In brief

High praise for Copenhagen's Metro

At the Metro Rail conference held in Copenhagen, which was attended by industry experts from around the world, Copenhagen’s Metro was voted the world’s best subway, ahead of the much more wellestablished systems in London, Madrid and Singapore.

Key criteria for Copenhagen Metro gaining the accolade included its operatrional reliability, the speed with which the new line to Copenhagen Airport was built, the glowing passenger ratings and the system’s safety level.

”It’s a great honour that experts from other metro systems like London, New York and Tokyo think that Copenhagen’s Metro is the best in the world,” says chairman of Metroselskabet I/S Henning Christophersen. ”Their systems have been refined over many years, while we are still one of the youngest”

The latest customer satisfaction survey shows that 98% of people using Copenhagen’s Metro are either satisfied or very satisfied with the service. The system carried around 40 million passengers in 2007.

Denmark - a peaceful spot on the planet Denmark is the second most peaceful of all countries in the world. So shows a survey prepared by analysts from the British weekly magazine The Economist. Iceland takes the top slot. Denmark has advanced two places on the global peace index, which was compiled for the first time last year. The peace index is based on a broad range of indicators, which measure a country’s level of peacefulness both domestically and abroad. Among the indicators are the countries’ participation in UN operations and violent crime. Iceland and Denmark are followed in the ranking by Norway, New Zealand and Japan. The Economist notes in the analysis that “the world seems to be a marginally more peaceful place this year”. The analysts from the British weekly magazine recommend that large companies should take due note of the peace index when they take decisions on where to invest.

The world’s most networked economy

For the second consecutive year, Denmark has been ranked the most networked economy by the World Economic Forum. But competition for the leading position is sharpening.

The international think tank World Economic Forum, which organises the annual meeting for the world’s leaders in Davos, Switzerland, has ranked Denmark ahead of 127 other countries as the world’s most networked economy, defined in terms of the overall ICT environment, readiness to benefit from ICT, and actual use.

The Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008, produced in collaboration with INSEAD, gives a measure of a country’s ability to convert investments in IT and telecommunication into improved competitiveness and development.

For the second consecutive year Denmark tops the league table, with Sweden, Switzerland, USA and Singapore completing the leading quartet.

According to the World Economic Forum, the rapid spread of wireless technologies will especially boost interconnectivity. Wireless technologies are advancing steadily, and radio technologies such as WiMAX are being increasingly adopted. WiMAX is a sort of supernet that supplies wireless connections across large areas at reasonable speeds, so that whole regions can quickly be offered net access. Developing countries are showing particular interest in the technology.

Network giant Cisco is the report’s long-term sponsor.

“It is a pat on the back for authorities, educational institutions and private sector companies that for the second consecutive year Denmark has been ranked the world’s most networked society. This helps explain why the Danish economy is one of the world’s best,” says Cisco Denmark’s acting managing director, Niels Münster-Hansen.

Denmark is No.1 in further training No other country matches Denmark when it comes to further training of the workforce. Weld safely. Learn about rightturn risks for trucks. Trim the production process. Courses that finetune skills in areas such as welding, road transport and manufacturing are more familiar to Danes than to most other people. That’s because no other country gives its workforce more additional training than Denmark - a fact supported by the latest figures from Eurostat, which have been published by the Confederation of Danish Industries. “Companies are exposed to tough competition. So further training is an important way to ensure capable staff and thus maintain a firm foundation for growth,” says Flemming Larsen, head of business training at the Confederation of Danish Industries. In the Eurostat survey, nearly 30% of the Danish population between 25 and 64 years said that they have participated in education or training in the previous four weeks. That is a couple of percentage points higher than in Great Britain and Finland, which ranked second and third in the survey.

 

Wind turbine sales beat all records

The wind energy market is seeing tremendous growth, and the trend looks set to continue for the next five years.

If the Danish manufacturers Vestas and Siemens Wind Power, together with subsuppliers like LM Glasfiber, maintain their current collective market share of around 30%, they can look forward to raking in EUR 70 billion in the period up to 2012. So shows the latest forecast for the global wind energy market from the internationally respected Danish firm BTM Consult.

In 2007, a record 19,791 MW of wind power was installed worldwide, a 32% increase on the previous year. By the end of 2007, the world’s total wind turbine capacity reached 94,000 MW, equivalent to 1% of global electricity consumption.

