Danish Innovators

(Just so non-Danes reading this blog don’t think Denmark is only about sperm.)

Last week The Economist announced their annual prizes for innovation. Out of the seven categories, Danes featured in two. Kinda good, innit? Janus Friis won (with Swedish Niklas Zennström) in the Computer and Communications-category for producing Skype and KaZaA. This is a prime example of what innovative single minds can accomplish. A very deserved award, in my humble opinion.

I’m not sure I can say the same about Johannes Poulsen of Vestas, though, in the category of Energy and Environment. Mostly because I’m highly ignorant of him and his work, but also because he most probably wouldn’t have had the same success without massive government support. Still, I’ll defer to The Economist’s judgement on this.