MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

OF DENMARK
Invest in Denmark

2021

ALL YOU NEED

TO KNOW TO START
YOUR AI ADVENTURE
IN DENMARK
www.investindk.com
CONTENTS

WHY DENMARK? .................................................................................................. 4

ALL THE RIGHT CONDITIONS .............................................................................. 6

DENMARKS NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ............ 7

AN IDEAL TESTBED FOR NEW AI SOLUTIONS................................................... 8

A NEW LABEL FOR RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS - THE D-SEAL .............................. 9

SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST DATA .................................................................. 10

DANISH AI PROJECTS .......................................................................................... 11

RESEARCH STRENGTHS ...................................................................................... 12

AREAS OF EXPERTISE .......................................................................................... 14

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT I - NLP

TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS ....................................................................... 15

RRESEARCH HIGHLIGHT II - ALGORITHMS

RESPONSIBLE USE OF DATA AND AI ................................................................. 16

DANISH BEST PRACTICE: SAFE AI ..................................................................... 17

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT III - ML AND DATA MINING

SUPPORTING A GREENER TOMORROW ............................................................ 18

A GROWING AI TALENT POOL............................................................................ 19

MEETING INDUSTRY NEEDS FOR AI TALENT: NEW STUDY PROGRAMS ....... 20

1O REASONS FOR CHOOSING DENMARK.......................................................... 21

WHAT DO THE COMPANIES SAY? ...................................................................... 22

2 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

IMPROVED FAUNA WITH MACHINE LEARNING
The Danish company FaunaPhotonics has designed a technol-
ogy platform which combines information about insects using
a machine learning algorithm and a patent-protected sensor to
differentiate among insects groups. The platform helps farmers
in understanding and securing insect diversity and to control pest
insects and insect borne diseases. Using the technology farmers
can e.g. see when bees are flying in their fields and thereby re-
duce their level of spraying with pesticides. Overall the technology
helps farmers to become more precise and effective when using
pesticides and the result is an improved fauna and lower possibil-
ity of resistance build-up within the insects.

ADVANCED AGRICULTURE WITH AI

The Danish Technological Institute has worked closely with com-
panies within environmental technology to develop tools and
methods to be used for the digitization of danish agriculture. It
has i.a. resulted in the commercial product, InfoGrow, which the
institute sells to nurseries.
The institute also investigates how artificial intelligence and cam-
era technology can make agriculture more efficient and a natural
part of agricultural equipment. Here the specialists have i.a. de-
veloped a digital plant counter that can count plants and calculate
leaf area. A solution that can save working hours.
The new initiatives are all steps by the Danish Technological Insti-
tute towards the digitization of danish agriculture with the overall
goal of reducing agricultural emissions by 70 percent by 2030.

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  3

WHY DENMARK?

Denmark provides excellent opportunities for developing, testing and

applying AI within highly digitalised application areas including healthcare,
robotics, agriculture, finance and acoustics.
This publication
Furthermore, the country provides access to world-class applied AI research is a short
and an attractive talent pool acknowledged for its user-driven innovation introduction to
approach and ability to integrate complex software systems. the reasons why
Denmark is a great
In addition, a long and strong tradition with public-private partnerships
provides unique partnering opportunities with leading Danish research ecosystem for
institutions in the development and deployment of AI and machine learning your company to
in a growing regional market. Denmark’s start-up ecosystem have a myriad create excellence
of innovative AI start-up companies looking for partnerships to co-develop
with artificial
solutions and to tap into the vast international growth opportunities.
intelligence.
This is just a few of the reasons why you should consider Denmark as the
location for placing your future software development. Look around and
learn more about Denmark as a hotspot for bringing your AI solutions to
the market, both national and international.