The five year forecast up to 2012 estimates an average annual growth of 20.7%, anticipating that annual demand for wind power will increase to around 50,000 MW in 2012, which will bring total capacity to around 290,000 MW.

The total market over five years will be worth EUR 270 billion, if prices remain at the same level as last year. But this is an unlikely scenario, since strong demand has pushed up prices.

The theme for BTM Consult’s annual analysis was China, whose wind power market has grown by 93% in the last three years to become the world’s second largest wind power market after the USA.

China is well on its way to building its own wind turbine industry to compete with subsidiaries of European companies, which will put pressure on the Danish wind turbine manufacturers and subsuppliers. Two Chinese companies, Goldwind and Sinovel, plus India’s Suzlon - which has a division in Denmark - accounted for 18% of the global market in 2007.

Chinese companies establish research presence in Denmark Invest in Denmark, a part of the Danish Trade Council in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, has been instrumental in attracting two Chinese companies to establish research in Denmark in preference to Germany, and more will follow. The Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision will establish a research centre in Silkeborg, Jutland, and employ around ten engineers this year, while the strong focus on knowledge in general has attracted the high technology Chinese company New Jialian Electronics to place a research department in Denmark. Henrik Brandt Jensen, Invest in Denmark’s director for China and India expects that a further five Chinese high technology companies will establish in Denmark this year. In addition, he expects that 15-20% of foreign companies setting up in Denmark will come from China in the coming years. Currently China accounts for 5%.

40 years with VOLA

VOLA is a classic product of the Golden Age of Danish design. The first VOLA fixtures were created in 1968 by Arne Jacobsen, a designer known for his famous chairs ’The Egg’ and ’The Swan’.

The story began with the construction of the Danish national bank. A collaboration with VOLA was created when the Jutland-based fixtures manufacturer, Verner Overgaard, contacted Arne Jacobsen with an idea for a fitting where all the pipes were hidden in the wall, something quite revolutionary at the time. The meeting heralded the creation of a whole range of kitchen and bathroom fittings and accessories.

By 1974, VOLA had gained a place in the design collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over the years, VOLA has received many Danish and international design prizes and can be seen in places as auspicious as the German Parliament in Berlin, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and many art galleries and luxury hotels throughout the world.

In recent years the company has developed rapidly and has just received the distinguished American design prize, the 2007 GOOD DESIGN award, for its latest fitting for freestanding bath tubs.

On 16 May VOLA A/S inaugurated a new academy, where not only plumbers and staff from the factory in Horsens can update their knowledge, but also staff from the international sales companies. The academy also functions as a meeting place for international architects to discuss new trends in architecture and design.

Copenhagen takes top prize in Monocle’s 2008 ranking

Monocle’s unique ranking goes beyond the usual metrics that only look at housing costs and schools to include the possibility of getting a good glass of wine at one in the morning, the quality of new architecture, the ease of setting up a business and even the number of cinema screens.

Established last year as the arbiter of what’s great (and what’s not) about a city, Monocle’s survey is sure to trigger debate. In addition, this year the magazine names the world’s best (and most interesting) cities for business, culture, design and retail, as well as the best global hubs for politics, urbanism, and international connections.

Monocle editor in chief Tyler Brûlé explains that ’as the planet becomes an increasingly urban place, delivering these lifeimproving essentials to cities big and small is proving more than a challenge. Radical environmental initiatives that pull cars off streets can do wonders, but can also kill off passing trade. New developments, designed to attract investment, can not only boost local fortunes but also drive out all those people that made the city interesting in the first place.’

In addition to being the magazine’s number one city, the Danish capital also takes the prize for Best Design City. The Nordic capitals Stockholm and Helsinki are also in the top 10. Munich, which took the top prize last year, will have to be content with second place. Paris, which squeaked in at 19 last year, is now at number 10 and has been rated as Monocle’s Best Global City. This year, three US cities join the rankings (up from one last year).

KEY FINDINGS:
Copenhagen is highly rated for its good looks, perfect proportions and sunny disposition, Copenhagen can claim the title of city with the Best Quality of Life; it also wins Best Design City. A firm grasp of environmental issues and a great food culture helped pull the city up from second place in 2007.