Moving Forward

SEPTEMBER 2012 • ISSUE 19MICA (P) 078/02/2012

www.dabs-singapore.com

Danish Business Association of Singapore

Best Olympics since 1948

New chapter for Danish shipping

LEGOLAND to Johor

MAIN PARTNERS:

New ambassador in town

From the president 4

Ambassadors corner 6

Teaching kids and adults to swim 8

Interview: A new chapter for the Blue Denmark 10

Duba-B8 furniture moves to Singapore 14

Danish Design is still hot 16

LEGOLAND opens in Johor 17

Swim in Copenhagen Harbour 18

Reception for the Minister 19

Best Danish Olympics in 64 years 20

Royal Olympic family in London 22

Gala dinner for the new ambassador 24

Awards for Norbreeze 26

Members Page 26

Dan Biz is a quarterly magazine published by:

Danish Business Association of Singapore (DABS)c/o Royal Danish Embassy101 Thomson Road#13-01/02 United SquareSingapore 307591

(Next issue will be published in December 2012) Contacts: Editor Jan Lundjanlund@tkc.att.ne.jpTel: +65 8118 1864

Secretariat: Royal Danish EmbassyHp: +65 9144 6272E-mail: dabs@dabs-singapore.comWeb: www.dabs-singapore.com

CON TENTS

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Letterfrom theeditor

With 9 medals Denmark had the best Games since last time London hosted the Olympics back in 1948. Again pulling above its weight and being in the Global Top-10 when compared not by total medal-count but to the size of the population.

Denmark became the best Nordic nation - even better than traditional sports powerhouse Sweden. Closer to these shores the statistics show that Denmark got as many medals as all of the 10 ASEAN countries together.

Not bad for a nation of 5,5 million people.

The success is not based on some kind of miracle or divine ability all of a sudden hitting a small Scandinavian country. It’s a picture of the Danish approach to tasks ahead. Focus, seriousness and a systematic approach are some of the key words.

Much the same way more than 150 Danish companies operate in Singapore and one reason that most of them are highly successful and have established themselves as part of the furniture here. Good times or bad times, they are staying put and showing their commitment to Singapore and their trade.

Less than a month after taking up her posting as new ambassador Ms. Berit Basse took part in strengthening the links between our two countries, when she received Danish Minister for Business and Growth Ole Sohn, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding with his Singaporean counterpart concerning interaction in shipping.

Take that as just another commitment from Denmark and the Danish business community to be an active partner in making Singapore a success story also in the future. That’s the way Singaporeans can expect to meet our members and the Danish community in the years to come: Focused, serious and with a systematic approach to developing business and relationships.

Jan Lund Editor

Frontpage photo: Princess Nathalie Zu Sayn – Wittgenstein, niece to the Danish Queen Margrethe II, was part of the Danish dressage team becoming 4th in London.

Photo: Olympic Committee of Denmark.

04

President’s letter

About DABSThe Association’s main objectives are to actively contribute to the business developments between Singapore and Denmark and to contribute to their members’ interests and development of their organisations.

DANBIZ FROM THE PRESIDENT

A warm welcome back from the summer holidays.

I trust you are all back in good shape in Singapore after summer holidays in Denmark, Scandinavia or where else the holidays brought you. I hope the holidays provided the rest needed to undertake the challenges of the last part of 2012.

Certainly there are many challenges in an ever changing economic environment. Last summer when I wrote Presidents Letter, I was asking: Is a new financial crisis looming? Or are we seeing a second dip recession? Seems to me we have not moved much forward since the past one year. Singapore in particular, but also Asia has so far been spared the worst, but I think the issue needs more time to bring us all out of the danger zone.

I hope for all our business and business interests, that we soon will be able to see some strong indicators of being on the right side of the problems. However elections are coming up in the US and that will of course drag the process out.

New AmbassadorWe have just had our welcome home event after the summer holidays. This year it was also a warm welcome to our new ambassador Berit Basse. The event was a classy dinner at the historic Singapore Cricket Club. It turned out to be a great night! (photos on pages 24 and 25). Good food, good crowd, good ambience, but best of all: a fantastically motivated Berit Basse, who took the floor by storm. She delivered a very honest and well thought through speech, which clearly indicated that she is here to make a difference! She told us about her life so far, her hobbies, her family, her background and gave some indications about what we can expect from the embassy.

Berit Basse has confirmed to DABS, that she will continue the close relationship between DABS and the embassy. She feels the work is of outmost importance and keeps her focus on the business part of Denmark in Singapore and Singapore in Denmark. We in DABS shall be looking forward to work closely with her and her staff.

