“No longer necessarily being the most attractive partner is a new reality for Danish companies, however, globalisation has entered a new phase, where Denmark and Europe in many areas have been caught up by China – and India is right behind us. Originally, we were the ones ahead, building knowledge economies.”
These are the words of Associate Professor Stine Haakonsson, who does research in emerging economies and globalisation at CBS.
China leads in 37 technologies
On top of this, China is already investing more in the green transition than the rest of the world combined, and an analysis by the Critical Technology Tracker finds that China is leading in 37 out of 44 critical technologies. The analysis shows that China leads in areas such as aerospace, energy, environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, advanced materials and quantum technology.
The report also concludes that the world’s ten leading research institutions within several of these technologies are based in China and that these institutions produce nine times as many research articles as the next-best country, which is often USA.
“We have been caught off guard and mistakenly seen China as being nothing more than a factory for the West, while we handled the innovation. This is no longer the case, and we must acknowledge this if we want to keep up,” says Stine Haakonsson.
We need to build networks
According to Stine Haakonsson, this new reality demands a change in strategy from Danish companies.
They need to build stronger global networks and form partnerships with high-knowledge actors in areas where China and India are particularly strong. At the same time, they should stay closely connected with local players from both countries to operate effectively in those markets.
The CBS researcher also points out that China and India have strong innovation and industrial clusters, where many companies are in the same area – something that brings several advantages, as it encourages learning across businesses.
“In Denmark, we know this from the robotics cluster that has emerged in Odense. It is a global success story,” she says, adding that one area where we might gain an edge is through the experience we are building with our energy islands.
Succes through strategic choices
“Denmark and the EU need to acknowledge that China has made some very deliberate strategic choices – and followed very much through on them with substantial state support. Somehow, we also need to support the industries in which we see potential here in Denmark, even if that might seem to clash with our usual approach to market competition,” says Stine Haakonsson.
