Why Denmark, Jukka?

Dear all, going forward I will share my conversations re #WhyDK as LinkedIn articles to make them more easily accessible. You can revisit my first conversation with Chairman of the Board at Tryg, Jukka Pertola, here.

Br, René

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Jukka,

As you know, I have accepted an invitation to join the Danish Competitiveness Council to help Denmark stay relevant in the future global competitive business environment. You are one of the inspirational people that I have decided to reach out to in my task of speaking with inspiring individuals to gather more insights.

I would like to have your perspectives on the topic of digitalization. What should Denmark do going forward to achieve an excellent business position in this arena? What is our moonshot project if we dared to be extremely bold? And how do we make sure that our prioritization can add value to both the largest and smallest companies in Denmark?

Looking forward to hearing your perspectives – and everyone else is also very welcome to join our conversation. Together, we are stronger.

#WhyDK

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Dear René,

Congrats for the nomination and thank you for involving me. This is an important and highly relevant topic for Denmark and its companies.

Here's my answer to your first question [What should Denmark do going forward to achieve an excellent business position in the arena of digitalization?]:

Denmark already has three strongholds that I find particularly interesting to pursue even further. The potential lies in combining these which would result in a truly unique strategic advantage over other countries.   

The three strongholds are first of all the vital clusters within pharma, life science, and medtech. Here, you have the full range from giants like Novo Nordisk, to global technology leaders within hearing aids, to a vibrant growth layer of interesting start-ups and small-medium sized companies.

Secondly, you have one of the world’s most digitalized healthcare sectors. And thirdly, Denmark has a world-class position – and an untapped goldmine of data - when it comes to registers and data re the public and their health e.g. the Danish civil registration register and other systems with data spanning many, many decades back.

If Denmark really decided to develop a unique strategic and visionary platform here, you could take full advantage of these three strongholds by combining and unleashing a very powerful potential that could radically change health care as we know it – right from early research to lifting the quality of life for citizens, creating strong business potential around health care and adjacent areas.

... and here with my answer to your second – a very challenging – question [What is our moonshot project if we dared to be extremely bold?]:

I would again try to locate existing strongholds and combine them to unleash extraordinary potential.

Firstly, I find it interesting to explore a potentially unique advantage that Denmark could build on over many years.

The situation is that Denmark has the largest share of renewable power generation, which in principle makes the power grid very unreliable – but, Denmark’s network is one of the most reliable in the world in comparison to other countries. Denmark also has an interesting energy sector pointing towards the future with different renewable energy sources and products to sell.

... On the other hand, you have a focus on energy consumption in buildings. But what if buildings could sense when the grid is close to its peak capacity, instantly turning down air conditioning or heating just a bit in tens of thousands of buildings around the country. Or noticing when the power mix is predominantly from non-renewable energy sources and then turning down the consumption. Unnoticeable for people but creating a huge collective impact on power consumption. And if there is excess capacity in the grid, buildings could act as storage.

This is just one of the potential effects if Denmark aimed to lead the way in smart cities. Perhaps creating a fully ‘smart country’ to display to the world – and selling these technologies to the world.

...and here with my answer to your third challenging question [How do we make sure that our prioritization can add value to both the largest and smallest companies in Denmark?]:

Denmark has a unique platform for keeping companies, jobs, and technologies in the country: The strength of companies being foundation-owned, enabling them to grow from generation to generation without being sold or divided up into small business units. At the same time, part of the profits generated are being fed back to the society. But as I see it, this structure and its attractiveness is not more favoured by the political system these days. And the business foundation model is a true gem that instead should be strengthened and fortified as it gives Denmark a unique advantage in creating a vibrant business environment. This is something that would enable both the smallest and largest companies to be part of the journey. 

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Dear Jukka,

Thank you for your insightful and comprehensive input to the #WhyDK process. With this we are off to a very good start.

I hope you will stay active in the debate as things unfold over the coming months. Also, I hope you will take the opportunity to reach out to other people, whom you think may want to contribute to the hashtag #WhyDK discussion.

Best

René