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Doing Business in Greater Copenhagen Is More Unique Than You Might Think Strong business metrics and unique values led 50 foreign companies to establish operations and relocate staff to Greater Copenhagen last year.
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rowth startups are meant to be born global and expand outside of their home market fast. Startup hubs like Silicon Valley and Israel are often mentioned as the best places to scale from, which might make the humble Danes overlook the many world-class strengths they have in their own backyard. Oliver Hall is a Brit living in Copenhagen who manages AI & Fintech Investments at Copenhagen Capacity. “All metrics show how Denmark is globally very competitive,” he says. “The World Bank has done an annual study of 190 economies since 2012, and every single year Denmark has ranked number one in Europe for ease of doing business. At the same time, Denmark tops worldwide rankings for innovation, cashless society, business competitiveness, digital society, and e-Government.”
”You have this country with a comparatively small population that is right at the top in terms of digitalisation. It’s an ideal gateway for tech-companies coming to Europe indeed we have management teams in Europe, the US and Japan relocating with their families, even before the crisis hit - and it’s an ideal place to scale from” Hall says. ”Last year, we attracted and fully supported 50 companies in opening their European headquarters, Nordic research & development centres or Danish sales offices in Greater Copenhagen. This created over 1,000 highly skilled jobs for Greater Copenhagen, with 133 talents relocating to Copenhagen.”
the pandemic has also proven the soft power of the country. “In contrast to many other economies, most of the Nordic countries have women as Prime Ministers. We’re told by many foreign companies that Denmark has been a global role-model of responsible management during of the crisis. Denmark was one of the first countries to lockdown, it was the first to reopen, and society has returned to a new normality faster than others” he says. Copenhagen Capacity hosted ‘Hack the Crisis Denmark’ – a hackathon to design and prototype solutions for the corona crisis, which quickly became Denmark’s largest ever hack. Copenhagen Capacity was also the Danish organiser of
Pandemic promotes soft values While the business metrics clearly speak in favour of Greater Copenhagen, there is also another angle: Denmark’s soft power. Coupled with the fact that Denmark is among the happiest countries in the world, is famously egalitarian and has a high quality of life in general, a lot of companies and startups are successfully relocating their businesses and talents here. Covid-19 has been slowing down the number of companies relocating in the first half of 2020, but according to Hall,
Denmark’s ranks
#1 in Europe: World Bank Doing Business 2020 #2 worldwide: United Nations SDG Report 2020 #1 in Europe: IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2020 #1 worldwide: United Nations E-Government Survey 2020 #2 in Europe: IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019