4 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

 Denmark: #1 in europe
best country for ease of doing
for business business
The World Bank (2008-2020)

Denmark is the first

country in the Nordics to USD 60,195
have national 5G coverage. GDP per capita
OECD (2019)
TDC NET (2020)

Denmark’s digital competitiveness is the best in

Europe and the third best in the world #3 on the OECD Better Life Index
IMD (2020) (2020)

#1 in the world 22% There are more than

future readiness to exploit 95.000 people employed in ICT
digital transformation corporate companies in Denmark
IMD (2020) tax Statistics Denmark (2020)

95%
of Danes are
Denmark is the most
cyber-secure country
online Denmark is one of the most in the world
digitised countries in Europe Comparitech (2020)
DESI (2020)
DESI (2020)

Language Best country in Lowest

9 out of 10 people #3 in the world the world redundancy
speak English attracting and to start an online costs in the
retaining talents business world
IMD (2020) Best Accounting Shared #1, IMD
Software 2021 (2020)

and 5 out of 10 One of the most flexible labour

#1 in the world
markets in the world
on social responsibility
speak German.
IMD (2020) of business leaders
IMD (2020)

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  5

ALL THE RIGHT CONDITIONS

According to the European Commission’s annual ranking, Denmark is one of ’’Denmark ranks
the most digitised economies and societies among the 27 EU member states
second in Europe
(2020). This is a testament to the nation’s outstanding IT infrastructure and
tech-savvy population; less than 2% of the Danes have never used the internet when it comes
and only three out of ten Danes lack basic digital skills. It makes Denmark the to mastering
perfect place for companies to develop and test new technologies and future skills needed
digital solutions with an engaged customer base.
in the future
Denmark is a leader in connectivity, providing nationwide 5G coverage as the workforce, such
first Nordic country. On top of that, 95% of Danish citizens are online and ac- as cooperation,
tively engaged in the use of a variety of online services (e.g. online purchases/ creativity and
paying bills), making their digital skills highly advanced. Most information and
digital skills.’’
service exchanges between Danish citizens and public authorities e.g. citizen
services, health information and passport services etc. are already digitised. An AI Nation – Harnessing
Therefore, it is clear that Denmark is moving at a faster pace than the EU aver- the Opportunities of Artificial
Intelligence in Denmark,
age and it is no coincidence that the UN ranked Denmark as a world champion McKinsey, 2019.
in public digitisation in an E-Government Survey in 2020.

The top ranking is not only a result of the excellent IT infrastructure and the
highly digitalised public sector but also the result of Danish companies’, con-
sumers’ and research institutions’ active role in driving the technological de-
velopment forward in an innovative and responsible manner. This makes Den-
mark an attractive location for elite software companies such as IBM, Microsoft
and Google. These companies and other software companies tap into Den-
mark’s innovative R&D, creative design capabilities and user-driven approach.

As a hotspot for software development, the country has everything you need
to sharpen your competitive edge – especially in AI, where Denmark has a dedi-
cated AI Strategy to support the best framework for your business adventure.

6 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

 DENMARKS NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Denmark is to be In March 2019, the Danish Government published a National Strategy for Artifi-
cial Intelligence (AI) with the overall ambition to make Denmark a front-runner
a front-runner
in responsible development and use of AI. The strategy puts forth four objec-
in responsible tives:
development and
use of artificial • Denmark should have a common ethical and human-centred basis for AI.
• Danish researchers should research and develop AI.
intelligence.
• Danish businesses should achieve growth through developing and using AI.
• The public sector should use AI to offer world-class services.

Benefits for individuals, businesses and society as a whole

Artificial intelligence offers great opportunities for creating growth, prosperity
and excellent public service. Therefore, the strategy seeks to create a frame-
work for companies, researchers and public authorities that allow them to ex-
ploit the potential of AI with a high level of responsibility.

Already today, international tech companies recognise Denmark as an AI hot-

spot and the go-to place for leading research, talent and innovation along
with good business ethics and trust. The new strategy significantly boosts the
framework for doing business within AI through specific new initiatives.

The initiatives of the strategy

The strategy’s initiatives fall within four focus areas that will help ensure that
the work on artificial intelligence has an ethical basis with access to good data,
strong competencies and new knowledge. Furthermore, to improve the possi-
bilities for investments in the technology.

In order to boost the work on AI in Denmark and gain more experience with
the technology, specific objectives are also formulated in four priority areas:
energy, health, utilities, agriculture and transport.

CASE: DANISH IMPRINTS FOR STANDARDS IN AI

The European Commission chose Denmark to lead the work of setting

common European requirements for the use of AI in the future. The
Danish Standards Foundation who has worked to set common European
standards for AI for several years will lead the work. The new standards
of AI must help to ensure a responsible link between technology and hu-
mans and the ethical use of data and algorithms.

