Belgian Chocolate.”
CLEAR RULING
That morning, Bardenfleth junior had set in motion one of his father’s more spectacular cases regarding violation of a brand. The target of his legal attention was a manufacturer of luxury chocolate. The initial letters of the manufacturer had been formed into a gold-coloured logo, which according to Bardenfleth – and later the court in Copenhagen – clearly exploited Rolls-Royce’s aura of prestige, luxury and quality. The court’s ruling was clear. The chocolate manufacturer had to cease copying the logo, and was also ordered to pay one of the largest compensation sums seen in a brand-related case in Denmark.
“The case was special because it also involved carrying out two market surveys, which helped to prove the recognisability of the Rolls-Royce logo,” says Christian Bardenfleth. “Even without the words Rolls and Royce, the two intertwined Rs were enough for 82% of respondents to associate the logo with Rolls-Royce. And with the words added, the logo was recognised by 95%. The chocolate manufacturer’s exploitation of the Rolls-Royce logo was a clear violation, and the case has helped draw attention to the problems that especially large international companies encounter regarding protection of their IP rights.”
clients the most important element in their marketing, and what makes their customers keep coming back. It is exactly these elements we try to protect via IP to ensure and expand our clients’ earnings. It can be quite complex to get to the core and prioritise costs, but it is always exciting to be part of creating value for a client in this way,” says Tove Graulund.
CREATING VALUE FOR CLIENTS
In line with globalisation, IP has become much more than simply protection of rights. To Bardenfleth and his colleagues at Zacco, strategic consultancy to companies has become a natural part of the entire complex which patents, brands and design registrations represent as a means of optimising clients’ businesses.
This is one of the reasons why Zacco, with offices in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, is not only Scandinavia’s largest IP consultancy company, but also why many Scandinavian and international companies have chosen to place their IP-associated business with Zacco. And with Zacco staff’s children, who keep their eyes peeled.
Kristoffer Kjær is one of Denmark’s trendset-ting young designers whose work will be seen at Copenhagen’s brand new design fair COpenhagenDEsign. This replaces in 2009 the previous International Furniture Fair, which for decades helped to make Danish furniture designers world famous. Now the fair is being expanded to embrace all forms of design, architecture and interior furnishing.
When Kristoffer Kjær first exhibited at the Furniture Fair at the Bella Center in Copenha-gen two years ago, it was in the fair’s talent zone – among the ranks of the up-and-coming. He attracted attention with a sofa that seems to hover over the ground thanks to a frame design which makes the seating element itself hang effortlessly between the side sections.
“I wanted to design a completely different sofa, and it was such a success that it has developed into the Hover Collection, a complete range of chairs, tables, sofas and benches which all build on the same basic design,” says Kristoffer Kjær.
Since his debut at the Furniture Fair, he has been concentrating on his Hover Bench, which has sparked interest around the world as both a modern and timeless expression of the classic bench.
“The Hover Bench is both a luxurious piece of furniture and a unique piece of design with a sustainable history,” says Kristoffer Kjær. “The vertically positioned lamellae which form the seat of the bench, all originate from old Dutch colony houses in Indonesia. They are cut from century-old teak trunks that have been sawn up and treated with oil. The old teak wood has a glow and a character in the growth ring which makes the piece of furniture something quite exceptional.”
/JB
That Danish architects and designers belong among the world elite will once again be demonstrated when the design fair Copenhagen Design –CODE – is held in 2009. The fair, which will replace the previous International Furniture Fair, was set to be held in May 2008, but the organisers have decided to postpone it a year. CODE is a brand new fair concept. Instead of focusing solely on furniture design, the fair will feature architecture, interior furnishing and all forms of design and furniture.
Code is divided into four categories: CODE Selected, CODE Living, CODE Architecture and CODE Gallery.
CODE Selected showcases the hottest innovative designs. The focus is exclusively on design innovations, from interior furnishing and electronics to cars and textiles.
CODE Living will present the top Scandinavian designs in interior design, lighting, furniture and furniture textiles. The exhibition will show what is bubbling up in design.
In architecture, tremendous developments are taking place these days in both mode of expression and the use of new building materials. At CODE Architecture, both Danish and international architects will present exciting projects that exemplify this trend. Presentations by innovative architects are planned and there will be a special exhibition regarding new building materials.
In CODE Gallery, both new talent and established designers from Scandinavia and the rest of the world will exhibit. The Gallery will be a mixture of a purchasing fair and an exhibition window.
The event will be the largest and most comprehensive design fair in Scandinavia.
CODE is organised by the Bella Center in Copenhagen in collaboration with the Association of Danish Furniture Industries.
Montana has been called probably the world’s most thoroughly thought-out and well-developed bookcase and storage system. With more than 5 billion possible combinations of size, form, colour and material, Montana calls for individual solutions and opens up boundless opportunities for creativity.
Using a module system based on a full unit size of 69.6 x 69.6 cm, subdivided into 6 different heights and 7 different widths calculated to fit with internationally used DIN format paper sizes (A3, A4 etc.), Montana has developed into a universe of storage furniture which has left its mark on northern European interior design.