The work has already started with a lot of activity and joint events, beginning end of August with the joint reception at Goodwood Park Hotel, when Danish Minister for Business and Growth Ole Sohn was in town.

Strategy and activityOn the outset of 2011 we teamed up with the embassy to handle our back office functions and to give DABS a better profile. I am happy to report, that our work is now in the final stages. We have met most of the goals we set out, and today we have a better structure for the future. The committee has been working hard to nail down new initiatives for the second half of the year. I am pleased to see increased activity and a bunch of quality events being lined up for the end of 2012. All top quality events not to be missed!

DABS is also responsible for organizing the 2012 version of the common Scandinavian event Scan Bizz Bar, organized on behalf of all the Scandinavian business associations. All are welcome for these events taking place once a month. The group working with these events has done a fantastic job! We have a great average turn out of around 65 people. Heartening to see we have managed good participation from all four countries! Join in for a night next time, meet some fellow Scandinavians and do some networking.

Please keep yourself updated on all our exiting events on our Website or Facebook. Don’t forget our Annual Ball November 10, 2012 at the fantastic Shangri-La hotel. This year will be even better than any other Ball!

Dan BizOur great magazine Dan Biz is short of advertisers! We need some more to come forward and support this magazine, focusing on Danish Business in Singapore, Singapore in Denmark and Denmark as a brand.

The Magazine is printed in 1100 copies, out four times a year and reaches much further out than the Danish business community. The magazine is distributed to many Countries in the world, and also reaches all major Ministries and media in Singapore and Denmark. It is read of a crowd you would never reach through other means of advertising!

It is relatively inexpensive to book an ad compared to the audience it will reach. We at the committee feel the magazine adds great value to us all and it gives a professional touch to the Danish business and activities in Singapore. Over the summer I have had numerous quotations from various influential people in Denmark referring to Dan Biz and asking when is the next number out?

We will need to have more people coming forward with advertising to keep this very important magazine alive. I count on your support ! For more information on prices and how to get started please just send a mail to: dabs@dabs.com.sg. Or contact one of the following DABS committee members: Oliver Andersen, John Iversen, Jan Lund, Kaj Andersen, Esben Poulsson or Henrik Ziegler

I hope we all will enjoy a fantastic second half together here in Singapore, and let’s hope we can beat the trend of a gloomy business outlook. I wish you all well for your business and lives. See you all soon to the next DABS quality event.

Yours faithfullyHenrik Ziegler

FROM THE PRESIDENT 11

06

New Danish Ambassador

DANBIZ AMBASSADOR’S CORNER

As your new ambassador since August 1st, I would first of all like to stress how delighted I am to be in Singapore and every day even more so. Every day I discover new aspects of Singapore. It’s a rather unusual country – and not only due to its (small) size, high rankings in all sorts of surveys and efficient public transportation system.

I came across an editor’s note by Patrick Winn, Global Post, who had closely studied the 2012 Wealth Report predicting Singapore to become the world’s richest country pr. capita in 2050. That of course remains to be seen. But what I found interesting was that in interviews with “high net worth individuals” around the globe, the Wealth Report had asked the super-rich about their “favorite things”. In response, Indians said cars and gadgets, Latin Americans said traveling and Africans said safaris. The favored items of extremely wealthy Singaporeans: “Books and reading materials”.

That gives me some understanding of how it has been possible for Singapore to become a role model for attracting foreign business.

In terms of my academic background, I have a Master’s Degree from Copenhagen Business School. I was in the very first batch of 64 students who studied International Business and Languages (also called SPRØK) in the 1980s. After graduating in 1991, I worked for quite some years in development assistance - first in Dakar, Senegal for the United Nations Development Program and later for the UN Capital Development Fund. In 1997 I joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and after working at the Asia Desk with environmental assistance to the Mekong River, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, I got my first posting to Kampala, Uganda.

In 2001 I returned to the Foreign Ministry and joined the Trade Council and thus for the past 11 years I have been fortunate enough to get involved in a broad range of subjects like export and investment promotion and globalization in various positions in the Ministry plus as Consul General in Munich. My last position in the Ministry was as Head of Department for Strategy, Policies and Quality.

The Danish government is currently laying the groundwork for a new policy for business and growth in Denmark. This project is still in its early stages, and it would be premature to get into details now. However I can say that the objective is to formulate a comprehensive strategy to improve the growth potential of sectors of specific commercial interest for Denmark in terms of earnings, employment, and export capacity. In this perspective I believe that Denmark and

Singapore have many strong points in common, and Denmark should definitely look to Singapore for inspiration in this process. As many of you know we have already done so by the visit of the Minister for Business and Growth, Mr. Ole Sohn, who visited Singapore 29 August – 1 September. One of the highlights of the visit was a MoU signed with the Ministry of Transport regarding strengthened cooperation within Quality Shipping, education, and R&D.