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  7

AN IDEAL TESTBED FOR NEW
AI SOLUTIONS

Denmark has a long tradition for data management in areas such as the pub-
OECD-RANKING
lic sector, healthcare, financial, food and production. This provides unique
partnering opportunities with leading Danish public entities, businesses and #1 Use of digital public systems
research institutions in the development and deployment of AI and machine
#1 Digitalisation of businesses
learning.
#1 Population view on AI

Denmark is a small, highly integrated and homogenous society and consumers #2 ICT-specialist skills

often play an active role in developing and adapting new technologies. Using #3 Technology readiness
Denmark as a test market gives international corporations the advantage of
being able to quickly adjust and improve a product at low costs before releas- (An AI Nation - Harnessing the
Opportunities of Artificial Intelligence
ing it internationally.
in Denmark, McKinsey 2019).

In general, Danish employees are tech-savvy and ready for the digital trans-
formation. Moreover, Denmark has a small, open economy and many Danish
companies compete in export markets, which means they need to stay ahead
on the digitalisation curve.

Tech companies located in Denmark are not only able to profit from the high
level of education in Denmark, but also from the long-standing tradition of
user-driven design and innovation as well as close relationships with custom-
ers. This makes Denmark the perfect backdrop to develop new, innovative us-
er-driven AI technologies and solutions.

Denmark’s long tradition within data gathering and data management in the
public sector also gives companies a competitive advantage when building AI
solutions for a variety of sectors.

DID YOU KNOW?

DENMARK IS WORLD CHAMPIONS IN EGOVERNMENT

Every year since 2018, the UN has placed Denmark number one in the
world when it comes to eGovernment. The UN commends Denmark for
the fact that digital transformation includes experiments with digital
technologies and public digital services in collaboration with the private
sector and Danish tech SMEs. UN also commends Denmark for a holistic
approach to digital government, which puts people first and revolves
around the needs of individuals - including those left furthest behind.

Source: Denmark Tops UN eGovernment Ranking Once Again (digst.dk).

8 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

A NEW LABEL FOR RESPONSIBLE
BUSINESSES - THE D-SEAL
Danish companies will probably be the first in the world to have a label
to certify that they work responsibly with data and IT security.

The D-seal, which will be introduced to businesses in autumn 2021, is a

key part of the Danish National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.

To be eligible for the new D-seal companies have to comply with a num-
ber of criteria; the precise criteria and the management of the data eth-
ics label will be in the hands of key stakeholders in Danish industry.

Source: www.d-seal.eu

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  9

SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST DATA

Denmark has some of the world’s best data. The country has lots of experience “Denmark has
with collecting and managing social, economic and environmental data and
fantastically well-
tops the Open Data Watch global ranking for the quality, coverage and open-
ness of its statistics. organized data
collection across
As part of the Danish Digital Growth Strategy, a Free Data Initiative was public institutions
launched to make more public data available. With more public data accessible
that one would never
for commercial use, the hope is that the businesses will use and explore the
data to scale up new business models and services.
come across in the
United States”
Another large-scale initiative in Denmark is the establishment of a Common
Professor Serge Belongie,
Danish Language Resource – sprogteknologi.dk. The new open and shared
Director of the Danish Pioneer
language resource will provide new opportunities for academia and industry Research Centre in AI
to strengthen the development of AI solutions, in Danish, used in both the
public and private sector. Now, the platform contains more than 100 language
resources from 27 organisations.

Dictionaries (words, word

Collection of sound files (voice
classes), terminology banks
and dialogue recordings,
(specialist term bases).
dialects, transcribed sound files).
Collection of texts, text
corpora, grammar, annotated
text.

10 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

DANISH AI PROJECTS

EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF CANCER AT ODENSE UNIVERSITY

HOSPITAL SAVES LIVES
The Region of Southern Denmark is working on using AI to
diagnose cancer more quickly. By analysing pictures of cancer
cells, AI can see whether a cell is cancerous with a high degree
of certainty. Early diagnosis makes it possible to commence
treatment faster, and thereby improve patients’ chances of
survival. The work is part of a larger initiative in the area at
Odense University Hospital.

