The right staff is always important to the success of a company. For deep-tech companies, being able to attract and retain the right talent is crucial. Denmark is now measurably one of the best places in the world to set up a company if staff-attraction is important. The tiny Nordic country recently replaced USA on third place in the 2022 INSEAD Global Competitiveness Index.

A talent for growing, attracting and retaining talent

Countries are competing globally to grow better talent; attract the talent they need; and retain those workers who contribute to competitiveness, innovation, and growth. Countries seek to put economic and social policies in place that will facilitate this.

In Copenhagen Science City we are working with great determination to build an innovation district, which is attractive to companies, talented individuals and to investors. We team up with key partners to achieve this”: Kristoffer Klebak, head of secretariat, Copenhagen Science City.

Innovation district used as argument in talent attraction

Copenhagen Science City is brimming with opportunities for highly trained international talent, and several Danish talent-attraction organisations use the district in their sales pitch. In October 2022 Copenhagen Capacity chose to co-create an event with Copenhagen Science City to retain international life science students and graduates in Denmark. 11 companies met 120 candidates, and the results were stunning. The companies now expect to hire 42 of them.

Remarkable journey on list

Climbing from sixth place in 2015, Denmark has now replaced the USA in third place. This is one of the more remarkable journeys in the top ten, where most countries have been solidly placed year over year. The two top countries, Switzerland and Singapore have clung to their positions for the entire nine years of the index.

Important details for talent

key components of retention are personal and national sustainability and quality of life. In addition, the regulatory, market, business, and labour landscapes within a country facilitate or impede talent attraction and growth. Denmark and Copenhagen are frequently best and always a runner-up in when these categories are measured.

Nine years of benchmarking

The most talent-competitive countries are better at developing, attracting, and empowering human capital. The  2022 INSEAD Global Competitiveness Index is the 9th edition and covers 133 countries and 175 cities from 79 economies around the world across all income groups. It is a comprehensive annual benchmarking report that measures how countries and cities grow, attract and retain talent.

An innovation district in the heart of Copenhagen

Copenhagen Science City is an innovation district in the heart of the Danish capital. It is home to University of Copenhagen, University Hospital Rigshospitalet and University College Copenhagen. With 40,000 researchers, students and staff, 450 deep-tech start-ups and nine incubator- and accelerator programmes it is “Possibly the best place in Europe to launch or scale your innovation based business”.