Apart from maintaining good bilateral relations with our hosts I will focus more on Public Diplomacy and share Danish points of view, values, competencies and possibilities. My goal would be to work for a stronger branding of Denmark’s profile in Singapore as well as a strengthening of the awareness in Denmark of the possibilities that Singapore has to offer, in particular from a business perspective. I believe Singapore and Denmark, despite the obvious differences, have quite many things in common and that we can learn a lot from each other or at least be inspired.

The good news is that the Singaporean side is already very aware of the Danish strongholds from education, eldercare and architecture to biotechnology and environmental solutions, just to mention some – and they are eager to expand cooperation and exchange.

There are more than 150 Danish companies present here in Singapore. I consider it an important role for me and the Embassy to maintain and expand bilateral relations both with the companies present here and hopefully also help more people and companies to set up a business in Singapore. I will try to get around to as many as possible and as soon as possible to listen and exchange views. If you have urgent matters to discuss please do not hesitate to contact me.

Finally, I would like to mention that I have decided to continue the daily newsletter from the Embassy, “News from Asia”, but in a slightly new and upgraded format. We have improved the layout and established a partnership with Jan Lund, who will be the editor of the daily ‘Fokus’ column. Being in Singapore we have a unique position to communicate perspectives on the whole region and we will exploit that.

I look forward to meeting you all and working with you whether it be in DABS, the Seamen’s Church, at meetings, at conferences or elsewhere.

Berit BasseAmbassador of Denmark

08

DANBIZ SWIMMING

Swimming was always a big part of Lisa Thrane’s life. Growing up she won medals for her local team and went

on to coaching. After meeting her husband at the swimming-club she followed him to Singapore and once again made swimming the center of her life – a decision that lots of people in the Danish community in Singapore are now grateful for.

As a child Lisa Thrane was afraid of water. She would not put her head below the surface and swimming in the deep end of the pool was totally out of the question. But her parents insisted that their daughter should learn how to swim and today she is happy they did.

The young Lisa found a good coach in her local club in Kolding and grew to become a competition swimmer spending most of her childhood and teens in the pool. She also got more and more involved in the club as a volunteer coach and when she moved to Singapore 12 years ago it felt natural to turn swimming into more than a hobby.

Personal victoriesSince then she has taught more than thousand kids and adults how to swim. Though most adults will probably say they master the discipline this is far from always true. “Most people think they can swim, but there is a big difference between being able to stay afloat and actually being able to swim,” says Lisa Thrane and explains that fear of the water is a big taboo even though it is actually a big problem for many people.

For her swimming is more than just exercise. It is about making people discover their potential, helping them achieve their goals and become more confident.

“It is extremely rewarding to teach swimming. Whether I work with a little kid or an adult, I see the same spark in their eyes when they finally get it. I feel very privileged to be able to work with people who get excited and happy. It doesn’t take much to get kids excited, but it is rare to see that with adults. I am just one of the lucky few who see it almost every day,” Lisa Thrane says and point to the basis:

“Seeing them discover that they can actually overcome their fears and learn something new – that is what really makes it worthwhile.”

All can learn itLisa Thrane knows for a fact that everybody can learn how to swim. And the breathing is the first and most important step: “We are taught to close our mouth, but under water you need to learn how to open it and breathe out. When you have the breathing under control, you can start working on your balance and learn how to work with the water instead of against it.”

The fear of water is a showstopper for a lot of people, but when you learn to swim properly you are in store for a great workout. “Swimming gives you a great all-round workout. It is good for cardio, strengthens the muscles and prevents injuries,” Lisa Thrane says, so considering the warm weather in Singapore there is really no excuses for not jumping into the pool . DB

Contact: lthrane@me.com

Justopen your mouth

By Anne Blume Futtrup

For more than a decade Lisa Thrane has been teaching children and adults in Singapore to swim

DANBIZ INTERVIEW

1410

A new chapterfor theBlue Denmark

By Jan LundPhoto by Ace Kindred Cheong

Danish Minister for Business and Growth Ole Sohn explains in this interview why he sees Singapore as an important strategic partner for Denmark

INTERVIEW 11

Ole Sohn was appointed Minister for Business and Growth in October 2011 when a Centrum-Left coalition won the general election in Denmark and forced the previous Centrum-Right government to resign. The new government is a coalition among three parties and Ole Sohn represents the Socialist People’s Party (SF).