“Montana’s countless combinations provide the freedom to choose individual and unique solutions, while keeping the unmistakeable Montana style,” says director Claus Quitzau of Montana. “It is a style that especially suits Nordic design perceptions, but increasingly also European tastes, which is one of the reasons why we focus strongly on being represented at the large interior design fairs in Cologne, Stockholm and Helsinki, in order to showcase the latest developments at Montana.”
Claus Quitzau looks forward to a renewal and revitalisation of the international furniture fair in Copenhagen.
“It is important not just for us, but for the entire Danish furniture industry that Copenhagen again stages a fair which can show the best in Danish furniture design,” says Quitzau.
/JB
BY NIELS BJØRN-HANSEN
FASHION FAIR: Copenhagen International Fashion Fair has become the largest and most comprehensive in Europe. Danish fashion wear – from the exclusive to the mass-produced – has grown into the country’s fourth largest export industry
The 30th Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF) set a record this spring with 1,200 exhibitors. CIFF is being held at the Bella Center, a few minutes drive from Copenha-gen Airport. At the previous fashion fair in August 2007, there were 1,034 exhibitors. It is Europe’s largest fashion fair according to the Federation of Danish Textile & Clothing, but lack of space is now becoming an issue.
“We soon won’t have more floor space available here at the Bella Center”, says exhibition manager Peter Sabroe, Copenhagen International Fashion Fair. “The fashion fair has become increasingly popular among our talented designers and exhibitors. They are primarily Danish and Swedish, but there are also representatives from the Norwegian and Finnish clothing design industry”.
In order to create space for all the exhibitors, a new pavilion has been built – Superior Hall – where jeans and young & urban fashion are being showcased. The shoe company Hacken Busch also has a showroom there.
The increasing popularity of the fashion fair is also reflected in the export figures from Danish fashion companies. Today, the textile and clothing industry in Denmark generates revenues of DKK 32 billion and has grown into the fourth largest export industry. Exports, which are close to passing DKK 19 billion, have increased by 8% in the last year.
The Danish capital Copenhagen hosts three fashion fairs each year. Besides CIFF, there is Gallery at Forum, also headed by Peter Sabroe, and CPH Vision at the Øxnehallerne. All three fairs collaborate closely to make it as easy as possible for the many buyers who come to Copenhagen. The buyers generate revenues of DKK 380 million at the fashion fairs, so it is important that everything works smoothly for them. They come primarily from the Nordic region, Germany, UK, Ireland, Holland and Belgium. In total 42 countries are represented among the buyers.
Some of the exhibitors sign contracts with the buyers during the three days of the fashion fair, while others solely show their products and make agreements later. A number of the leading Danish fashion companies are among the exhibitors including Brandtex , IC Companys and Red Green.
“In association with Copenhagen International Fashion Fair, a desk is set up in Copenha-gen Airport which helps the foreign buyers to navigate more easily to hotels and so on”, says Peter Sabroe. “The Bella Center, where the fashion fair is held, is only 5 minutes drive from the airport so it couldn’t be easier.”
“Copenhagen Airport acts as a welcome centre to the capital, and at the fashion fair we create good interplay. My task is, as a sort of coach, to get things to work together in the best way”, concludes exhibition manager Peter Sabroe.
When the Frenchman Louis Braille invented Braille in 1821, it signalled a revolution for all the world’s blind. At a stroke they were able to read just as if they were normally sighted. Provided that...
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
Because naturally there were obstacles along the way. Someone had to produce and ’translate’ to Braille. It was arduous, slow work. And the amount of material worth reading in Braille is also modest. With sound recorders, yet another advance was taken, and the sophistication by means of digitalisation and computer technology is today raising blind people’s reading to the level of the normally sighted.
This is particularly due to the small Danish IT company Sensus, which received the prestigious Social Contribution Award 2007 from the British Computer Society, in sharp competition with projects from companies including Microsoft and IBM. Sensus received the prize for its e-mail-based RoboBraille project. RoboBraille is a computer programme which converts any text to either Braille or synthetic speech in a few seconds. A blind person can simply e-mail any form of text document to one of Sensus’ servers. A few seconds later, back comes the document either as a sound file or for printing out in Braille on the special Braille printer.
“It is actually quite a complex process which requires both computer power and knowledge,” says Lars Ballieu Christensen, who is the leading light behind RoboBraille. He has further developed the project since 2004 so that now, in addition to Danish, it has been adjusted to language versions in English, Italian, Portuguese, French, Lithuanian and Greek.
HELPING TO FIGHT ILLITERACY
“Part of the reason why we received the Social Contribution Award is probably that our RoboBraille service is open and free for all non-commercial users,” says Lars Ballieu Christensen. “But since we also have to survive, we sell our services to for example the pharmaceutical industry, which is required to label their packaging with Braille. We have developed a very special system that automates and standardises an otherwise very arduous operation.”
But despite the enthusiasm for the cause of the blind, there were not that many Braille readers even at pan-European level to give the project a critical mass. Until Lars Ballieu Christensen thought of both the visually impaired and the dyslectic. With these as ’customers’ for especially the synthetic speech, the number of users has swelled by millions.
