Copenhagen Capacity cultivates lasting Chinese partnerships

Following Huawei's milestone contract with Danish telecommunications company TDC to build and manage Denmark's next-generation mobile network, Copenhagen Capacity looks to China for more high-profile partnerships in Denmark's leading industries.

"We're talking about sophisticated Chinese companies that are extremely brilliant in developing new solutions," says Claus Lonborg, CEO of Copenhagen Capacity.

"The entire business project is completely different when they are involved because the institutions that they know of do not exist in the same way here. Thus, we have prioritised resources into developing the framework here that makes it attractive for them and other companies from Asia to invest in Denmark."

A closer collaboration fuses robust Chinese abilities with Denmark's long-established knowledge centres and industry clusters. Denmark is among Europe's innovation capitals, with about 484 inventions and 200 patent applications registered in the country last year alone - the highest level reached since 2000.

As the official organisation for investment, business development and cluster growth in the greater Copenhagen area, Copenhagen Capacity supports foreign investors' business interests in Denmark. It promotes regional development activities such as cluster development and policy initiatives that make greater Copenhagen a more viable international investment destination. Having fostered ties with Chinese investors for about six years, Copenhagen Capacity has set up a dedicated China desk to ease entry barriers for Chinese investors.

"We are focused on our value proposition, meaning that we are trying to find concrete projects which have an interest for the Chinese investors," says Jorgen Jessen, head of Copenhagen Capacity's China division.

Jessen's team is working closely with Danish authorities and the local business community, along with the Chinese embassy, on setting up a welcome centre for Chinese investors and a Chinese chamber of commerce in Denmark. Focus areas for Chinese investment are the banking, clean technology, information technology and telecommunications, life sciences, sound and food industries.

Copenhagen Capacity
http://www.copcap.com