Jakob Riis: In order to sustain Denmark’s competitiveness, what current key strengths do you consider important and maybe also some that need further strengthening?
Astrid Simonsen Joos: Denmark is a relatively small country, and with less than 6 million citizens, it should be possible to do larger and more impactful changes, relatively fast and agile. We need to think big and stay hungry. This combined with our Nordic values (e.g. trust and high level of transparency) are some key strengths that should give us a competitive advantage that are hard to imitate. That is, if the combination of our size and values are used the right way.
We also have a unique approach to work life balance, which should enable us to attract highly skilled foreign workers. However, I do see that we tend to turn our focus inwards and become too self-centered. COVID-19 has led to a lot of negativity, with people getting stressed and frustrated. This leads to a decrease in productivity, and to be frank, I think we, as human beings, need to feel useful. That we contribute to something or someone. We lack the positive angle to what we can do together and how the individuals play an important role
One of our current challenges worldwide is health and security.
Jakob Riis: In some ways, it seems as if we as a nation have lost our common purpose or project for us to work towards, to be able to contribute to a higher cause? What do you see this purpose or project could be?
Astrid Simonsen Joos: Yes, that it exactly it. If we take point of departure in some of our current challenges worldwide, sustainability is the overall umbrella of three purposes that could also build on some of our other strengths. How might we solve the challenges related to: 1) Health and security, 2) Climate change and 3) Shortage of food. We should address this as you would address a commercial challenge in the private sector. Establish a structured commercial growth plan for Denmark with concrete goals (KPIs) based on funded Private Public Partnerships. I do not think that the public sector is able to solve this challenge on their own. We need to combine the commercial capabilities with the political environment.
Jakob Riis: And how do you see the first steps in order to establish this growth or welfare plan? Who should be involved?
Astrid Simonsen Joos: First of all, we should get organised. It could be like the Disruptive Council, which I was a part of a few years ago with members from the private sector. However, I find it important to involve the citizens to ensure engagement and commitment, like a grass root movement. The task should then be to define the areas and the plan, which could be the three I mentioned earlier, and how to measure success. This should not only focus on the funding, but on the “how” and the “what”. We already have the 17 Sustainability Goals, which are important goals to pursue in various contexts, but in the light of our current strengths and using these to strengthen our competitive advantage, we should focus on the few.
Jakob Riis: So, if you based on your view on our strengths and barriers were to sum up with a piece of advice to the Danish government on how to strengthen our competitive advantage, what would that be?
Astrid Simonsen Joos: We are a small country. Think big!