“Furthermore, a number of countries that are struggling with illiteracy have shown a major interest in the synthetic speech aspect of the RoboBraille project,” says Lars Ballieu Christensen. “The automation and easy accessibility of RoboBraille can provide a huge boost. Although an illiterate person still will be illiterate, that person no longer has to remain in the dark. A simple scanner and access to e-mail, and you are up and running.”
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
DIGITAL/ANALOGUE: T-Rex is a brand of special effects pedals that make guitar and bass players in bands worldwide hark back to the good old days of vinyl
When Carlos Santana, Dave Gilmour and thousands of other more or less well-known musicians around the world do their stuff on stage, part of their success is that amid an otherwise digital world, they maintain their good old ’vintage’ sound, whose reverberations evoke images that capture the true spirit of the 60s and 70s.
While the vast majority of electronics companies are constantly battling it out to be at the cutting edge with the latest technology, a small Danish company has gained success by maintaining and developing electronics which fuse good old analogue technology with the latest in digital chips. The result is effects pedals which give sounds to guitarists and bass players that no digital amplifiers - however good - can deliver.
COMBINATION
“All through the 80s, the sound of all the great bands became more and more digitalised,” says managing director Steen Meldgaard of T-Rex Engineering. “This in turn started a wave of nostalgia and a desire for the vintage sound of greats like Jimmy Hendrix and Eric Clapton. We can deliver that sound because we are extremely good at combining the old analogue technology with the latest in digitalised technology.”
Today, T-Rex pedals are sold to guitarists and bass players throughout the world. The delay pedal “Replica” is acknowledged as state-of-the-art, and is the choice of star sicians. The guitar’s signal is digitally processed ssed and then comes out as advanced analogue gue sound, which has exactly the qualities on hich rock and guitar legends based their music ic
COLLABORATING WITH MUSICIANS S
“We literally produce all the effect pedals that are necessary on a board including reverb, echo and distorter,” says Meldgaard. “The pedals comply exactly with the wishes of the musicians. We are ourselves a mixture of musicians, engineers and computer nerds. We also have a focus group of musicians s with whom we frequently meet up. They tell us what sound effect they w to achieve, and we construct and is a very fertile collaboration where of the two worlds blend together.”
Since T-Rex Engineering was established shed the mid 90s as a supplier for the ofes-sional Danish music scene, the any has grown – in recent years by 50% annually. Today, the company exports to 45 countries all over world with USA, UK, Germany and Japan as the most important markets.
http://www.t-rex-engineering.com
PHOTO: HEIDI LUNDSGAARD
CONSUMER DESIGN: The name Herstal is becoming rapidly recognised these days in lighting, interior design and consumer design. By focusing on low price, high volume sales from supermarkets, the Herstal name has become the essence of genuine folk design
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
One of the fastest growing names in Danish design has all the ingredients of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. Not only is it taking place in the Danish writer’s native city of Odense, but it also echoes his story of the little duckling’s emergence as a beautiful swan. The name is Herstal, and it is rapidly occupying space in Danish and Nordic homes in line with other design phenomena which have made Danish interior design world famous.
But it all started accidentally. When Martin Herstal, 47, became a sales apprentice in a Copenhagen department store, the only available position was in the lighting department. And ever since, lamps and all the other things involved in interior design, have been his life. Initially by selling other people’s products, but today exclusively with his own production and his own designs.
HALOGEN LIGHTS THE WAY
It was the little halogen light bulb that kick-started the adventure. Even 10 years ago, halogen lighting was both expensive and unusual. But Martin Herstal believed in the future of halogen bulbs, and started designing and producing lamps which considered both the technical and light-related requirements of a halogen bulb. When halogen bulbs later shrank in price and grew in quality, Herstal established a market lead which has made the company Scandinavia’s largest in halogen lighting.
“Our success is based on two things,” says sales and marketing director Jeppe Kjeldsen.
“One is our design, which in many ways follows the Scandinavian tradition for simplicity and style. The other is our sales strategy, which is based on relatively low prices and large volumes. Good design need not cost an arm and a leg, and you shouldn’t have to go to expensive speciality stores to get it. We are not ashamed of the fact that our products can be bought in an ordinary supermarket at a fair price.”
GROWING WITH GLOBALISATION
Since the introduction of Herstal’s first small pendant lamp, which has become a classic, in opalised glass and designed for a small halogen bulb, the lamp range has expanded to include ordinary incandescent bulbs and living light. The combination of living light and Herstal’s characteristically designed elements in brushed steel have become a feature of countless Nordic homes, where on the one hand they build on the Nordic design story, and on the other exploit living light’s ability to create cosiness, warmth and intimacy.
The Herstal story is typical of many small Danish companies in the last 20 years: a good idea, cultivated through entrepreneurship and with the fingerprint of globalisation. Herstal has moved several times to successively larger premises to cope with increasing production. Initially, production was carried out in Denmark, but was later outsourced to the Far East. At one point there were as many as 100 staff assembling and packing the lamps.
“Today we have about 60 staff in design and innovation, administration, sales, production management and logistics,” says finance and logistics director Henrik Grønning. “All production is carried out in the Far East, but strictly quality controlled from here and from our office in Hong Kong. All the previous production halls are today used for stock so that we are able to deliver any item number on demand and so meet the demands of the retail trade.”