OPTIMISATION OF THE DRINKING WATER SYSTEM IN

THE CITY OF AARHUS
Production, treatment and distribution of drinking water
demands a lot of energy, which is expensive and bad for the
environment. Using AI the CHAIN project being funded by
Innovation Fund Denmark will analyse large volumes of wa-
ter-consumption data (from sensors etc.) to minimise energy
consumption on pumping water. This could also reduce the en-
vironmental impact of operating the water system.

BAGGAGE AT COPENHAGEN AIRPORT

In 2018, 30.3 million passengers went through Copenhagen
Airport. This was an increase from 21.5 million in 2010. More
passengers means more luggage. Since 2016, Copenhagen
Airport is using AI to optimise luggage handling. Among other
things, AI predicts when the staff can clean the aircraft and put
cases on conveyor belts. Focus is on time optimisation. This has
resulted in fewer queues and better passenger experience.

AI WILL HELP WITH BEER TASTING AT CARLSBERG

1,000 different beers are screened every day at the Carls-
berg laboratory in Valby near Copenhagen. It is a difficult
and time-demanding process. Therefore, researchers at the
laboratory have launched a project to measure taste aromas
before brewing the beer. The laboratory uses chemical sensors
to test thousands of different types of yeast. Data from the
yeast types will be analysed using AI, and then researchers will
be able to predict whether a yeast has the right quality. In the
future, it is likely that the technology could also measure other
food, air pollution, etc.

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  11

RESEARCH STRENGTHS

Danish universities are leading in Europe in specific AI sub-disciplines such Danish research
as natural language processing (NLP), algorithms and complexity, machine
activities range from
learning and data mining and universities are continuously ramping up their AI
activities. research into the
theoretical foundations
Other Danish AI strongholds include several top research groups and of machine learning
programmes within disciplines such as Engineering, Cognitive Systems and
to applications
Biomedicine. As well as other related computer science areas like Cryptography
and Security, Data-Intensive Systems, Programming Languages, Semantics and
within a broad set
Distributed Systems. of sub-domains,
including natural
In general, Danish computer scientists are highly attractive internationally due language processing,
to their widely recognized skills for developing holistic user-driven solutions
information retrieval,
and upholding the ability to innovate and integrate complex software systems
as well as their mathematic skills,. These competencies are reflected in the image analysis, data
development of algorithms for e.g. AI and cryptography. On top of that, the modelling, deep
combination of universities’ engagement in talent development followed by learning models,
the industry’s support to further develop these talents, work as key elements
reinforced learning
in creating these state-of-the-art computer scientists.
models.
The Danish research ecosystem within AI has a strong focus on applied
science; almost 90% of the Danish universities’ AI-research relates to
application rather than developing underlying technology. Therefore, you will
also find a deep tech ecosystem in Denmark, which includes a large spectrum
of interesting companies ranging from start-ups to established and successful
companies.

APPLIED RESEARCH
FOCUS ON HEALTH AND BIOTECH

Looking at AI-related research projects at Danish universities, almost

90 percent are related to application of AI rather than developing the
underlying technology. The most popular applications are in health
and biotech (~25 percent), energy and environment (~10 percent) and
agriculture (~5 percent).

Source: Denmark – An AI nation? The Innovation Fund Denmark and McKinsey & Company, 2019.

12 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

DID YOU KNOW?
Denmark will take AI research to new heights with a new so-called
Pioneer Research Centre in AI that is set to open in 2021.

NEW PIONEER CENTRE IN AI

The centre will study AI and its application to different societal challenges
such as the prediction and prevention of diseases, the surveillance of
climate change and biodiversity as well as energy and infrastructure
among others. In addition to studying the classical “heavy” AI disciplines
such as machine learning and virtual reality, the new centre will also
explore the ethical aspects of AI.

Behind the centre are several Danish universities and five of the largest
research foundations in Denmark who will grant up to 352 million DKK.
The American professor Serge Belongie will head the centre – he is one of
the world’s leading researchers within AI.

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  13

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

NLP – NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING

Denmark has a vibrant NLP community with some of the strongest
research groups in Europe. The NLP group at the Department of
Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen is one of the best
research groups in the world. Copenhagen also offers smaller NLP
research groups at the Technical University of Denmark and the IT
University of Copenhagen as well as a growing industry with players
such as Siteimprove, Karnov Group, Trustpilot, and a myriad of recent
start-ups.

