Fostering global innovations: How Innovation Centre Denmark connects Denmark, Korea

People ride bicycles in front of Amalienborg, the official residence for the Danish royal family, in Copenhagen, Denmark in this undated photo. Innovation Centre Denmark (ICDK) Seoul aims forge a connection between Denmark and Korea by fostering collaborative innovation. Courtesy of VisitCopenhagen

By Kwon Mee-yoo

A decade after its launch, Innovation Centre Denmark (ICDK) Seoul has established itself as a pivotal link between Danish and Korean innovation communities across research and industry. Founded with a mission to connect minds and foster innovation, the ICDK continues to play a key role in bridging collaborations and generating new opportunities between Denmark and Korea.

In an interview with Korea Times at the Danish Embassy in central Seoul, marking the 10th anniversary of the center's launch in Korea, Ditte Veise, executive director of ICDK Seoul, shared the story behind placing the center in Seoul and how it works.

"We fundamentally see our role as creating a bridge between Korean and Danish innovation communities and make it easier to collaborate," Veise said, highlighting that ICDK works from a broad notion of innovation where both researchers as well as businesses and institutions can be part of collaborations.

"We facilitate the collaboration through different means ― firstly by creating awareness, but also by for example supporting innovation networks and connecting with R&D incentives and programs and organizing delegations."

Located among global innovation hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, Munich, Tel Aviv, Shanghai and Bangalore, ICDK Seoul is part of Denmark's concerted effort to foster international collaboration. Supported by both the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ICDK's core mission is to enhance international connectivity in research and innovation.

"Korea was chosen as a location in 2013 because it is an R&D powerhouse with many technological strongholds and because our countries have a strong track record in joint action for green growth," Veise said, referencing for example the Green Growth Alliance between Denmark and Korea.

Innovation Centre Denmark Seoul Executive Director Ditte Veise sees further opportunities for collaboration between Denmark and Korea in the areas of sustainability and smart city initiatives. Courtesy of ICDK Seoul

The global innovation focus for ICDK is green transition, digitization and health and life science, but each place has its own configuration of topics depending on the local context, Veise explained.

"Korea is a highly digitized society and for example smart cities has been a sustained area of interest over the years. From a Danish context where our largest city, Copenhagen, has less than 1 million people, the scale and the density of Seoul is immense, but also a window to applying new technologies, recently for example the metaverse. We also see interest in some of the unique testbeds for city technologies in Korea such as the Eco Delta living lab in Busan."

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Veise, who has been in charge of the center since the summer of 2022, highlighted the unique opportunities and challenges in Korea, despite the barriers of language and distance, and expressed the importance of having a team with both Koreans and Danish members.

"We are not topic experts but our value is rather in helping to build relations in a cross-cultural setting and for that we need in-depth understanding of both countries," she said.

ICDK supports collaboration in a variety of topics and also explores new potential areas. One of the more recent areas of interest for collaboration is entrepreneurship, which Veise explained with reference to developments in Korea.

"Korea is consciously pursuing to become an important entrepreneurial hub in Asia. We see a movement in Korea opening up to international collaboration and promoting very tangible opportunities," she said. This is exemplified by a Danish biotech startup's involvement in a Korean incubation program K-Grand Challenge.

"It is exciting that Alcolase joined the program this year. It's very seldom that Danish startups would look to Asia, unless they would be focusing on the new markets."

Innovation Centre Denmark Seoul, staffed by a mixed team of Danes and Koreans, provides a strategically tailored experience designed to align with practices specific to the Korean context. Courtesy of ICDK Seoul

In 2022, an intriguing collaboration was born between Denmark and Korea, focusing on the multifaceted potential of seaweed. Supported by an R&D grant from the Danish government, the collaboration sought to leverage Korea's strength in the seaweed industry and market and the interest of Denmark's R&D community to pioneer innovative uses of seaweed biomass across various sectors, including pharma, food, industry and feed.

"Seaweed is an emerging area of interest not just in Denmark, but in Europe. But we don't really have an established industry, so we lack a lot of know-how and which is why it is interesting to look to Korea for some collaborations," Veise said.

As ICDK Seoul reflects on an eventful decade, the center's continual efforts to align the collaborative initiatives of Denmark and Korea present a vibrant blueprint for international cooperation. When reflecting on notable developments over the past decade, Veise suggests firstly that the green transition and sustainability has taken a much more prominent and transversal role.

"No matter if we work with food innovation or smart city there is always a green angle on it today. We no longer talk about just smart cities, but rather sustainable cities that are also smart. And we don't just see seaweed as a new interesting food but as a means to more sustainable and plant based diet."

She also noted the recognition of the geopolitical strategic dimension of R&D, especially when it comes to collaboration in critical technologies like quantum technology or artificial intelligence (AI).

"Countries are also being selective today, we want to develop with the right partners ― it is not just about working internationally, but working with partners who share the same vision for technology use, for example." she said.

Denmark and Korea have proven to be good partners in this evolving landscape, with a strong track record of collaboration. Building on mutual trust and shared interests in developing critical technologies, the partnership also extends to considering the ethical aspects of technology.

"At the end of the day, innovation collaboration is building relations, and that takes time. We have been in Seoul for ten years already, but we are still evolving and we still experiment a lot with new areas and ways of collaboration," Veise said.