200 NEW PRODUCTS PER YEAR
In 2002, Herstal decided to diversify beyond lamps to other equipment for the home, including kitchen equipment, gift items, vases, textiles and bathroom accessories.
“In the last couple of years, we have launched about 200 new products annually,” says Henrik Grønning. “That is about one every working day, and the range comprises a vast number of products in a vast number of materials which have given us a completely new scope. Although we have maintained the strict – some might say minimalist – style, the new products, which we have chosen to call ’Living’, give us new opportunities for creating ideas and being innovative. Today the ’Living part’ is as large as the ’Lamp part’, and the opportunities for interior design are substantial. We will continue to assert ourselves in lighting, because beautiful things in the home are naturally accentuated by beautiful lighting. But the future probably lies in ’Living’ and arts & craft at affordable prices.”
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
RAPID MANUFACTURING: The development of 3D CAD programmes and 3D printers is progressing rapidly these days. Rapid Manufacturing makes even the impossible possible, and for lots of products new thinking will be required before production is started
The day when physical manufacturing of items or components is carried out by consumers themselves is just round the corner. Rapid Manufacturing (RM) is progressing rapidly and the development of the technology is advancing at a similar speed to mobile phones and computers.
“In the long term, RM will change our entire conception of production,” says product manager Olivier Jay at the Danish Technological Institute in Århus. “A vast number of products will cease to be produced to stock. A buyer will instead get a 3D file of the product via the internet, and then go in and change either the design or construction with a CAD programme, and then physically produce the goods in a 3D printer, or print out the item as it is.”
PLASTIC OR METAL
The technology behind RM is the result of materials research in recent decades, supplemented by plenty of innovative thinking and exploitation of lasers, welding and computer technology. In simple terms, the technology involves creating a design in 3D CAD and then running the construction through a printer, which then builds the construction. The printer can use a several-component fluid plastic material that hardens when exposed to laser light. Or the material can be a metal powder alloy which is welded or sintered. The whole construction of the item is made in one piece, which means that items which conventionally cannot be produced at all – or at best need to be produced in several small parts and then assembled – can now be fabricated as finished items.
“One thing is the technology itself, which is still at a preliminary stage but advancing with great strides,” says Olivier Jay. “Another thing is the philosophy regarding our way of thinking of production. In a few years, when I want to give my mother a lamp as a present, I won’t need to go through the slow process of shopping around for it, packing it and sending it. Via the net, I will send her a CAD programme which she takes to the local print shop. Two hours later she can collect her ready-made present.”
DANISH HEARING INSTRUMENTS IN THE LEAD
The technology is already being used on a large scale by many forward-looking industrial companies. This is especially the case in the medico and rehabilitation industry where stocks are small and individual adjustment is necessary. Almost all manufacturers of hearing instruments are using RM. All ears have their very own personal shape, and when the mould has been made, the data is digitalised and the earpiece is printed out. The file is stored and can be endlessly reused. Given that around half of all hearing instruments in the world are manufactured by three Danish companies, Denmark is one of the countries where RM has seen a major breakthrough.
“There are already countless examples of RM,” says Olivier Jay. “The aviation industry and specialist auto industry are making much use of RM. The production time is often less than half the normal time, and provided batches are relatively small, production is significantly cheaper. Naturally there is a point of intersection where conventional production becomes both faster and cheaper, but this point is moving on almost a daily basis due to the rapid development in the area. A printer which today perhaps costs EUR 150,000 will in just in a few years be purchasable for EUR 15,000. Production time will become ever faster, and surface treatments increasingly sophisticated.”
REVOLUTION IN THE DESIGN INDUSTRY
The design industry is seeing a real revolution these days thanks to Rapid Manufacturing (RM). Everything that can be designed in a 3D computer programme can be produced, and that creates opportunities for designing far more complex and advanced products, and for creating prototypes both faster and cheaper.
At the Danish Technological Institute in Århus, product manager Olivier Jay estimates that the price of design products created via RM are already competitive. The institute has produced and supplied a stock of 300 exclusive sunglasses to an Italian designer. The number was deliberately set low to maintain the exclusiveness. If they had been produced in a conventional way, the price per pair would have been twice the RM price, and delivery time close to twice as long. Only with a stock of 1,000 pairs of sunglasses, would it have been cheaper, but not faster, to supply.
“The production form also forces the designer to think of the functionality of products in a new way,” says Jay. “With RM new opportunities arise for thinking substance into the products, where conventional production concentrates more on expression. Once RM really gains a breakthrough, the designer will have a new and more central role in the production process. Simply because everything will be possible.”
BY NIELS BJØRN-HANSEN
DIABETES AND OBESITY: Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has great expectations of lira-glutide, a drug with the potential to revolutionise the treatment of type 2 diabetes and severe obesity
“Liraglutide has had such a profound effect on the treatment of type 2 diabetes and severe obesity that compared with other drugs, it has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of type 2 diabetes and perhaps also the treatment of severe obesity,” says research director Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen of Novo Nordisk.