ALGORITHMS AND COMPLEXITY

A stronghold for Danish Universities is algorithms and complexity
where world-leading researchers focus on developing new AI
systems. Such as understanding how efficiently computers can solve
combinatorial problems, analysing and making new machine learning
algorithms more efficient and using this research to make an impact
in the real world.

DATA MINING AND MACHINE LEARNING

In general, Denmark and especially Danish universities have a long
tradition for collecting and working with Big Data. Danish universities,
IT companies and government institutions collaborate to develop
techniques for big data analysis to apply and focus on practical cases
with a large business or societal potential. This have paved the way for
doing ground-breaking research and solutions within areas such as
data clustering, outlier detection and predictive modelling.

HUMAN CENTRED AI
All research groups, who conducts research within AI at Danish
universities, focus on how to make the development of AI more
human centred. They conduct research on how AI comes to its AI
decisions, how it impacts those affected by it, and how to make sure
that privacy is not compromised. They also try to address the need for
developing strong technical competencies to generate new types of
interaction between people and software.

14 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT I – NLP
TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS

Denmark is home to some of the strongest research groups within Natural

“Trust is all,
so I think that
ultimately all
players involved
in developing AI
depend on the trust
of the end users”
Anders Søgaard, Professor in
NLP and Machine Learning,
Copenhagen University.
Language Processing (NLP) in the world. Inn the Copenhagen area alone, there
is about five NLP groups of which two are among the top ten in Europe and one
is among top 20 in the world (CSRankings).
All of the Danish NLP research groups work in close collaboration with industry
and in an interdisciplinary manner with scientists from other fields such a psy-
chology, linguistics, mathematics and engineering. The Danish NLP research
groups emphasize the importance of an open and transparent process to
develop NLP - and thus you can go online, download their code and read their
published papers.

A common theme in the Danish NLP research groups is ethical AI. The NLP re-
search group at Copenhagen University focuses on the concept demographic
parity. The concept presents the idea that AI should be independent of the at-
tributes of the end user and also make sure, that predictions does not differ for
e.g. men and women or people of different age groups.

AI DIAGNOSES CARDIAC CREATING AI WITH AI:

ARREST SMARTER CHATBOTS

The Danish company, Corti, have
developed an AI solution that can help
emergency operators better diagnose
cardiac arrest.
Corti’s AI employs machine learning
to analyse the words a caller uses to
describe an incident, the tone of voice
and background noises on the line.
According to a recent study, the soft-
ware correctly detected cardiac arrests
in 93 % of cases vs. 73% for human
dispatchers.
So far, typically people build AI.
However, in a new project supported
by the Danish Innovation Fund the
goal is to create AI that can build AI
itself.
The expectations to the project are
enormous. The project not only
creates a new generation of AI – it
is also the ambition that the project
solutions can be applied to transform
how customer service is conducted
globally.

The software made its conclusion in The project received a national

an average of 48 seconds, more than a innovation prize and international
half-minute faster that the humans did. attention.

Corti and the Central Denmark Region
have awarded a Grand Solution Project
from the Danish Innovation Fund to
develop a COVID-19 solution for the
emergency medical service.
Behind the project: Copenhagen
University, The Alexandra Institute,
University of Oxford, University of
Edinburgh, Copenhagen Municipality
and the Danish company SupWiz.

Source: Innovation Fund Denmark. Source: Innovation Fund Denmark.

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  15

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT II -
ALGORITHMS RESPONSIBLE USE OF
DATA AND AI

Denmark is home to some of the strongest research groups within research ”We are living in a time
and development of algorithms in areas including data analysis, databases, when volumes of data
data structures, I/O-efficiency, data processing, machine learning, privacy, etc.
grow at a tremendous
A Danish research group at Copenhagen University has recently developed a
state of the art algorithm for optimally finding the shortest route between two rate and the development
points, which has been a mathematical conundrum for 40 years. of hardware simply
can’t keep up. In order to
A key focus area within the Danish research in algorithms and AI relates to the
manage all of the data
responsible use of data and AI in terms of privacy. Danish researchers are in-
ternationally recognized for design and analysis of randomized algorithms that we produce, we need to
make selections in a way that ensures privacy. develop smarter software
that requires less running
Questions, which also concerns researchers in this subfield of AI, are how to
time and memory. That’s
develop solutions that can make useful data analyses without invading privacy
and how to secure that shared data on populations cannot be traced back to
why we need smarter
individuals. algorithms”

In a new project called “Algorithms, Data and Democracy” a Danish research Professor, Christian Wulff-Nielsen,
Copenhagen University.
consortium will study how data and algorithms can be used to support society
and enhance democratic processes, overcoming present challenges. The con-
sortium, which has received DKK 100 million, aims to develop new societal and
technological solutions to ensure trust between citizens and society in an even
more digitalized future.

