Record number of Danish companies turning to research

But Denmark still dragging behind Sweden and Norway

According to new figures from the national stats keeper Danmarks Statistik, a record number of Danish companies are turning to research in their hunt for success.

The figures (here in Danish) reveal that Danish companies shelled out 43 billion kroner on research and education in 2016. That’s up from 39.5 billion kroner in 2015, and the biggest increase since 2010.

“Investment in research and development significantly consolidates a company’s ability to compete. Now we need to work towards building on the positive developments,” said Jonas Orebo Pyndt, a lead consultant with the confederation of national industry, Dansk Industri (DI).

READ MORE: Look who’s top of the tree for research

Room for improvement
The figures also showed that Danish business investment in research and development has increased by 15 percent since 2010, which is less of a spike compared to what Sweden (18 percent) and Norway (32 percent) saw during the same period (see graph below).

Finland, meanwhile, has seen a nearly 30 percent decrease since 2010 – a downturn that has probably been spurred on by the demise in the fortunes of telecom giant Nokia.

Pyndt complained that one of the issues hampering further growth in Denmark was the state cutting 700 million kroner in funding to Innovation Fund Denmark – a stalwart when it comes to supporting research and development in business.

“In particular, it is the smaller companies that have a serious need for these kinds of schemes to get over that wall and grow. Figures from Danmarks Statistik reveal it’s still the big Danish companies that account for most of the private investment in research and development,” said Pyndt.

(photo: Danmarks Statistik)

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