In the second quarter of 2008, the pharmaceutical company will send a registration application to the authorities, initially regarding the drug’s effect on type 2 diabetes.
“INTELLIGENT” PRODUCT
The diabetes drug has been through a series of three mandatory clinical tests. In phase I, the drug was tested in a few people, but gave a pointer. In phase II, more people participated, and in phase III, liraglutide was tested in several thousand people for a year, with very encouraging results. The beneficial effects continue after a year’s treatment.
“Liraglutide is more effective against type 2 diabetes than the three common diabetes drug classes: sulfonylurea, glitazone and basic insulin,” says Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. “It triggers the body’s natural insulin and at the same time has the advantage that the blood sugar level does not become too low. That is difficult to control with the conventional drugs. Liraglutide is an “intelligent” product that helps the body in a natural way. Although it has a great potential in future treatment, there is however still a need for even more research into new drugs for type 2 diabetes,” emphasises the research director.
EFFECTIVE AGAINST OBESITY
Liraglutide also has another effect, explains Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. This was discovered when volunteers in an obesity trial took the drug – they lost up to 7 kilos of weight.
“So we are now starting to obtain additional documentation, where liraglutide is being tested in several thousand people with severe obesity. The preliminary results give us reason to hope that liraglutide also has potential to become a new and important treatment opportunity for severe obesity.”
“It costs billions of kroner to develop a drug like liraglutide,” continues Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. “To develop and document the effect of a drug in itself costs half a billion kroner annually. It is important during development to demonstrate that the drug does not have any unwanted effects. So it is thoroughly tested.”
Novo Nordisk is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Denmark. It is a world leader in the insulin market with a 53% share. The company employs 26,000 people, of whom 49% are located in Denmark, while the rest are in the USA, Europe and Japan. Novo Nordisk has just published its annual accounts which showed profits of DKK 8.5 billion – an increase of 32% on the previous year.
COMPUTER GAMES: Two of the world’s top-selling computer games – Hitman and Kane & Lynch – have been developed by the IT company IO Interactive in Copenhagen. Connoisseurs rate them to be among the most sophisticated games.
BY NIELS BJØRN-HANSEN
“There is no doubt that IO Interactive with the Hitman game – and recently Kane & Lynch – has placed Denmark on the computer games world map. So far, seven million copies of Hitman have been sold worldwide, and more than a million copies of Kane & Lynch in just a few months,” says development director Jonas Eneroth, IO Interactive. The company might by a dwarf in an international context, but it is a strong player. Jonas Eneroth has been the development director for eight months, but was in the company when the first computer game was developed.
IO Interactive was founded in 1998 by a group of youngsters with mixed professional backgrounds – both graphics and computer science were represented. “I am not sure whether any of them except creative director Rasmus Kjær, who graduated from Dan-marks Designskole, were formally trained at the time. They were very self-assured and convinced that they did the right thing, and so it turned out too,” says Jonas Eneroth. So far, the company’s production includes five Hitman games, and from November 2007 also Kane & Lynch – Dead Men.
CREATIVE FREEDOM
Over the years the number of staff, headed by managing director Janos Fløsser, has steadily grown to around 220. The programmers, software engineers, mathematicians, graphic designers, animators and concept artists come from all over the world, and have the common characteristic of being highly creative and having extensive knowledge of developing and programming games. Hitman was developed in collaboration with Nordisk Film and the Egmont group.
In 2004, IO Interactive was sold to the British company Eidos, which develops and distributes computer games, but the development division is still located in Co-penhagen, and this Jonas Eneroth considers to be very positive.
“There is plenty of creative freedom,” continues Jonas Eneroth. “One could have feared that a new owner would interfere in the projects, but that has not been the case. We have actually gained greater creative freedom and more development opportunities, which we would not have had if we had been on our own. Eidos is sort of a security network to us. We do not need, as a single player, to stake everything on either red or black. We are independent and can afford to put our stake on the wrong thing. That creates an amazing work balance and so it is not difficult to attract new staff,” says Jonas Eneroth.
LARGE SUMS AT STAKE
The staff are divided into four or five teams, which develop the various games. As development director and executive producer, Jonas Eneroth makes sure that the teams have the necessary resources, time and opportunity for quality planning. Each team has its own producer, game director and technical producer. It is not a 9 to 5 job at IO Interactive. There are people in the headquarters round the clock, and up to the deadline for a game, it is not uncommon to have 20 hour working days.
Large sums are spent when a new game is developed. According to Jonas Eneroth, it can cost from EUR 3 million to perhaps EUR 20 million to produce a new computer game. IO Interactive’s managing director Janos Fløsser put it in this way to the newspaper Information: “Computer games are audiovisual media products and certainly not something you deal with in your spare time. Hitman 2 – which was published in 2002 – had a production budget of EUR 3.5 million and cost 30 men 16 months of blood, sweat and tears”.
GAMES FOR ADULTS
Seven million copies of the five Hitman games have been sold worldwide. “It is an international game based on logic,” says Jonas Eneroth. “When you play it, you feel as if you are part of a film. You have to do a number of tasks, which can be carried out in various ways, and it’s not necessary to kill everybody. Only the bad guys”.