16 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

 DANISH BEST PRACTICE: SAFE AI

Researchers at the Danish Technical University has formulated a number of

“Trust is necessary.
If there is no trust,
users are not going
to share their data
with you. If there is
no data, you have no
AI and without AI
there is no business.”
Lars Kai Hansen, Professor,
The Technical University of Denmark.
safe AI principles that jointly forms a coherent vision for the responsible use
of AI based on concrete and realistic technology. The principles should not
be seen as a wish list of how to work with or implement AI solutions. On the
contrary, they are based on actual computer science methods, which is already
applicable for companies to help generate trust.
THE PRINCIPLES OF SAFE AI
SAFE AI = SECURE SAFE AI = HAS CALIBRATED
Has passed test and verification VALUES
processes and is robust to Is debugged for stereotypes
systemic and well-informed and bias and understands
attacks. emotions.

SAFE AI = OPEN SOURCE SAFE AI = IS ACCOUNTABLE

Methods, code and test-results
are accessible for everyone.
SAFE AI = IS SELF-CONSCIOUS
Understands its own role and if
uncertainty appears it can e.g.
refuse to act.
SAFE AI = CAN KEEP A SECRET
Is designed to respect privacy
by being built on the principle of
privacy by design.
Is transparent and
communicative with a respect
for the “right to explanation”.
SAFE AI = UNDERSTANDS
SOCIAL RELATIONS
Understands social relations in
addition to a user’s knowledge
and competences.
SAFE AI = UNDERSTANDS
POWER
Understands data, context and
consequences of its actions.

Source: Professor Lars Kai Hansen, DTU Compute, the Technical University of Denmark.

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  17

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT III – ML
AND DATA MINING SUPPORTING A
GREENER TOMORROW

Computer Science departments at Danish universities are increasingly looking

into how machine learning and data mining can be used to address climate DID YOU KNOW?
change and create sustainable solutions supporting a greener tomorrow. This
is a logical next step in an increasingly data-driven world where mathematical Copenhagen hosts one of the 17
European ELLIS Units (European
models can recognize patterns in large datasets and thereby increase our un-
Lab for Learning and Intelligent
derstanding of correlation and causality.
Systems). ELLIS consists of
Europe’s strongest university
AI is a secret weapon in fighting climate change as it can create data models, research environments in AI and
which simulates the impact of climate change on the planet’s ecosystems. Re- is supported by large companies
searches from computer science and geo-science are e.g. combining machine such as Google, Facebook, Ama-
zon, and Porsche. The Lab is ho-
learning with large sets of satellite data whereby they hope to be able to recog-
sted by Copenhagen University,
nize patterns and hopefully get a better understanding of climate change and The IT University of Copenhagen
what measures can be taken to counteract negative effects. and The Technical University of
Denmark.

INTELLIGENT FARMING: AI FOR EARTH: ADDRESSING

SQM-FARM GLOBAL WATER SHORTAGE

In a recent project, called SQM-Farm, By combining satellite data and

AI and sensors are used to develop a
range of decision support solutions for
farmers in Denmark. The goal of the
project was to give farmers a better
overview and control over the health
of their crops (including crop growth,
nutrient status and threats from
disease and pest) through a daily data
flow during the growing season.
Ultimately, the new solutions developed
in the project should increase the
yield of agricultural business and very
importantly also reduced the use of
pesticides and nutrients, which can
cause negative environmental effects.
The project was led by the Danish
company AgroIntelli, which develops
automation solutions for plant
production, together with several other
companies and Danish universities.
algorithms, the Danish research and
consultancy organization DHI GRAS
(DHI Group) has cracked the code
for how farmers can reduce water
consumption in the irrigation of their
fields and prevent overwatering of
everything from avocados to wine,
cereals and cotton fields.
The technology allows farmers to
accurate measure how much water
crops emit in evaporation and thus how
much water the fields need. This is done
using two different types of satellite
data - thermal and optical data, which
are spatially and early compiled with
meteorological data using an algorithm
that uses artificial intelligence.
The project is part of Microsoft’s AI
for Earth project and is supported by
National Geographic.

