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| Minister of Science, Technology
and Innovation, Helge Sander |
| Courtesy Danish Foreign
Ministry |
Denmark is a small country lacking coal, iron or
any of the other natural resources needed to build
an economy. Like the Japanese, the Danes had to
look inward for products to export, and they used
their wits to find the answer. They started problem-solving
-- even in Viking days when the problem was how
to build ships. They had another “asset”
in the long, unappealing winters nights--perfect
for applying the intellect to solving technical
problems.
The Danes plumbed those depths and came up with
enough innovations and clever gadgets to put them
at the forefront of today’s global economy.
Now they are sitting on a handsome budget surplus,
low unemployment, and one of the most stable and
admired societies on the planet. As Carsten Hellmann,
managing director of Nunc, put it, “If we couldn’t
outsmart the world, we would be lost.”
Denmark’s innovative skills are running in
tight competition with the rest of the European
Union. Expertise and management skills will become
the greatest European exports, and the unskilled
labor will be delegated to less developed countries.
New ministry
Leo Bjornskov, permanent secretary of the new Ministry
of Science, Technology and Innovation, describes
the new ministry as “a clear signal that [the
government] is suiting action to its words.”
In 2001, the ministry was created to help build
a more innovative economy. It aims to support a
strong and efficient process, one that goes from
the birth of a new idea to the commercial exploitation
in a company. “This is the gift we received
from the new government,” says Bjornskov.
"The government's vision will be realized
by focusing on four pillars -- scientific discoveries,
digital networks, technological service and human
resources," Bjornskov says.
“One aim of the ministry is to build a bridge
between Danish educational institutions, the business
community and the population with a view to strengthening
links," Helge Sander, minister of Science,
Technology and Innovation said recently. "We
aim to create a strong and short chain from the
birth of a new idea to the commercial exploitation
in a company."
Doctoral fellowship programs
The ministry’s job, in a nutshell, is to grease
the wheels of discovery and distribution. The government
sponsors center contracts, which utilize research
by co-funding of cooperative projects between companies;
technological service and institutions; and doctoral
fellowship programs, to promote personal transfer
of knowledge between universities and companies,
and to provide doctoral fellows with business-relevant
competencies.
To achieve this objective, Denmark is building
another bridge. The government wants to connect
the universities and the capitalists, “bringing
knowledge to flow across the system,” as the
minister says. “The essential condition is
a more efficient diffusion of the vast amount of
knowledge we produce to the business community,
which is to the benefit of the whole of the Danish
society.”
The North Jutland region is a case in point. The
University of Aalborg collaborates with 350 universities
and research institutions all over the world. Big
Danish companies like Bang & Olufson and Novo
Nordisk have offices there. Asian companies have
“discovered” the region, and are moving
in as though there were a real estate boom coming.
They like the Danes' way of tackling problems. Danish
engineers are able to think in holistic or general
terms, which usually brings faster solutions.
The Korean firm Maxon is working in tandem with
University of Aalborg to develop the next generation
of mobile telephones. Five years ago, ministry officials
say, you wouldn’t get that. The academics looked
down their noses at crass commercialism, and the
industrialists sneered at the ivory tower eggheads.
This illustrates how the line between academic
and corporate research is blurring.
In 1999, public and private sectors teamed up to
speed the development of micro-system technology.
Grundfos A/S developed a sensor to operate its
pumps, which shrank and improved them. But once
the technology was out there, Microtronic A/S made
a microphone no bigger than the head of a pin, which
turned out to work very well in hearing aids.
The cumbersome hearing aids we can still see are
going the way of wooden crutches. People who are
hearing impaired need not advertise that fact, and
they will be more comfortable. The companies were
able to develop these amplifiers very cheaply, so
other industries will be using it for undreamed-of
applications. And the sound is better.
Denmark, small as it is, is out to outsmart the
world again -- and the world had better take notice.
For more information, please visit: www.vtu.dk
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