USA and Europe are the major markets for computer games. In USA, IO Interactive has gained an agreement with the Wal-Mart chain. In Europe, the most important countries are the UK, Germany and France. The computer games are available not only in English, but also in German, French, Span-ish and Italian versions.
“It is not the very young ones who buy our computer games,” continues Jonas Eneroth. “The age group ranges from 22 to 38 years, and that is probably because the games cost a bit. Those who buy our games are young adults who typically buy three to five games per year. The games are an adult experience. It is not something for my three year old daughter.” The computer games are tested by students and special focus groups, who check whether the games work.
There is a new Hitman game on the way, according to Jonas Eneroth, and there are three to four other projects on the drawing board, but what they are about is a secret due to the tough competition on the market for computer games.
BY JACOB BENTHIEN
HAPPINESS: In all the time Dutch research scientist Ruut Veenhoven of Erasmus University in Rotterdam has been carrying out his surveys for the World Database of Happiness, Denmark has topped the list.
In the last 10 years, social research institutes and analysis institutes have questioned hundreds of thousands of people all over the globe in an attempt to measure how satisfied and happy they are. Two of the most comprehensive surveys ranking citizen contentedness are the World Map of Happiness from the University of Leicester and the World Database of Happiness from Erasmus University in Rot-terdam. And all the researchers generally ask the same question: How happy are you?
Regardless of the interviewing technique, the nature and subject of the questions, which include the economy, family, working conditions, social conditions and spare time (the survey from Erasmus University comprises 953 indicators), the results show that Denmark is the happiest country in the world.
THOROUGH REGULATION
Happy Danes? The world-leading position puzzles not only Danes themselves, but also many foreign media. Isn’t Denmark a tiny pancake of earth north of the wine-growing horizons, where summers are sunless and winters are windswept? Where taxes are sky-high and the society is ruled by a folk-law that says: “Don’t think you are anything special – you are no better than the rest of us.” Where everything is so regulated and disciplined that even in the dead of night in a deserted street, pedestrians conscientiously wait for the green light before they cross.
How can this make people happy? America’s ABC News sent news anchorman Bill Weir to Denmark to find out. Everyone he talked to, he asked to rate their own feeling of happiness on a scale from 0–10. Nobody rated themselves at less than eight, many said nine and several said ten. Not until he had asked a lot of people did he find someone – an old lady – who didn’t think Danes were so happy. Nonetheless, she admitted that she was quite satisfied with her existence, and that Danes in general have very little to complain about. Of course there’s the high taxes, but on the other hand there’s free healthcare, free education throughout life, and Denmark spends more per capita on welfare for children and the elderly than any other country.
SOCIAL WELFARE
But even so, why aren’t the happiest folk to be found on idyllic tropical islands where long drinks and lounging around in hammocks is the image of the unworried citizen? Or God’s own country, where the dream of becoming a millionaire is still very much alive, if you start your paper round early enough in life?
While the hammock-supported lifestyle applies at least to some extent in the Bahamas, which came in 5th in a survey from Leicester University, there is a long way down to the USA, which only managed 23rd.
Adrian White, analytic social psychologist at Leicester University, has prepared a world map of ’happiness’. The map shows the highest concentrations of happiness in Europe, North America and Australia. His survey is based on 80,000 interviews worldwide, and measured on all parameters, Danes also top his survey of the world’s happiest.
In association with the publication of his survey he said, according to BBC, that when people are asked whether they are happy, it is citizens in countries with a good healthcare system, a high GDP per capita and with good access to education who are the happiest.
A GLOBAL PROJECTION OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING: THE FIRST PUBLISHED MAP OF WORLD HAPPINESS
MAP CREATED BY ADRIAN WHITE, ANALYTIC SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF LEICETER (2006)
Map and further analysis incorporates data published by UNESCO, WHO, the New Economics Foundation, the Veenhoven Database, the Latinbarometer, the Afrobarometer, CIA, and the UN Human Development Report.
Cartographic Unit - University of Leicester
Adrian White acknowledges that the measuring methods are not perfect, but they are the best available.
Professor Ruut Veenhoven of Erasmus University in Rotterdam has reached the same conclusion. His happiness barometer is the most comprehensive in the world and is being continuously updated. Throughout all the years it has been applied, the barometer has shown that personal wealth in itself is not essential for feeling happy and satis-fied with your existence. Instead it is social wealth, well-functioning social conditions, including a good healthcare system and good access to education, which brings contentment.
Denmark fulfils exactly those criteria, and everything suggests that it counterbalances low taxes, ceaseless sun and the idle life of millionaires.
GLAD TO PAY TAX
Denmark is the world’s 7th richest country with a GDP of approx. USD 45,000 per capita. But the country is also known for its relatively high taxes, and the rest of the world is puzzled as to how high taxes make people happy. But if you ask Danes themselves, the vast majority say that they pay their taxes gladly.
Because
In Denmark, taxes finance the free educational system. There are 10 years of compulsory school attendance, and thereafter education is also free at high schools and other centres of further education. All young people in education have the right to state financial help during their training. In addition, the Danish labour market system comprises a number of agreements that ensure lifelong further training. The state spends approx. 9% of GDP on education.