Source: Agrointelli. Source: DHI Gras.

18 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark


DID YOU KNOW?
The Danish government focuses
on strengthening industry access
to Science, Technology, Engi-
neering & Mathematics (STEM)
talent and thus introduced
several initiatives to secure that
businesses future talent needs
will be met.
In 2020, the number of STEM
(Science, Technology, Engine-
ering and Mathematics) students
admitted to Danish universities
increased by 90%.
A GROWING AI TALENT POOL
Denmark is on a good trajectory in securing a growing STEM talent pool to
cope with the industry’s increasing demand. Between the years 2009-2018, the
number of students admitted to programmes within STEM increased with 50%
in Denmark. In 2020 alone, the number of STEM students admitted to Danish
universities increased with 9%.
Looking at the number of students between 18-40 years old, who graduate
from a STEM education, Denmark is also well above the OECD average. Never-
theless, with a growing industry demand, more measures must be taken - and
this is exactly what the Danish government did, when they presented the Dig-
ital Growth Strategy in 2018 to support and enhance Denmark’s position as a
digital frontrunner.
One of the goals of the strategy is specifically to enhance companies’ access
to talent and competences within STEM and emerging digital technologies. To
reach this goal the so-called Technology Pact was established in a public-pri-
vate partnership and it includes specific targets to meet expected industry
demands.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE TECHNOLOGY PACT
More will pursue STEM training
• + 20% more Danes will complete a higher education in STEM within
the next 10 years.
• + 20% more Danes will complete vocational education and training
(VET) within the next 10 years.
More will apply STEM in their work
• The Danish workforce’s STEM competences of must be among the
best in Europe.
• The Danes’ ability to solve problems with IT must be on a par with
the competence level of other Nordic countries.
• In 10 years from now, there should be no extensive recruitment
challenges for STEM competencies.
All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  19
MEETING INDUSTRY NEEDS FOR AI
TALENT: NEW STUDY PROGRAMS

In recent years, Danish study programmes within the STEM field have also
been adjusted and re-developed and new study programmes have been
launched including BSc and MSc programmes in Data Science, Algorithms, AI
and IT & Cognition.

With the growth of new study programs in AI in Denmark, the number of grad-
uates is expected to grow 11 percent annually every year towards 2025. 41 per-
cent of these graduates will hold a bachelor’s degree and 59 percent will have
master’s degrees.

In addition to new study programs there is also an increased focus on offering

specialisations within AI to existing study programs in related fields such as
robotics.

NUMBER OF AI-RELATED PROGRAMS AT DANISH UNIVERSITIES

20 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

1O REASONS FOR CHOOSING DENMARK
1. WORLD-CLASS SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT
It is fair to say that Denmark has left
some heavy footprints in the global
software development arena. Danish
researchers have developed a num-
ber of the most used programming
languages, including C++, TurboPas-
cal and Visual Prolog.
2. AMBITIOUS POLITICAL
STRATEGIES
The Danish government is commit-
ted to meet the need for science,
technology, engineering and math
(STEM) talents to drive sustainable
innovation and growth using digital
technologies.
3. THE MOST DIGITAL COUNTRY
IN EUROPE
Denmark provides excellent oppor-
tunities for testing and applying AI
within highly digitalised sectors, such
as healthcare, sound, robotics, fi-
nance, government and agriculture.
4. SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST
DATA
Denmark has a long experience with
collecting and managing social, eco-
nomic and environmental data and
tops the Open Data Watch global
ranking for the quality, coverage and
openness of its statistics.
5. SCIENTIFIC IMPACT
Denmark is home to some of the
world’s most excellent researchers
and research groups that rank in
the absolute global elite in terms of
scientific impact and the abilityato at-
tract large-scale private investments.
All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark
6. UNIQUE PARTNERING
OPPORTUNITIES
Collaborative partnerships with lead-
ing Danish research institutions are
widely accessible for the develop-
ment and deployment of AI and ma-
chine learning in a growing regional
market.
7. VIBRANT START-UP
ECOSYSTEM
Denmark has a vibrant tech-eco-
system with a myriad of innovative
start-up companies looking for part-
nerships to co-develop solutions and
grow on international markets.
8. ACCESS TO WORLD-CLASS AI
TALENT
Denmark has a global reputation for
its competencies within user-driven
innovation and ability to integrate
complex software systems. Our high
living standards also makes us an at-
tractive place to live and work.
9. IDEAL TESTBED
Denmark offers an ideal testbed for
bringing together high-quality sci-
entists, programmers, students and
entrepreneurs in a culture character-
ized by trust and creativity.
10. STABILITY AND EASE OF
DOING BUSINESS
Denmark is characterised by political,
economic and regulatory stability
and offers a low corporate tax rate,
flexible labour market conditions and
simple procedures for establishing a
business.
|  21
WHAT DO THE COMPANIES SAY?

