Why Denmark, Nina, Andreas, Christina, Christian, Heidi, and Christian?

As you know, we are working with the Danish Competitiveness Council to foster a discussion on how we make Denmark stay relevant in the future global competitive business environment. We have already heard from a lot of insightful and inspirational people and now I would like to reach out to the younger generation. The generation that will lead and determine Denmark’s competitiveness in the future.

Heidi Østergaard, Christian Borelli-Sejersen, Nina Fisker Olesen, Andreas Björnsson, Christina Krogsgård Nielsen & Christian Smedegaard Andersen, thank you for giving your perceptions on how Denmark is going to stay competitive in the future. Let me underline that these are your own personal thoughts and opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of the companies that you work for.

"Mixing sustainability with digitalization will be vital"

Heidi Østergaard – Head of Digital Strategy & DMO at Ørsted

I believe the combination of sustainability and digitalization will be vital for Danish businesses' competitiveness in the future. First, delivering environmental and societal impact via a clearly defined purpose backed by concrete actions will become increasingly important for companies to obtain a competitive advantage and gain customer loyalty. Second, it is key for companies to make digitalization an integral part of their business, enabling them to transform business models, work more cost-efficiently and constantly innovate to stay ahead. Finally, one way for authorities to fuel digitalization is to cultivate technology clusters/ecosystems, where actors such as innovative businesses, universities, start-ups, and local municipalities work together on cutting-edge technologies (e.g., like the robotics cluster in Odense).

 “Denmark holds a pole-position in the race for data-led healthcare”

Christian Borelli-Sejersen – COO at Corti

In short, I believe that our experience with healthcare data has special potential for both Danish businesses and patients around the world. If businesses and authorities handle this effectively and thoughtfully, we can deliver better patient outcomes and build a competitive digital industry.

From my perspective at Corti, Denmark holds a pole-position in the race for data-led innovations in healthcare. Denmark has highly granular data available for healthcare research, a strong talent pool, a digitally mature government, a tradition of public-private partnerships, and a high degree of trust.

However, we haven’t won the race yet. First, central guidance on a secure transition to cloud services is a good start, but we are far from done with that critical transition in the public sector. Second, some researchers argue that access to research data can be faster and less bureaucratic, without compromising privacy standards. Third, and most importantly, digital healthcare companies need modern digital infrastructure to grow, and the EU average is not modern. The proposed Digital Europe program is a step towards funding that transition - but Denmark has a role to play in inspiring it.

Businesses and authorities should encourage healthcare systems across the EU to adopt modern digital infrastructure, done in the “Danish” way, with the effective and safe use of healthcare data - unlocking better patient outcomes across the EU, with thriving Danish businesses delivering those outcomes.

"Expand our trade relations internationally in collaboration with the EU"

Nina Fisker Olesen – Investment Director at Kirk Kapital

If I should pinpoint a specific focus area, it would be to ensure that we maintain and expand our trade relations internationally in collaboration with the EU. Danish companies have been exceptionally good at exporting and have earned a good reputation on international markets – where free trade agreements have played an important part. The national market is limited for some businesses, which means that for the business to expand and innovate, we need access to larger markets - something we also experience from our portfolio of companies up close. 

“Companies, as well as governments must dare to take long-term strategic bets”

Andreas Björnsson – Head of Strategy & Consulting at DFDS

I believe in taking long-term strategic bets, even if it is not profitable in the next quarter. Some of the most successful clusters in the Danish industry have succeeded in part due to bold moves, like Maersk’s pioneering within containers, and research & development in the life science cluster. The ownership structure with several large foundations or family-owned companies have supported long-term thinking. As an example, Carlsberg created the research laboratory, which as one example, developed the yeast type today most used for lager beer globally.

Companies, as well as governments, only on 4-year tenure, must dare to take long-term strategic bets. This contrasts with more short-term logic such as “cut to core” or outsourcing to lower salary cost countries. Strategic coordination of focus areas between the industry, and the government, which in Denmark can help both direct research funds and educate the right workforce, could create a powerful combination. The offshore wind industry is an interesting example. After decades of development and strategic investments, symbolized by the almost exponential growth in turbine sizes, the industry is only now exiting government subsidies, with DK at the forefront, and with legacy oil players scrambling to enter.

“’The Danish way of life’ is a key enabler”

Christina Krogsgård Nielsen – Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co.

Reflecting on #WhyDK and how we secure a prominent position in the future, three focus areas especially stand out for me:

1)   Strengthening our commitment to sustainability: Denmark is already acknowledged as a world leader within sustainability and green transition (e.g., on the Environmental Performance Index), and as any good leader, we should share knowledge from our progress with other countries, while we continue to expand our own – quickly. Topics such as energy, transportation, and more environmentally friendly chemicals are important. While the first two topics already receive a lot of scrutiny, I think we should increase our attention to the latter challenge. 

2)   Developing “precision medicine”: Denmark is known for some of the best health data registers in the world. If we combine the register data with new data from the ‘omics (e.g., genomics, proteomics) – from ourselves and the microbiota we co-exist with (e.g., our gut or skin bacteria) – then, we will be at the very frontier of healthcare research, enabling treatments that are tailored to the individual. Personally, I am also excited about some of the products and services that are becoming available on the market to individuals – a couple of Danish examples are Unseen bio (with their digital gut solution) and Lactobio (with their probiotic skincare products).

3)   Building on the “Danish way of life”: To enable 1), 2), And many more measures to increase national competitiveness, we need to build, attract, and retain the best and most diverse talent. I believe some of the core elements of “the Danish way of life” give us an edge here: A) We have a trust-based society, B) We encourage our children to play and be creative within safe structures, which translates into strong problem-solving skills later, and C) We have important societal structures set in place to support equal opportunities (free or even paid education, free healthcare, a social safety net in case of e.g., unemployment). These are only a few of the elements that make Denmark a great country to live in, and we need to continue to nurture these – both for their intrinsic value, but also to strengthen national competitiveness. 

“We will face a significant talent gap”

Christian Smedegaard Andersen – Head of Strategy at GN Audio / Jabra

The #WhyDK initiative raises important questions, and many great ideas have already been presented. Fortunately, Denmark has a strong starting point, and I believe that there are several areas where Denmark can take a leading role (e.g., in sustainability, 5G, robotics, and digitalization of healthcare).

Digitalization is continuously playing a bigger role in our society, and companies are increasingly adopting topics such as Artificial Intelligence in their corporate strategies. As a result, I believe it is likely that we will face a significant talent gap in the years to come. Many Danish companies already lack critical talent (e.g., for AI, advanced analytics), and the hunt for talent will only increase as all companies compete for the same resources across country borders.

To address this challenge, I believe that Denmark needs to increase the share of people entering relevant university programs (e.g., STEM) and develop a strategy for upskilling the current workforce as some jobs will become redundant and other jobs will require additional skills. Finally, I think we need to create an environment that enables creative thinking, fosters, and develops talent, encourages and rewards risk-taking. And an environment where there is access to capital and funding, so our most talented and ambitious people are equipped to solve the next-generation problems.