When he took up the position one of his declared goals was to promote Danish shipping and make an effort to create a Singaporean style shipping hub around Copenhagen and the Danish Isles, taking advantage of the strong national and international position of Danish shipping.

In this interview Ole Sohn, who recently was in Singapore to -amongst other assignments - sign a Memorandum of Understanding on maritime cooperation with Singapore, talks about the perspectives for Danish shipping and Danish business and growth policy in general.

Q: What made you point to shipping as a priority growth area in Denmark?The Blue Denmark, as shipping is called in Denmark, is a stronghold position for Denmark. The Blue Denmark stands for 24 % of Denmark’s direct export and 10 % of production in Denmark.

In total about 115,000 people are employed in the Blue Denmark, and we are one of the world’s leading seafaring nations. At the same time the Blue Denmark also includes a strong maritime equipment- and service-industry.

Q: What can we learn from Singapore?As part of the government’s new business- and growth policy we look out into the world to see whether other countries have framework conditions or growth policies and initiatives, which we can be inspired by.

Singapore has over a period of years been successful in attracting maritime companies and creating a maritime hub in Singapore. Singapore is a strong maritime cluster and maritime nation just as Denmark and has worked strategically at developing its position as a maritime centre in Asia.

Beside Singapore has introduced a number of incentives to attract shipping companies and other maritime companies. Singapore has managed to attract skilled workers and Singapore’s authorities are very focused on

welcoming foreign workers. In my eyes all these aspects make Singapore an interesting strategic partner for Denmark on maritime affairs.

Q: What is needed to fulfil the Danish ambitions?During my visit to Singapore I have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore to enhance maritime cooperation. I believe this will be the beginning of a new chapter for the Blue Denmark.

With the agreement we have launched a strategic partnership with one of Asia’s most important maritime hubs. Denmark

and Singapore will be working together to promote quality shipping and free market access, as well as cooperating on research and education. Danish maritime companies have a clear strategic interest in this.

Q: Are there any major government initiatives in pipeline?With the government’s new business and growth policy we have initiated an inspection of the growth conditions in the Blue Denmark, so we can maintain and expand our strong position.

Minister for Business and Growth since 3 October 2011.

Member of the Danish parliament (Folketinget) for the Socialist People’s Party since March 11th 1998.

Before that candidate for the Communist party and the Red Green alliance in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Former chairman of the Communist party of Denmark (1987-1991), former member of the Town council in Horsens (1982-1984) and former board member of the Danish Labour Union SID (1981-1987).

Besides his political career Ole Sohn has been a diligent writer, having published 11 books since 1994. The latest “From the Folketing to Cell 290” from 2011 is based on newly found papers from the Soviet archives about the Danish communist and former parliamentarian Arne Munch Petersen who died in prison in Moscow as a victim of one of the Stalin purges. Ole Sohn established in 2004 a publishing house, Sohns Forlag, which publish a broad base of writers. www.sohn.dk

Ole Sohn( September 12 1954)

12

DANBIZ INTERVIEW

We have established a growth team to present recommendations for the government within the maritime field. The growth team is led by Carsten Mortensen, CEO of the shipping company Norden. I expect the growth team will give its recommendations to the government in October this year. Based on their recommendations I expect to launch an action plan for the Blue Denmark before the end of the year.

Q: Does the Danish government consider Denmark a role player in creating the future frames for international shipping?Denmark is already today an international maritime centre. Around 10 % of the measured world trade is transported on Danish ships. As mentioned, our challenge is to maintain and expand our position among the global competition. Our maritime cluster should be characterized by quality, innovation and dynamism.

Denmark should continue to be an attractive place from where to carry out shipping and

other maritime related businesses, so that we also in the long term will remain a strong maritime nation.

This will create growth and jobs in Denmark, all the while safeguarding and improving our international voice in for example the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other bilateral and multilateral organisations in the maritime area around the world.

Q: Besides shipping, which other areas are priorities for the ministry?Denmark is facing a growth challenge, as well as the rest of Europe. The Danish economy is doing OK compared to other European economies but against this backdrop the government has initiated a pro-active business and growth strategy. The strategy aims at strengthening the horizontal framework conditions for doing business in Denmark and at the same time, focuses on the growth conditions in areas, where Danish businesses have special strengths and potentials.

This includes the Blue Denmark, but also areas such as creative industries, water,

bio and environmental solutions, healthcare and welfare solutions, energy and climate, food and tourism.

Across these sectors, Danish companies are able to supply high quality, sustainable products and services to the global market. DB

www.evm.dk

13

Danish Minister for Business and Growth, Ole Sohn, and a delegation from the ministry and the maritime

industry met the Danish community at a reception at Goodwood Park Hotel, an event jointly organized by The Royal Danish

Embassy and Danish Business Association Singapore.