MICROSOFT

“The major advantages of having Microsoft’s largest develop-

ment centre in Europe located in Denmark are that we have ac-
cess to a broad range of highly competent Danish and foreign
staff and that we are able to build upon the Danish tradition
we have for design and management”

Charlotte Mark, CEO Microsoft Development Centre, Copenhagen.

CACTUS

“CACTUS has taken several steps to establish itself as a leading

provider of machine learning and AI-driven solutions. I am
very excited about this opportunity to work with the UNSILO
team and further scale up the Cactus Labs team. For the next
5 years, our vision is to create technologies and products that
will transform work through augmentation and automation.”

Nishchay Shah, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Cactus Labs,

CACTUS.

MOVEBIS

“We saw an exciting opportunity in Denmark for our company

to grow, as the people are very open for digital solutions. It
is easy to set up business, easy to get in contact with decisi-
on-makers and easy to recruit top-level talent. All of which is
especially important when building a tech-company and de-
veloping innovative products such as Themisi. And while 2020
has been a build-up year, we are looking forward to getting
our products on the market in 2021.”

Till Helmbold, CEO, Movebis.

22 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

THE FREE DATA INITIATIVE

Danish meteorological data

As part of the Free Data Initiative, the Danish Meteorological Institute’s

(DMI) comprehensive weather data for Denmark and Greenland is public
and accessible for everyone, who wishes to use the data.

DMI’s Free Data is accessible via the Danish government’s IT GovCloud

solution, which is a safe and reliable distribution platform that can
manage various forms of realtime weather data.

The data will be updated 24/7 and both public authorities and private
companies can use the data directly in their own systems.

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  23

SPECIALIST SUPPORT FOR SETTING
UP IN DENMARK

Invest in Denmark provides all the support you need for locating your
business in Denmark. So, if you are considering setting up or expand-
ing your activities in Denmark, make us your first stop.

Our specialised, international staff can advise you on every aspect

of locating in Denmark. Not only when you set up, but also as
your business grows.

Our tailor-made solutions include connecting companies

with key local contacts, arranging fact-finding tours and
providing comprehensive benchmark analyses. We
make sense of local legislation and the advantages
of locating in Denmark – all free of charge and fully
confidential.

24 |  All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark

 Denmark:
UDENRIGSMINISTERIET
the green
Invest in Denmark

facts
#1 IN THE WORLD
on climate change action
Environmental Performance Index,
Yale University, 2020

Produced renewable
power by 2019: 0% 100%
47% 3%
Greenhouse Gas Green Electricity by

2027
Emissions by

Wind solar 2050

#1 OECD #3 world
RENEWABLE best ENERGY

64%
ENERGY TRENDS system
World Economic World Energy
Forum 2020 Council 2020

Danish Households
Heated by District
Heating

#2 IN ACHIEVING THE SDGS

Denmark aims to be powered entirely by SDG Index 2020
renewable sources by 2050

#1: Orsted
Government
#2: Chr. Hansen
#6: Novozymes
climate act target:
Danish corporates receive top
rankings on sustainability
Corporate Knights 2020
70%
reduction of CO2 by 2030

All you need to know to start your AI adventure in Denmark |  25

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