Because
The Danish healthcare system is free. All Danes are assigned a GP, who is paid via taxes. Hospitals are free, and there is free access to all specialist physicians. There are large subsidies applied to for example pharmaceuticals and facilities for disabled people. The state spends approx. 20% of GDP on the healthcare system.
Because
All Danes receive a basic state pension from the age of 65. Denmark also spends more money on children and the elderly than any other country. The state uses approx. 20% of GDP on social welfare.
The Danish labour market model is built on three main pillars:
A characteristic feature of the collaboration between employees, employers and the state is that as long as the three parties can themselves resolve issues regarding wages and working conditions, the state interferes as little as possible.
The labour market parties are better and faster at tailoring agreements for individual companies or sectors, and are more likely to accept conditions that they themselves have been part of determining. This is one of the reasons why it is rare to see strikes in Denmark.
Another characteristic feature of the collaboration is that the three parties are always involved when new legislation is considered which could affect the labour market.
The Danish collective agreement system is based on the fact that more than 75% of Danish workers are members of a trade union. The unions are joined in national federations, which in turn are joined in a few central organisations. Employer organisations have the same structure. Until a few years ago, a collective agreement applied for two years. At the last collective agreement in 2007, the period was extended to three years for the large group in the industrial sector, which is the biggest with approx. 600,000 workers. They usually start the collective agreement negotiations, and so set the trend for the content of the agreements.
Around 80% of the Danish labour market is covered by collective agreements where employees and employers themselves define the area that the agreement covers. The employee-part is always an organisation, while the employer-part can be a main organisation or an individual company. The collective agreement decides the working conditions that apply to the individual wage-earner’s employment. Even though the individual employee may not be a member of a union, the employer is obliged to offer the employee, as a minimum, the same conditions as union members have achieved through collective agreement.
FLEXICURITY
The ’Flexicurity’ concept involves labour market flexibility combined with social security, as well as an active labour market policy regarding rights and obligations for unemployed workers.
The flexibility aspect consists of gentle rules for hiring and laying off employees. Employers can easily fire staff when business is going badly, and conversely can easily hire staff when business is going well. The security aspect consists of employees being secured unemployment aid through their membership of an unemployment fund administered by the unions, or financial aid from the state.
The active labour market policy consists of e.g. guaranteed job offers or further training.
/JB
SOLAR CELLS: A nano-based solar cell with considerably higher efficiency and a significantly lower price – that could become one of the energy sources of the future
Nanoflakes constitute the material for Martin Aagesen’s fundamental research
A Danish research scientist has discovered a new form of semiconductor material, called nanoflakes, which can revolutionise the way solar cells are produced. It could result in ordinary domestic households benefiting from electricity generated from solar cells, and lowering their electricity bills.
It is not only bank balances that will look sunnier if Martin Aagesen’s solar cells meet expectations. The environment will also ben-efit from the research.
Less than 1% of the world’s electricity is generated directly from solar radiation because it is difficult to convert the energy into electricity. But Martin Aagesen’s discovery could provide a significant step towards exploiting solar energy a lot better than it is today.
- We think nanoflakes have the potential to convert up to 30 per cent of the solar energy into electricity, which is twice what we can do today, says Martin Aagesen, a postgraduate at the Nano-Science Center, University of Copenhagen.
During his PhD studies at the Nano-Science Center and Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, he discovered a new and unexplored material.
- I discovered a perfect crystalline structure. We see that very rarely. When we examined the semiconductor material we discovered that it also absorbed all wavelengths of light. It could become the perfect solar cell, says Martin Aagesen.
The discovery of the new type of material has attracted considerable attention in international research circles. The renowned British scientific journal Nature Nanotech-nology recently published an article on Martin Aagesen’s research results.
- The potential is unmistakable. We can reduce the material costs of solar cell production, because thanks to nanotechnology we do not need the same amount of the expensive semiconductor silicon to make the solar cells. In addition, the solar cells of the future will be able to exploit solar radiation even better since the energy transport distance in the solar cell is less, which means less energy loss, says Martin Aagesen, who is also the director of SunFlake A/S, a company which is developing the new type of solar cell.
/JB
CIGARETTES: The most popular cigarette of Danish smokers, Prince, is to become part of British American Tobacco. Scandinavian Tobacco Company will concentrate on pipe tobacco and cigars in the future
Denmark has cultivated proud traditions in the tobacco industry for several hundred years. But now Denmark’s – and northern Europe’s – largest cigarette brand, Prince, has capitulated. Scandinavian Tobacco Company’s cigarette division, House of Prince, has been sold to British American Tobacco (BAT), which was already a large shareholder in the company. The deal comprises three of Scandinavian Tobacco’s cigarette-related companies.
PIPES AND CIGARS
Since summer 2007, when Denmark became one of the last countries in Europe to introduce smoking restrictions in workplaces, restaurants and in public spaces, the number of smokers has dropped drastically. And now the national production of cigarettes has also come to an end. After having sold House of Prince, whose main brands are Prince and Kings cigarettes, Scandinavian Tobacco Company will concentrate on the production of pipe tobacco and cigars. The Danish tobacco group is the world’s largest manufacturer of pipe tobacco. In cigar production, the group is the largest in Europe and No.3 worldwide.