After a short presentation of the government’s strategic views on the future for Denmark and for a closer cooperation among the

BIZ NEWS 13

two small shipping nations Sohn spend some hours freely chatting and exchanging views with the many guests who were there enjoying good food, nice drinks and the opportunity for some networking. DB

Reception for the minister

14

DANBIZ FURNITURE

Danish furniture is known around the world for its often minimalistic design and sleek appearance, its quality and

functionality. But when it comes to creating a good working environment there is more to it than great desks and chairs.

Duba-B8 combines Danish-produced furniture with state of the art office designs, environmentally friendly solutions and as a one-stop-shop they are also ready to help their customers with everything else they need – whether it be art for the walls, carpets, blinds, lights or coffee machines.

The Duba-B8 2011 Annual Report told the story of a strong fiscal year with more than 60 per cent top-line growth, increased contribution ratios and record earnings. Now the company is raising its expectations and taking a big step out in the world and establishing a base in Singapore.

Explains CEO Christian J. Flarup: “We expect our strategic investment in the establishment of a strong Asian bridgehead in Singapore to support a threefold purpose. First of all, we expect that investment in Singapore will

Singapore– a steeplearningcurve

By Anne Blume Futtrup

As a one-stop-shop for fully equipped office-spaces Danish furniture company Duba-B8 is bringing a new notion to Singapore, where it has opened its first office outside Scandinavia.

enable us to find new clients and further fuel our growth. Secondly, we believe Duba-B8’s presence in the Asian Pacific Region will create a value adding proximity to our existing global clients’ regional operations. That will enable us to develop, implement and support the delivery of corporate interior solutions and services across two continents.

And last but not least, we expect the exposure to the Asian culture, people and business environment to function as a steep new learning curve – and not only for the directly engaged Duba-B8 employees. We are convinced that the entire organization will benefit from doing business with Singapore-based clients and partners.”

Thomas Dueholm Laursen and Annette Hougaard Due Jensen will be running the Singapore branch. They are already more than busy catering to customers and working on projects reaching well into 2013 and 2014. Large Danish and international companies are still the main customers but they also have local clients on their lists.

First moversThe two Danes are working out of the new Grundfos headquarter in Tukang Innovation Park. Here they are reminded every day that a sustainable and functional office environment really does make a difference. Grundfos was awarded Platinum for its consistent and innovative focus on the environmental aspects of the project.

“One of the things that earned Grundfos extra points was the furniture and interior design done by Duba-B8. We take environmental management and sustainability seriously,”Annette Hougaard Due Jensen says and explains that the docking stations in the desks only use 0,008 watt-hour (w/h) in standby power.

While focusing on the climate and environment – small and large scale - has been a no brainer in Denmark for years, this part of the world is only just beginning to warm up to the concept.

“For the big international corporations the environment needs to support their vision and mission. This region is where growth

FURNITURE 15

happens now and competition is tough. Therefore it is important to stand out,” says Thomas Dueholm Laursen who believes that Duba-B8 has something very unique to offer.

“Our products and services are not for companies who just want cheap stuff. The cost is higher, but in the long run the investment pays back. The employees do not get sick or injured as often when working in a good environment and with the possibility of changing positions during the day. Our clients do not need to change their furniture very often and our products also come with a long warranty,” he explains.

Feng shuiA lot of cultural aspects do however come into play when talking to Singaporean employers and employees.

“All our desks can be adjusted so people can either sit down or stand up while working. That is perfectly normal in Denmark, but not out here where standing up is traditionally a form of punishment,” Annette Hougaard Due Jensen says.

“There really are a lot of cultural aspects to take into consideration. For instance local managers usually want a bigger desk and a chair with a substantial backrest. We talk to them about their requests and usually we end up with a good mix between our ideas and their requests. Our designers are highly capable of finding great solutions, but often the local customers still want to have a feng shui master go through the office and that is of course perfectly OK with us.

Big expectationsThe Duba-B8 expansion plans do not stop in Singapore.

“As our Singapore-based activities continue to expand into the Asian Pacific Region, we have identified two additional stepping stones, where our market research shows a profitable and sustainable demand for Duba-B8’s solutions and services. We are currently assessing our options and the establishment of Duba-B8 offices in Shanghai and Mumbai is our most likely next step,” CEO Christian J. Flarup says. DB

Duba-B8 was founded in Denmark in 1914.

Duba-B8 is a 100 % Danish-owned company with more than 60 years of experience of design and production of office furniture.

