Biotechnology in Denmark is driven by 160 biotech companies. These companies are both state owned and private that mainly work within the segment of Pharmaceuticals/Therapeutics. This segment employs almost three quarters of the industry and includes large companies such as H. Lundbeck, Leo Pharma, Novo Nordisk and Novozymes, each with more than 1000 employees.
One of the strongest pharmaceutical and biotechnological regions in Europe - Medicon Valley is situated in the Greater Copenhagen area in Denmark and Skåne region of Southern Sweden. Medicon Valley comprises a dense cluster of universities, hospitals and more than 300 life science companies, of which more than 200 are R&D based.
IT and software development in Denmark holds a strong position in software design and functionality. Danish software designers are used to work in collaboration with their customers, thus enabling them to create highly user-friendly products. Moreover, the product life cycle for IT and electronics is shorter in Denmark than anywhere else in the world.
On average, it takes about 3 years from the launch of a new product to its take-off. This makes Denmark a perfect test market. Using Denmark as a test market gives international businesses the advantage of being able to adjust and improve a product before releasing it on the world market. Danish consumers are also ahead of US and Chinese consumers when it comes to employing new products.
Danish design industry in Denmark was one of the first design industry in Europe with a formulated targeted policy. Now, Danish design has become a standard of icons of 20th century design in the world and is country’s national identity. Danish design activities are carried out by in-house designers employed in manufacturing and service companies as well as by specialized design firms (over 6000 companies). Most of design companies are very small and they collaborate with other development, production, outsourcing and export service providers.
The most important activity areas of Danish designers are: graphic design (32 %); industrial design (26 %); fashion and textile design (13 %); interior design (11 %); and furniture design (9 %).
Renewable energy has become the main focus in Denmark’s energy sector. There is a wide range of competencies within the field of renewable energy in Denmark. One of the most developed sectors within this industry is wind energy where Danish technologies account for more than 50 % of all world-wide wind mills. Currently, wind energy stands for 20 % of total energy supply in Denmark.
Denmark has strong research activities in future technologies such as hydrogen and fuel cell, with leading edge research programmes at Risø and the Danish Technical University. With an objective to promote the use of renewable energy, Denmark is at the forefront of the development of alternative energy sources and fuel cells. The Danish wind mill producers are primarily targeting developed countries, however, a number of Eastern European countries have started to use wind energy too.