The price tag for BAT’s acquisition of Scandinavian Tobacco Company’s cigarette activities is approx. EUR 2.7 billion.
Three old independent Danish tobacco dynasties, Færch, Obel and Augustinus, formed the backbone of Scandinavian Tobacco Company. The three tobacco manufacturers merged in 1961 through the establishment of Skandinavisk Holding. They had a combined share-ownership of 65% of the tobacco company, while BAT held the remaining 35%.
POPULAR PRINCE
In Denmark, the Prince and Kings cigarette brands have a dominant market share. The Prince filter cigarette in particular is so popular that BAT’s international counterparts, Lucky Strike, Dunhill, Kent and Pall Mall, have never really caught on in Denmark. Prince on the other hand has achieved increased popularity in most of northern Europe and the Baltic States. In total approx. 31 billion cigarettes produced by Scandinavian Tobacco Company are smoked annually. In comparison, BAT sells approx. 250 billion cigarettes in Europe alone and almost 700 billion worldwide.
The acquisition of House of Price is subject to approval by the competition authorities. The deal is expected to be in place in 3-6 months.
/JB
BY SENIOR ECONOMIST FRANK ØLAND HANSEN, DANSKE BANK
The years of high growth in Denmark came to an end in 2007. Growth came down from almost 4% in 2006 to 1.8% in 2007, which is close to the norm for Denmark. The slowdown was broadly based. Private consumption growth slowed to around 2.7% in the aftermath of a consumption party that lasted for years. Investment and export growth slowed down too.
Looking ahead, the picture is of further slowing. The global economy is in a vulnerable position and, at the same time, the Danish economy is running very close to - if not above - its capacity limit. Given this, we expect that Denmark faces a couple of years with growth below trend and slightly increasing unemployment. Danish GDP growth is projected to slow down to 1.5 % this year and 1.4 % next year.
RISING UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment is currently at a historically low level – just 2.1% of the labour force. This is a noteworthy achievement – and is partly a result of Denmark having a very flexible labour market. However, accelerating wage growth clearly indicates that unemployment has now gone well below the structural level (private sector wage growth has increased from 3.2% a year ago to 4.6% today). There are therefore grounds to believe that unemployment will begin to rise in the coming years - unless economic reforms are enacted that could bring structural unemployment further down. The rise in unemployment is mainly a consequence of the lost competitiveness that will result from increasing wage pressures. We foresee that unemployment may increase to about 2.6% at the end of 2009 - this is, however, still a very low level and is as such no cause for alarm.
FALL IN HOUSING INVESTMENTS
The slowdown in the housing market and the prospect of slightly lower house prices play a more important role than developments in the financial markets for the relatively subdued consumption growth we expect to see in the coming years. However, expected consumption growth slightly below 2% does not add up to a hangover after the consumption party. The housing market slowdown is also reflected in other areas of the economy. For instance, there is an even clearer effect in housing investments. Growth here already saw a marked downturn in 2007 - and we expect an actual fall in housing investments in 2008. New projects will be put on hold for as long as the supply of housing is large and as long as uncertainty on the direction of housing prices continues to haunt the market.
LOSING MOMENTUM
The surplus on the current account has been getting thinner in the past couple of years: from DKK 68bn in 2005 to just DKK 17bn in 2007. Put another way, the current account surplus has been falling by DKK 2bn on average every single month for the past two years. Should the surplus continue to erode at this pace, it will be gone by September this year. In fact, if one subtracts oil exports from the figures, the current account is already in the red. It is, of course, quite normal during an upswing for domestic capacity constraints to push exports down and at the same time pull imports up - and in the process put the current account under pressure. Going forward, however, we see a less gloomy picture. The current account surplus should remain above DKK 10bn in both 2008 and 2009.
The Danish government has just agreed on a fiscal budget for 2008 – somewhat later than usual. A budget was first presented in autumn 2007, but was not passed due to the snap election in November. The fiscal budget is slightly expansive. The current economic situation – characterised by a shortage of labour – would suggest the need for a tight fiscal policy. On the other hand, it must be said that as described above, there are a number of signs that the Danish economy is beginning to lose some momentum, and as such a fiscal tightening now could well turn out to be too late. The agreement includes a job-plan, which should help to boost employment, in particular by making it more attractive to work for the 60-64 year olds.
From a transport perspective, Denmark lies at the crossroads of northern Europe and the Baltic states. Within a radius of little more than 200 km, Danish transport companies have access to a market of more than 100 million people.
Read more about transport and logistics in the June issue of Focus Denmark.
Greenland – the world’s largest island – which has been part of the Danish kingdom for many hundreds of years, is to vote on its political and national future – a future where the dreams of boundless oil resources in the sea around Greenland play a leading role.
Read more about Greenland’s future in the June issue of Focus Denmark.
More than 10% of global shipping trade is shipped by Danish, or Danish controlled, ships. And the percentage is rising fast. Danish shipping has become synonymous with operational quality. Ultra-modern ships and efficient management have made Danish shipping the most competitive in the world.
Read more about Danish shipping in the June issue of Focus Denmark.