The current company is a merger from September 2005 between System B8 Furniture and Duba Furniture Industry.

The turnover in 2011 was 351 million Danish Crowns (S$ 74 million) with a profit before tax of 31 million Danish Crowns (S$ 6,5 million) – the best result ever.

Today the company is Denmark’s largest producer of office furniture. Most of the furniture is produced locally in Denmark.

Duba-B8 has approx. 120 employees working out of facilities in Bjerringbro, Søborg, Odense and Norwegian capital Oslo.

Duba-B8

Thomas Dueholm Laursen and Annette Hougaard Due Jensen

HENVENDELSE TIL FORMANDEN:JUL-91 Søren Bo Duvier NielsenHaig Road 152, Haig Court #13-02, Singapore 438791Tel: +65 9233 7882,E-mail: HYPERLINK “mailto:sduvier@hotmail.com”

EN GANG GARDER - ALTID GARDER

DANBIZ DESIGN

Classic Danish furniture and new products from the Danish design tradition in the footsteps of the old

masters, are still to be found in Singapore.

One of the shops dealing in furniture that many years ago made headlines all over the world as Danish Design is the Danish Design Company at Pasir Panjang Road. As part of the company Upfront Living it is the exclusive distributor of several imported Danish brands like Fredericia, Skagerak and Holmris.

One of the real classics is the famous Spanish Chair created by Børge Mogensen. Mogensen drew inspiration from a trip to Spain in 1958. He masterly interpreted a traditional type of chair often found in areas influenced by ancient Islamic culture – from Andalusia to India.

Mogensen, who created the brand Danish Design together with Arne Jacobsen and Hans Wegner back in the 1950s and 1960s died 40 years ago, but his works are still loved

items among aficionados and newcomers.

A new classic is Thomas Pedersen’s Stingray. Born a year before Børge Mogensen died Pedersen is one of the younger talents from the Danish design schools. He got his break through with the Stingray chair in 2002. The chair emulates that relaxing motion with rounded sleds for rocking (stingray in Danish is rokke, which also means “to rock”). The shape of the rocking chair was partially inspired by a shell. DB

Danish design– still a hotbrandClassic Børge Mogensen is among the furniture to be found at Pasir Panjang in Singapore A: Stingray by Thomas Pedersen

B: Spanish Chair by Børge Mogensen

A

B

THEME PARK 17

LEGOLANDcomes

to JohorBy Jan Lund

Photos: Permission by® 2012 The LEGO Group

The Danes have loved their LEGOLAND since the theme park opened back in 1968. With 1.6 million annual visitors to

small town Billund in Jutland far away from the capital it’s the largest tourist attraction in Denmark outside Copenhagen.

Now Danes of all ages here in Singapore can get their LEGOLAND-kick just on the other side of the Johor Strait. The gates will open for LEGOLAND Malaysia in Nusajaya in Johor on Saturday September 15.

The preparations has taken close to three years but everything has gone better than according to plans, so the park will actually open a couple of months earlier than originally scheduled.

LEGOLAND Malaysia is the sixth LEGOLAND to be built in the world and the very first in Asia. The other five are in Billund (Denmark), Windsor (England), Gunzburg (Germany), Carlsbad, San Diego (USA) and Winter Haven, Florida (USA).

Inspired by Asia’s growing love affair with all things LEGO, the new 76-acre theme park will cater to kids from 2 to 12 with all kinds of attractions from roller coasters to race cars as well as family-focused interactive shows. Families will be immersed in a unique mix of kid-powered rides, building challenges, spectacular LEGO models, interactive attractions, family-friendly coasters and shows that pull the audience into the action. LEGOLAND Malaysia will feature more than 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions on a backdrop of more than 50 million LEGO bricks.

Besides the LEGOLAND Malaysia, other LEGO-themed attractions nearby will open in the coming years. The first one will be a water theme park opening in mid-2013 and the other one is The LEGOLAND Hotel planned to open in 2014. DB

www.legoland.com.my

DANBIZ GREEN CITY

18

Copenhagen was in contention for the top price at the World Cities Summit held this year in Singapore at the

conference halls at Marina Bay Sands.

In the end it became a honorable presence on the short list together with four other cities: Vancouver, Brisbane, Ahmadabad and Cape Town. The Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2012 was awarded to New York City for orchestrating a remarkable transformation. As chairman of the Prize Nominating Committee, professor Kishore Mahbubani said: “The City of New York is an inspiring story of urban rejuvenation. With bold vision, strong leadership, sheer determination, and excellent partnership between government and citizens, there is now a new sense of direction in the city. It has regained its perch as one of the most exciting cities in the world.”

But for the Danish capital it was a great achievement being included in the group of recognized world class cities aiming at transforming the urban space into modern liveable habitats. The Mayor of Culture and Leisure Ms. Pia Allerslev was invited to make a presentation at the summit, and the city

of Copenhagen was part of the exhibition where many of its ideas for a greener future were presented.

In her speech Ms Allerslev mentioned various initiatives that Copenhagen has been taken and future environmental targets that the city will be aiming at. A better environment for bicycling is if course one of them as a signature of Copenhagen and Danish lifestyle.

As an example of what can be done and that it actually helps acting with determination, she mentioned Copenhagen Harbour. For some 800 years a dirty polluted port, where no fish could survive, as they can be found all over the old industrialized world. Today the harbour front is a vibrant clean habitat where there even has been created a public saltwater pool in a a bassin that only some

decades ago was home for trade ships and barges. Today the water is so clean that there’s no problem at all in telling the citizens and tourists alike to jump into the harbour (except maybe for the temperature).

The exhibition at Marina Bay Sands had a lot of visitors during the four days conference. Should anybody have missed it, part of it can now been see at URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) in Singapore until the end of October.

The exhibition is developed by the Danish Architecture Centre and is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Denmark and Urban Redevelopment Authority. DB

www.dac.dkwww.ura.gov.sg/

Jump into the harbour

20

DANBIZ OLYMPICS

Nine medals at the Olympics in London was a great achievement for Denmark and Danish sport – actually

the best medal count since the last London Olympics back in 1948. Then Denmark amassed no less than 20 medals but at that time most of the world was still in ruins after the second world war and most of Asia part of colonial empires.

In all barometers and calculation of medal counts compared to population Denmark is in the Global Top-10. The truth is even that the well prepared and strong Danish Team was close to a few more medals. The Danish model for developing elite sports men and women in various fields delivered big time.

In the world of sport, where the margins between success and failure are extremely small, top level performances at the big events are often defined as being among the eight best. Eight is usually the count for qualifying for a final or going to a quarter-final in the elimination sports.

Counting this way the 112 member strong Danish team banged 33 spots in Top Eight,

BestDanish Olympicsin 64 years

a substantial improvement from the 19 in Beijing in 2008.

The two gold medals came in rowing and on the indoor racing track. Both kind of surprising. The lightweights double sculler manned by Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist was not expected to go all the way, and there were other more obvious medal favorites in the bicycling team than Lasse Norman Hansen who won the omnium – a new Olympic track discipline like decathlon in athletics with six different disciplines counting together to the final result.

Below the medal rush there were also certain disappointments. The biggest to be found in the handball rink and the Olympic swimming pool. The female handball players, gold winners in 1996, 2000 and 2004, were never in contention for a spot in the quarterfinals. The men scrambled through but were disappointed loser to Sweden in the quarterfinals.

The biggest disappointment medal-wise was that the strong team of female swimmers did not bring any metal home from London. The

team actually performed well. Denmark was in eight finals but in the race against the fractions of seconds they lacked some lady luck and two fourth places were the best.

Among the competition was the 16 year old Chinese double gold winner Ye Shiwen who created a lot of fuss in the international press because of her age. Not so much in Denmark since the Danish Olympic DNA includes the youngest ever individual medal winners in the Olympic history – also done in the pool.

Inge Sørensen was just 12 years and 24 days when she won a bronze medal in the female 200 meter breaststroke at the Olympics in Berlin 1936. Also the youngest ever male individual medal winner was Danish and did it in the pool. Anders Skoglund was 14 years and 11 days when he won a silver medal in the high diving at the Olympics in Antwerp in 1920. DB

www.ol.dk

By Jan LundPhotos: Olympic Committee of Denmark

OLYMPICS 21

ROWING

GOLD: Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist, Leightweight double sculler.SILVER: Fie Udby Erichsen, single sculler.

BRONZE: Eskild Ebbesen, Morten Jørgensen, Kasper Winther Jørgensen, Jacob Barsøe, Leightweight four.

CYCLING

GOLD: Lasse Norman Hansen, omnium

BADMINTON

SILVER: Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, men’s double BRONZE: Christinna Pedersen and Joachim Fischer Nielsen mixed double

The Danish medal winnersSAILING

SILVER: Jonas Høgh-Christensen, finn dinghy BRONZE: Allan Nørregaard Christensen and Peter Lang, 49er

SHOOTING

SILVER: Anders Golding, skeet

22

DANBIZ OLYMPICS

The royal couple Crown prince Frederik and Crown princess Mary was of course among the enthusiastic

spectators when Danes were competing for glory and medals at the London Olympics.

The fairytale love story between the handsome Danish prince and the beautiful Tasmanian women is part of the Olympic legacy. They met by coincidence at the Olympics in Sidney in 2000 and it was love at first sight. After a prolonged engagement they married in 2004 in Copenhagen and now have four children.

The youngest are twins less than two years old and too young to bring to crowded Olympic arenas. But the couple considered 6 year old Prince Christian and 5 year old Princess Isabella old enough to be introduced to the Olympics.

Also the Danish Queen Margrethe II were in London during the games and could be seen at the stands supporting the Danish athletes on various occasions with the same passion as the rest of the family.

Crown prince Frederik, himself a well-trained and skillful athlete, has been member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2009 and many Danes and Singaporeans had the pleasure of meeting him in 2010 when he was in town as IOC member during the Youth Olympics in Singapore. DB

www.ol.dk

Royal Couple at the OlympicsBy Jan LundPhotos Olympic Committee of Denmark

23OLYMPICS

Royal sistersin London

The royal family in front of part of the Danish delegation front row from left to right: Crown Princess Mary, Princess Isabella, Crown Prince Frederik, Queen Margrethe II, Prince Christian, Princess Benedikte (sister to the Queen).

All three daughters of the former Danish King Frederik 9th were present at the Olympics. Youngest sister Princess Anne Marie are married to the former King of Greece, Konstatin. The couple are sitting to the left in front of the Crown Prince couple and their kids with Queen Margrethe II to the right.

Sisters Princess Benedikte (left) and Queen Margrethe II studing the statistics.

24

DANBIZ GALA DINNER

A warm welcomeat theCricket Club By Jan Lund Photos by Ace

50 DABS members at the dinner for new ambassador Berit Basse

One of the more memorable dinner events in newer DABS history rolled through the Gilmour Room

at Singapore Cricket Club when around 50 DABS members came to give new ambassador Berit Basse a warm welcome to Singapore.

DABS had decided to make the occasion a stellar event with a three course dinner and wine of the well-known brand ad libitum. Thanks to sponsors Avra Shipping and Lundbeck, the budget could also embrace champagne during the networking before the seated dinner, so the atmosphere was absolute top from the beginning.

Berit Basse managed to meet most guests and DABS chairman Henrik Ziegler could assure her that DABS is ready to give her full support during her time in office.

In her speech Berit Basse mentioned that Singapore was on top of her short list when she applied for a posting in the system at the foreign ministry, so she was happy things turned out that way. God bilateral relations,

public diplomacy and branding of Denmark are some of her headlines for the coming years.

“With more than 150 Danish companies here it is important to work for you and with you,” she told the members.

The fine night did not end there. DABS main partner Carlsberg were represented

by Singapore chief Bart Lim and Mr. Lim invited everybody to join for free flow of Carlsberg beer at an afterparty at the renowned cocktail bar Number 5 at Emerald Hill – an invitation most of the guests gladly accepted! DB

GALA DINNER 25

DANBIZ MEMBERS PAGE

26

Membership ChangesChanges in the membership base since June 2012

NEW MEMBERSHIPSAssociate: Morten Kristensen, Neptune Orient Line Ltd Associate: Pernille Storm, ALS International Associate: Thomas Hinnerup, ISSAssociate: Lasse Boesen, Viking LifeAssociate: Ole Leth, Furniture VietnamAssociate: Susanne PihlAssociate: Majken Boennelykke, AccentureAssociate: Nick Wong

Fast Developing Danish run company Norbreeze was shortlisted for the Singapore Enterprise Award for small and medium size companies, a competition organized by Business Times and OCBC bank. The company did not go all the way to the top but received prizes and praises on stage at the award ceremony at the Marina Bay Sands. On the last picture is the two young Danes behind Norbreeze, Anders Peter Juel Sauerberg and Anne Trads Hansen is sharing the trophy surrounded by some of the people behind the success.

Also during the summer Norbreeze underscored why it is considered one of the creative fast-movers not only in the Danish community but as part of the Singaporean business scene. At Millenia Walk close to Suntec City Norbreeze opened a brand new Philip Stein store just across from where two of the other Norbreeze signature stores, Skagen and Pandora, are placed in the posh shopping mall. On the picture from that occasion Anders Peter Juel Sauerberg (left) and Will Stein (right) are flanking Irene Ang and Dr. Ann Tan.

Award to Norbreeze

Corporate: Michael Elwert, ThomeStudent: Morten JalksoeStudent: Gregers Pedersen

TERMINATED MEMBERSHIPSFrank Poulsen, SPX Flow TechnologyJesper Thomsen, ClipperRichard Schroeter, DSV